WDC and its founder’s family has a long history in supporting engineering education at universities such as Temple University in Philadelphia, The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, The University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona State University in Tempe, and most recently Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. So it is natural that WDC would continue to invest in future engineers and their education. This page will begin to articulate our plans in engaging future engineers in the discovery of the 65xx brand microprocessing for student projects. The 65xx microprocessors continue to be of interest for current educational systems, hobby systems, redesigns or upgrades of Apple, Acorn, Atari, Nintendo, and Commodore PC and video game systems. In short, the 65xx microprocessing systems are fun and educational. This page will help you become familiar with what WDC is doing to support engineering education.
The 65xxTools are also sold for use in development of products that feature 65xx processors in the educational environment. 65zzTools are NOT for reverse engineering of our technology in any form and are NOT provided for use with non–WDC 65xx processors in Core or Chip form.
65xxTools are protected software and require a license file for proper functionality. The Terbium IDE (TIDE) tool will work without a license, giving you the ability to work within the IDE, create projects and edit source code. All other tools including the assemblers and compilers will not function with out a license file provided by WDC.
The Western Design Center, Inc. offers educational packages, pricing, and options. Please contact WDC for more details.
For students that want a single license, you can Purchase and Download a single MAC locked license below.
WDC's 65xx Reference Design Kits are proven developer board designs for getting you started with our Chip level products. We provide these designs FREE in our PCB Design Kit. These kits may be downloaded and used to jump start a design that uses features of the Terbium/65xx technology and ProSDK software development kit. In addition these boards can be purchased from our PCB Manufacturing Partner, JTL.
The NCS 2056T is a Educational Breadboard Computer Kit that integrates computer history with the assembly of a working computer. This kit uses the Western Design Center W65C02S microprocessor, which is an updated version of the MOS 6502 processor that made computers like the KIM-1, Ohio Scientific, Commodore PET, Apple II, Commodore64, Atari 8-bit Computer Family 800XL, and BBC Acorn Computer possible. The student will assemble the computer chips on a breadboard, and will even create a standard keyboard interface and attach a 128x64 LCD module for a display.
This kit comes with 2 printed manuals (A Technical Manual, and an Assembly Manual). The included CD-ROM also contains datasheets, and a 450+ page '6502 Programming Manual' in PDF format, and other various useful tools.
The NCS-2056T has received a great response and also won the 2008 NWO Innovation Idea Factory Challenge. Here is what some NCS-2056T user's thought:
"It was a great experience for the students. The technical manual was really well done." , Jaye Hebert, London Ontario (High School Computer Teacher ICEM4 Class)
"The manual is definately the best explanation I've seen so far of how the 65xx series of components work, etc. Very nice stuff.", Daniel Albro, Burbank, CA.
"This was a pleasure to read for both technical and historical information." , Paul Fechko, Arkansas U.S.A.
"I got my kit in just now, and I am very happy and pleased with it..... I am very impressed with the quality of the manuals, and I like how you went into the history..." , Glen VanDenBiggelaar, Alberta, Canada
"WDC is quite proud of the universities and educational institutions we support, and for good reason, see this information about Temple University in Philadelphia, Birthplace of Freedom!"
"Temple University was named the No. 1 school when it comes to a diverse student body according to the latest edition of the Princeton Review’s "Best 366 Colleges," which was released yesterday," writes Mike Benner in a page 1 story. "Many experts have long hailed diversity as an important factor in education, noting that a diverse environment promotes personal growth, a sense of community and critical thinking. It has also become a deciding factor as students choose a college, possibly accounting for Temple’s nearly 18 percent increase in enrollment since 2000."