Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ecsvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!cjl From: cjl@ecsvax.UUCP (Charles Lord) Newsgroups: net.micro Subject: Re:HCF Message-ID: <796@ecsvax.UUCP> Date: Sun, 3-Mar-85 21:06:18 EST Article-I.D.: ecsvax.796 Posted: Sun Mar 3 21:06:18 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 6-Mar-85 02:46:00 EST Organization: NC Educational Computing Service Lines: 21 HCF was and is alive and well on the 6800. The instruction (HALT and catch fire) is only an expression, and does not make the chip burn as some have suggested. The code is really a useful utility designed by the engineers at Motorola for testing primative systems. The address counter merely increments from 0000-FFFF repeatedly until reset. Although handy for hardware repair, the code was a villan for many that learned programming on the D2 or similar manual machines. As the same engineers then went to form the company MOS Technology (the inventer of the 6502), it is conceivable that they hid the same instruction in the 65XX family. Anyone who has studied ATE(Auto test equipment) principles can readily undewrstand WHY such instructions exist! (See- we still need a NET.DiGITAL!) -Charles Lord cjl@ecsvax