| The MOS Technologies 6502 processor was introduced in the mid-1970s to fill the need for a affordable general-purpose CPU. Its low cost (US$25 at introduction, less than C$0.89 now) was less than one-sixth of competing CPUs, and it had very simple circuitry requirements which made it simple and inexpensive to incorporate it into products. The 6502 (or a slight variation) was therefore used in many home and personal computers, such as the Apple II; the Commodore PET, Vic-20, and C64; the Atari 400 and 800; the BBC Micro; and games such as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Atari 5200, and Atari 6200. A number of variations of this processor have been produced, using different semiconductor processes, integrated peripherals, instruction and data-width extensions, and pinouts. Several different versions are still in production for various embedded applications, and it remains a popular chip for homebrew system builders. | The MOS Technologies 6502 processor was introduced in the mid-1970s to fill the need for a affordable general-purpose CPU. Its low cost (US$25 at introduction, less than C$0.89 now) was less than one-sixth of competing CPUs, and it had very simple circuitry requirements which made it simple and inexpensive to incorporate it into products. The 6502 (or a slight variation) was therefore used in many home and personal computers, such as the Apple II; the Commodore PET, Vic-20, and C64; the Atari 400 and 800; the BBC Micro; and games such as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Atari 5200, and Atari 6200. A number of variations of this processor have been produced, using different semiconductor processes, integrated peripherals, instruction and data-width extensions, and pinouts. Several different versions are still in production for various embedded applications, and it remains a popular chip for homebrew system builders. |
| A note on hexadecimal notation: In most 6502 documentation, including this page, the ''$'' prefix indicates hexadecimal notation. On other systems, this may be designated by a ''0x'' prefix. Therefore, the value $30 indicates the hexadecimal value 30, which is equal to the decimal value 48 (or the ASCII code for a zero "0"). | A note on hexadecimal notation: In most 6502 documentation, including this page, the ''$'' prefix indicates hexadecimal notation. (On other systems, this may be designated by a ''0x'' prefix or an ''h'' suffix). Therefore, the value $30 indicates the hexadecimal value 30, which is equal to the decimal value 48 (or the ASCII code for a zero "0"). |
