JFYI: the Next has also 256x192 256 color mode and 320x256 256 color mode (1 byte = 1 pixel). ad dream computer: personally I'm not sure, don't feel particular need to dream about another 8bit machine, when I have ZX Next on the table (for a year already?)

Glad to see another video from the series! Remember seeing "Arthur C Clarke - Fractals - The Colors Of Infinity" on TV back in 1990s, and I was hooked. Later, after many experiments finally made my 8b Atari draw one in 16 shades of gray (mode 9, had a monochrome TV connected to it). It took overnight to draw 80x192px using BASIC. Yes, 320x192 real resolution, "logical pixels" were 4px wide. Some years later finding that my PC has FPU made things way faster and better, and SVGA with VESA BIOS Extensions helped even more 😸

All of these computers are still fast enough to do MORE than what most of us intend to make, even the x16 could port 286 level games.

Hi Matt! Really enjoyed the video!! All of these machines are awesome! Very difficult to say which one is my 8-bit dream computer! These are all very close! But I'll tell you about my dream N-bit computer: Direct access to the hardware - as on the Commodore 64/X16. No real OS, just kernal routines you can override. 6502 ASM flavor. HDMI and 16:9, 960x540, 8bpp. Dream audio: 6+ voice synth and/or 6+ ch 16bit sampler with 8MB+ ram. Stereo dsp for effects. SD card. As easy to make games for as Flash was. Open source. 200-400 EUR/USD price tag. Available and easy to buy. A big community with thousand of games and software titles developed. Adopted by the young generation. Yeah.. It's a dream!

Cool video! From my point of view, having actively experienced the entire commercial 8-bit era since the end of the 70s, the Commander X16 corresponds most closely to what one could have expected as the next logical 8-bit development step at the end of the 80s. I also think of 2 8-bit systems that were actually still being released but did not really make the big breakthrough in western countries at the end of the 80s due to the increasing demand for 16- and 32-bit systems: The MSX2+ Homecomputer Standard and the PC Engine/SuperGrafx16 Console. Both from 1988. The Commander X16 plays roughly in this league of high-end 8-bit systems and uses standard components that existed in this way (or something like this) at the end of the 1980s. In terms of multimedia, it surpasses the MSX2+ standard somewhat, and in terms of CPU power, it even slightly surpasses the PC Engine (65C02 derivative with 7.16 Mhz). Of course, it is a pity that the X16 is not backwards compatible with the Commodore 8-bit line. But backwards compatibility hasn't even been achieved by Commodore itself... lol

Well done! The section about the ZX Spectrum Next was quite interesting. My next video will explain the part of MEGA65 FCM graphics I use and this will also explain why I go y by x. Price: you can build your own MEGA65 using a NexysA7 FPGA Development board. It's a more DIY approach and won't have the nice case, keyboard and drive, but you still will be able to do most of the things you can do with "retail" model.

Thank you for this video! My dream computer: MEGA65. Already ordered and impatiently waiting...... 😇

It would be cool to see the JAM-1 pipelined 8-bit cpu running these tests compared to other machines. I know it's not (yet) a mass produced machine, but its very cool and surprisingly capable.

I agree about the graphics of the X16. I've been able to do some things with the graphics that have me shaking my head. Some other people have done double-PETSCII images that are astonishing.

I'm working on building a decent amalgam of Athlon 64 era parts and modern addons for a XP/Linux PC to run games, software, and hardware of the era. I feel more connected to the XP era personally, but I love that these modern DOS/Basic systems exist, if I ever feel like venturing further back and my XP era machine can't do it justice I'd love to be able to get something like the Commander X16 or Mega65!

I think a STM8S MCU chip will be great to play with. I plan to write a MONITOR program for it (or get one...). The register set is much like the 6502 or 6802 (if you ignore the B accumulator), but the nostalgia value would be minimal for those who need their pretty pixels... The STM8S207 has heaps of ROM and adequate RAM on chip to be a nice, cheap self contained controller or gadget... two bucks!

To link this with another topic that Mat is looking at, this is what you can get an FPGA to do in native hardware. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hcuFpqV-nNTXhqc.html

Interesting, I'm developing a SuperCPU clone for the 64, I may try similar code to see how it compares. Upping the voltage slightly it could get close to 30MHz. I wonder what times you would get if you try a modern $10 microcontroller like the STM32h730.

Seems like it is the ZILOG Z800 chip in the Sinclair SPECTRUM NEXT.

Ultimate 64 can now run at 16mhz. I wonder how it would do here?

It would have been interesting to try the benchmark on the TI99/4A and see how fast can go.

Why is there no Atari 800 new computer.??

Again, is there a difference in the PAL vs NTSC? for MEGA65.

How fast is it if you use the 3.5MHz CPU speed on the Spectrum Next? Is it linear, so around 2.5 minutes?

What about "modern" 8-bit computer, but without CPU and FPU. 1970-1980 technology. Gigatron TTL gives you that. Currently benchmarking it against channels basic and assembly codes. This one is written in C-language.

If there was a version of the TI99-4A which used the TMS99105A then it should be able to run that program in 8 seconds

For graphics, today, I don't see why a nice big fast bank of RAM can't be accessed by interleaved busses. You could have 1 MB of video or more you wanted. Genlockable, too, so it can be really professional. Make it a coprocessor system, like in the free standing arcade games of yore. Taito and Williams gave forgotten more than a thousand KZfaq retrocomputing channels will ever know about system design. Seriously, they were the professionals. Why not learn from them?

Matt, the real winner is „Agon Light” (search for it here on YT).

Doing Fractals in assembly is cheating. They have to be horribly slow in BASIC. Did one on my CPC lately, with Copilot teaching me how, it was an awesome experience. And 1 hour wait for the full res Mandelbrot was not too bad.

The price of the Mega65 is CHEAPER than a brand new C64 adjusted for inflation. The C64 was introduced in 1982 at $599 ($1,814.36 today) The Mega65 OTOH is 800eur ($841.60) which would be $283.75 in 1982.... not soo expensive huh?

just give me an 8- or 16-bit CPU at 2 Ghz

the problem with this.. they aint real 8-bit machines.. i mean they use FPGAs or custom chips and have extra commands that original software will never use....basically they just emulators.. ...but still interesting results none the less...

AgonLight2 now available - eZ80 20Mhz + ESP32 boots to Quark BBC Basic. 50 euros plus tax

I think a STM8S MCU chip will be great to play with. I plan to write a MONITOR program for it (or get one...). The register set is much like the 6502 or 6802 (if you ignore the B accumulator), but the nostalgia value would be minimal for those who need their pretty pixels... The STM8S207 has heaps of ROM and adequate RAM on chip to be a nice, cheap self contained controller or gadget... two bucks!