In this video I take a crack at explaining the the 'not always obvious/sneaky' program of the classic 1975 computer game "Kill the Bit(s)", by Dean McDaniel. I first demonstrate the program in operation on an IMSAI 8080 (clone), then dive into the detailed explanation of the program.
Another good, but not equivalent, explanation by w.o.p.r. is titled "Kill The Bit game for the ALTAIR 8800 Computer explained", the URL is:
https://youtu.be/zE89rTsKEIE?si=qFsTq35AtW633265
I go into more detail about some things glossed over or not mentioned in w.o.p.r.'s video, but he does explain more of the functionality of the MITS Altair 8800 computer, which is the machine that the program was originally written for. The IMSAI 8080 is a clone of the Altair 8800.
In particular, things in my video that are not in the other video are:
- how the 8080 processor outputs its Status bits
- how the Altair & IMSAI use the Status bits in order to implement the 8080 CPU's IN and OUT I/O commands, which are needed for the front panel functionality
- how the 'timing loop' works in regard to it's 16-bit register never being reset and how doing timing math in 2's complement arithmetic solves that potential issue