stm8ef

> You can buy SBCs that run FORTH natively Even very cheap and readily available microcontrollers like the STM8 can be used in this way [0] [1] I’ve found the microcontroller for less than 20 cents on Ali express, easy to solder. Add a capacitor and a TSSOP-to-DIP adapter board and you have a breakout board for less than 50 cents that can run Forth. [0] https://github.com/TG9541/stm8ef [1] https://hackaday.io/project/16097-eforth-for-cheap-stm8s-gad...

If you want a more modern microcontroller that can actually be used to make things, take a look at the 8 bit STM8 series. They are widely used (you may have a few already, toasters, rice cooker, car etc). They definitely have that 6502 flavor, although even closer to being MC6800 improved, (eg 16 bit index registers), plus a good set of timers, ADCs, UARTs, SPI, I2C etc. Official "Discovery boards" from ST include a programmer and debug connection for under $10, and cheap dev boards are plentiful. Open source C compiler SDCC, and free tools from ST. There is also a very good Forth [0]. Even if Forth is not your thing the site has a lot of good information on STM8. [0] https://github.com/TG9541/stm8ef

It's always a multi dimensional spectrum of cost, performance, peripherals, development support, availability, family reach, etc. I personally really like STM8 microcontrollers for their simplicity and very low cost (can be less than 30 cents). There's actually another project that brings Forth to STM8: https://github.com/TG9541/stm8ef It has very good documentation and I recommend anyone to take a look

I used the discussions feature to express my thanks a few days ago. Might be better than opening an issue? https://github.com/TG9541/stm8ef/discussions/386