Comment Re:C=128 (Score 2) 167
The problem with the 6502 was that if you were writing code for someone else's environment then your use of Page 0 (which many of the index-based instructions used intensively) was restricted because the OS often took up most of that space.
If you were writing code that was totally stand-alone (ie: no bios or OS to worry about) then the 6502 environment was *very* nice and could perform incredibly well. However, if you were writing code that sat atop a BIOS/OS layer then the Z80 was just so much simpler and less frustrating to code for.
Speed-wise, the Ohio Superboard (6502) would roundly trounce a TRS80 Model 1 in single-precision floating point math run through the relevant BASIC interpeters and ultimately and tightly coded 6502 code would also trounce the same written for the Z80 -- unless Page0 was already used up on the 6502 system.