Yeah the era of "memory can outrun the CPU" was brief and glorious. The approach 80s microcomputers used for graphics required it -- multiplexing the video between the VDP (C64 VIC-II, Atari ST Shifter, etc.) and the CPU on odd bus cycles. Nice and fun.
By the end of the decade the CPU was running 2-3x the speed of the fastest RAM.
Now things are soooo complicated.
Not sure about this alternate reality where Apple's 68000 machines were cheap :-) (I say this as an Atari ST owner).
68000 has kind of aged well despite not being made anymore -- is perhaps now the only "retro" architecture which can be targeted by a full modern compiler. You can compile Rust, C++20, whatever, and have it run on a machine from 1981. That's kinda cool.
By the end of the decade the CPU was running 2-3x the speed of the fastest RAM.
Now things are soooo complicated.
Not sure about this alternate reality where Apple's 68000 machines were cheap :-) (I say this as an Atari ST owner).
68000 has kind of aged well despite not being made anymore -- is perhaps now the only "retro" architecture which can be targeted by a full modern compiler. You can compile Rust, C++20, whatever, and have it run on a machine from 1981. That's kinda cool.