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Contiki 3.0 Released, Retains Support For Apple II, C64

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the crucial-backwards-compatibility dept.

An anonymous reader writes that on Wednesday the Contiki team announced the release of Contiki 3.0, the latest version of the open source IoT operating system. The 3.0 release is a huge step up from the 2.x branch and brings support for new and exciting hardware, a set of new network protocols, a bunch of improvements in the low-power mesh networking protocols, along with a large number of general stability improvements. And, yes, the system still runs on the Commodore 64/128, Apple II, Atari.

44 comments

  1. IoT by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    Oh dear... is "IoT" already so ubiquitous that it doesn't need expanding any more?

    (Internet of Things, for the probably substantial number of people who won't know it at a glance)

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:IoT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (Internet of Things, for the probably substantial number of people who won't know it at a glance)

      "Everything online and hackable" for the subset who doesn't know what the stupid buzzphrase actually means.

      Ok, I may be a bit harsh. I can understand the appeal for some of the devices, but every story seems to push things like internet enabled dishwashers that can be easily hacked to close the drain and open the water supply to full or internet enabled toasters that can be reprogrammed to properly toast bread but char bagels to coal.

    2. Re:IoT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh dear... is "IoT" already so ubiquitous that it doesn't need expanding any more?

      Maybe not on a general news site, but Slashdot has been using the initialism for a few years.

    3. Re:IoT by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      I prefer "Internet (Direct Interaction) of Things".

    4. Re:IoT by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      If they included the Commodore VIC-20, it would be the Internet of Toys. According to my seventh grade Apple ][ instructor, the VIC-20 is a toy and not a "real" computer.

    5. Re:IoT by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      Since you're complaining about the term not being explained instead of asking what it means, I'd say it's ubiquitous.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    6. Re:IoT by amalcolm · · Score: 1

      The 1970s called - they want their religious war back

      --
      Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
    7. Re:IoT by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      Version 1 was ported to VIC-20 (and worse), albeit without networking, so no "Internet of Anything": http://hitmen.c02.at/html/tool...

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    8. Re:IoT by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Since you're complaining about the term not being explained instead of asking what it means, I'd say it's ubiquitous.

      What, it's ubiquitous because I know what it means? I had no idea I was the Arbiter of Ubiquity.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    9. Re:IoT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      your 7th grade apple ][ instruction is a fucking moron.

    10. Re:IoT by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      Nobody else asked either, they were just agreeing that it should have been explained.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    11. Re:IoT by LWATCDR · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Funny but a friend of mine called the Apple II a toy but then he had a PDP-11.
      Actually the AppleII was a better computer than the Vic-20 but it also cost many times as much.
      Frankly I loved all the computers of the late 70s early 80s. So many new ideas and so many systems and all of them you could learn inside and out except for the Ti-99.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    12. Re:IoT by KatchooNJ · · Score: 2

      Agree. The Vic-20 was underpowered (5K RAM and only 3.5K was usable), but it was a great bargain at the time. I had the 16K RAMpack expansion, so that definitely made the computer a lot more usable and fun to use. :-) I eventually got a C-64, but the Vic-20 was my first computer and I would never call it a toy... it taught me too much. I even still own it to this day and it still works.

      --
      "Never give up, for that is just the time and place when the tide will change." -Harriet Beecher Stowe ^_^
    13. Re:IoT by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I wrote some long BASIC programs that ran out the memory on the VIC-20 and the memory card. Didn't have that problem with the Commodore 64.

    14. Re:IoT by KatchooNJ · · Score: 1

      There was a 64K RAMpack for the VIC-20, so if you used that, you wouldn't have run out of RAM. ;-)

      --
      "Never give up, for that is just the time and place when the tide will change." -Harriet Beecher Stowe ^_^
    15. Re:IoT by smithmc · · Score: 1

      There was a 64K RAMpack for the VIC-20, so if you used that, you wouldn't have run out of RAM. ;-)

      That couldn't possibly have worked for BASIC programs, as the parent was talking about. The total addressable space of the 6502 was only 64K, so you couldn't have 64K of RAM and the BASIC interpreter and the KERNAL (not to mention e.g. video RAM etc.) at the same time.

      --
      Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
    16. Re:IoT by NormalVisual · · Score: 1

      Frankly I loved all the computers of the late 70s early 80s.

      Yeah, me too. All of them were very distinctive, with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Compatibility? We don' need no steenkin' compatibility!

      --
      Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
    17. Re:IoT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ever heard the word "bank switching"? :D -- at least for the C-64 there were memory expansions with 512K and more (not sure if the VIC-20 had a usable bank-switching circuit, but it's possible). There are Ethernet adapters complete with full TCP/IP stacks for the C-64 and VIC-20.

      Even if the VIC-20 didn't have bank switching, it could be emulated using any of the expansion buses (IEC, User Port, etc.) and proper software, even if that would mean having to transfer data to and from storage. More hardcore would be soldering expansion boards onto the main board.

      Anyway, there's been a shitload of expansion boards and cards for any of the Commodore 8-bitters, so if you look, you can find just about anything.

    18. Re:IoT by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 1

      I have the 32K RAM expansion for the Vic20. Has a pass through port to mount other cartridges, and you can flick the memory banks on and off with dip switches.

      And yes, an expanded vic20 runs a ported version of DOOM :D
      Yes, it's crap.

      --
      READY.
      PRINT ""+-0
    19. Re:IoT by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      your 7th grade apple ][ instruction is a fucking moron.

      Apple zealots have been ever thus.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    20. Re:IoT by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Since you're complaining about the term not being explained instead of asking what it means, I'd say it's ubiquitous.

      What, it's ubiquitous because I know what it means? I had no idea I was the Arbiter of Ubiquity.

      Only the true Messiah denies his divinity!

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    21. Re:IoT by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      I'm not the Messiah, I'm a...

      Well, the less said about that the better.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    22. Re:IoT by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      And so many CPUs 8080, 8085, Z80, 6809, 6502, 68000, 8088,8086, TI TMS 9900, NS-32016 and goodness knows what else.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    23. Re: IoT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get an Oric instead

    24. Re:IoT by smithmc · · Score: 1

      Ever heard the word "bank switching"? :D -- at least for the C-64 there were memory expansions with 512K and more

      Of course I know about bank switching. But in order to run a BASIC program, the BASIC interpreter (and probably the KERNAL) needs to be switched in, so that's 16K you can't use for a BASIC program no matter what.

      --
      Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
  2. What a piece of shit!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IoT or lol?

  3. Time to shine by anchovy_chekov · · Score: 2

    I had completely forgotten about Contiki. It's actually quite a neat OS, but I moved away from embedded systems years ago and all that sort of stuff slipped away. There's a box of things gathering dust that could run this.

    Good stuff. Better than an oversized OS draining your power and sucking performance out of constrained hardware. Maybe it's finally Contiki's time to shine.

    1. Re:Time to shine by Known+Nutter · · Score: 2

      Maybe it's finally Contiki's time to shine.

      The Year of Contiki on the Desktop has arrived!

      --
      Beware of the Leopard.
    2. Re:Time to shine by tehcyder · · Score: 2

      Maybe it's finally Contiki's time to shine.

      The Year of Contiki on the Desktop has arrived!

      I still have problems getting audio to work, plus you can't get printer drivers for my 1985 HP Laserjet 1.19L. Also, DVD playback doesn't work out of the box.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  4. Contiki is 12 years old by tapspace · · Score: 1

    Contiki has been around since well before the name "IoT" existed.

    1. Re:Contiki is 12 years old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, Wired reported something like Contiki "has even been ported to the Commodore 64 and Apple II!" It's been completely buried, but I think it was originally written to be a multitasking networked operating system for the Commodore 64 or a similar vintage machine. I had certainly heard of it in that context before I ever heard of "IoT".

    2. Re:Contiki is 12 years old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, managed to find a reference. It's in a quote of an older message from 2003, but here it is: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.sys.apple2/qQfB08s7jbk/-YvcNzqode8J

      "Contiki was originally intended for the the (unexpanded) Commodore 64"

  5. really would like it to work with thread... by johnjones · · Score: 1

    Its very cool but I wonder how it will work with thread http://threadgroup.org/Downloads.aspx
    it would be nice if the mesh included nest and other thread hardware

  6. Sadly it doesnt fix the problems... by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Informative

    IOT is a fail because of manufacturers.

    For example, ZigBee connected light bulbs, GE Link, Cree Connected, and Phillips Hue all use their OWN modified protocol. First the use the ZLL protocol instead of the ZHA that they should be using, then they refuse to repeat signals for other brands. So you have some cheap Cree bulbs in entryways and hallways, but have the expensive white color temperature bulbs for elsewhere... Oh they don't mesh, sorry. They also don't mesh with your other devices so you have a horribly broken and fractured mess that barely works.

    IoT is an epic fail because we don't have a group of people going to different manufacturers with a sack of rocks and beating the shit out of executives and head engineers. I blame ZigBee and Z-Wave for not forcing companies at gunpoint to follow a freaking standard, but the engineers and executives made the decision to be assholes and intentionally be incompatible.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re: Sadly it doesnt fix the problems... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ummm... Don't buy stuff that doesn't do standards? If I want to SSH into my router/PC/whatever, I wouldn't buy one that doesn't support SSH. Problem solved, bill in the mail!

    2. Re: Sadly it doesnt fix the problems... by tepples · · Score: 1

      Ummm... Don't buy stuff that doesn't do standards?

      So what do you buy if zero of the brands in the store near you do standards? Wait until you have $35 of other stuff and then wait another week or two for Super Saver Shipping?

    3. Re: Sadly it doesnt fix the problems... by Maxwell'sSilverLART · · Score: 1

      Ummm... Don't buy stuff that doesn't do standards?

      So what do you buy if zero of the brands in the store near you do standards? Wait until you have $35 of other stuff and then wait another week or two for Super Saver Shipping?

      Um...yeah, that's exactly what you do. Aside from the cost of gas and sales tax probably eating your savings on shipping, "gotta have it now" is a privilege for which you have to pay the piper...in this case, by getting crappy kit.

      Besides which, if you planned your deployment thoroughly, instead of buying it piecemeal, you'd probably be over the $35 threshold anyway.

      --
      Moderate drunk! It's more fun that way!
    4. Re: Sadly it doesnt fix the problems... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you really that clueless about things?

      NOTHING... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING follows any standards but their own. This is the problem. you either have to get complete vendor lock in on one brand, and go to hell if you want something they just do not make, or you buy nothing at all and like it.

      I prefer his solution with beating the shit out of executives and engineers, It's the smartest thing ANYONE has written about this stuff.

    5. Re: Sadly it doesnt fix the problems... by silas_moeckel · · Score: 1

      Even with a standards body (zwave) it's hard to insure things work cross manufacture. Every company it trying to be the one and only solution and most are trying to get ya to pay them 10 bucks a month forever to use their cloud to control what you own.

      --
      No sir I dont like it.
  7. Ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How can my Atari 800 open the garage door when it's in my attic?

    Good day, sir!

    1. Re:Ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What use is a garage door in the attic?

    2. Re:Ridiculous by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      Well, the rest of his house is underground.

  8. Did someone just admit to tax evasion? by tepples · · Score: 0

    Aside from the cost of gas and sales tax probably eating your savings on shipping

    Gas perhaps, unless it's a trip you already made for another reason. Sales tax no, unless you're ordering from a dealer that has no nexus in your state and committing tax evasion in the use tax field of your tax return.

    Besides which, if you planned your deployment thoroughly, instead of buying it piecemeal, you'd probably be over the $35 threshold anyway.

    "Planning? In my home?" It's less likely than you think.