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Welcome to the NerdConsole Wiki.

With any luck the information here will be able to answer all your questions. It is recommended that you search for the information you are looking for with the search box to the left. Good luck and have fun!

NerdConsole is an 8-bit game console designed from scratch. It was designed to provide powerful features and to make using them as easy as possible for game developers. There are no licenses, security or regional lockouts so anyone that wants to make a game can jump in and do so.

It is a 65C02 CPU based game console that was inspired by some of the design decisions made by Nintendo for the NES but it is NOT an emulator and it is NOT directly compatible with the NES. It may be difficult, but it should be possible to port games from other 6502 based machines to NerdConsole if that is what you are interested in doing.

This project is the multi-year hobby project of a single person, so please be gentle about how long it's taking me to finish it. There are a lot of things to learn and to do, and I work a full-time job.

Current Status

The status for a while is: Rewriting the PPU software from scratch. Previously the PPU was written in Java, but I was running into issues caused by the language design. Rewriting it in C++ so I have access to unsigned integer types and proper libraries for graphics and GPIO.

Actively working on:

• Creating unions to allow for bytewise setting of complex register and table types.
• Writing tests to make sure they work properly.

Need Specifications?

• Memory Regions for where data lives within NerdConsole.
• Control Page for the available registers that control NerdConsole.
• Graphics Modes to see all the ways you can configure your graphics.
• Built-In Palette List for the collection of palettes that can be used if you don't want to make your own.
• Palette Formats to understand how the bits work when setting up colors.
• Tile Formats for how to arrange data into graphics.
• Name Tables for how to assemble graphics tiles into backgrounds.
• Sprite Table for how to use graphics tiles for moving foreground objects.
• Connectors for how various things connect within the system.
• Joysticks for how to deal with user input.
• Integrated Circuit Chips for how the various chips work.

Want other Information?

• Glossary for terms and acronyms that you may not know.
• Downloads to get NerdConsole files.
• Assembly Language for a collection of helpful pieces of code you can use in your own projects.
• Specification Comparison between NES and NerdConsole.
• Console Versions to read about how there used to be both standard and development editions.
• Development Language for details about why the NerdConsole PPU is being rewritten.