The Original Colour Maximite

The original Colour Maximite was released in September 2012 and many thousands have been built. Recently it has been supersceded by the much improved Colour Maximite 2.

It is still a great project to build but the newer Colour Maximite 2 has more memory, runs much faster and costs only a little more to build. You can find the new Colour Maximite 2 at: https://geoffg.net/maximite.html

Downloads for the original Colour Maximite can be found at the bottom of this page.

The original Colour Maximite is a small and versatile single chip computer running a full featured BASIC interpreter with 128K of working memory and eight colours on a VGA monitor. It will work with a standard PC keyboard and because the Maximite has its own built in SD memory card and BASIC language you need nothing more to start writing and running BASIC programs.

It also has 40 input/output lines including an Arduino compatible connector. These I/Os can be independently configured as analog inputs, digital inputs or digital outputs. You can measure voltage, frequencies, detect switch closure, etc and respond by turning on lights, closing relays, etc - all under control of your BASIC program.

The design and the firmware including the BASIC interpreter is free to download and use. And all this is powered by a single chip which costs just $9.58.

The original Colour Maximite was described in the September 2012 and October 2012 issues of Silicon Chip magazine.

The Maximite Family

The original Colour Maximite is the second in the Maximite series of computers:

The first was the Monochrome Maximite introduced in April 2011. A full description of this version and firmware updates can be found by following this link: Monochrome Maximite
This was followed by the original Colour Maximite (this page) which was introduced in September 2012.
Released June 2020 the Colour Maximite 2 has about ten times the speed and memory of the original Colour Maximite. Details of this can be found by following this link: Colour Maximite 2

More Information

For information on the original Colour Maximite click on these links:

Other useful pages:

Feature Summary

Self contained high performance micro computer with a 32 bit CPU and 128K RAM.
Full featured BASIC interpreter and operating system. Instant on, ready for you to type in and test your programs.
VGA output. 480x432 pixels.	COLOUR (eight colours)
VGA output. 240x216 pixels. Eight colour game playing mode.
Monochrome Composite Video output (selectable PAL or NTSC)
Standard PS2 style keyboard input.
Synthesised music and sound effects (using the MOD format).	STEREO
Battery backed real time clock.
20 external I/O lines on the back panel.
Arduino compatible connector with an additional 20 I/O lines that are independent of the original 20 I/Os.
SD card for storing programs and files (up to 32GB).
USB for connecting to a personal computer (Windows, Mac or Linux) as a terminal or for file transfer.
Extensive communications protocols including Serial (RS232 and RS485 with transceivers), I²C, SPI, CAN and 1-wire.
PWM analog output.	DUAL
Graphics includes selectable fonts, user designed fonts, drawing lines, circles, squares and control over any pixel with any colour.
Special commands for animated games.
Firmware upgrades via USB.
Powered from USB, 9V plug pack (wall wart) or battery.

Where Can I Get It?

For the original Colour Maximite you have a number of choices:

Download the construction pack, source the required parts and build your own. None of the parts are propriety so you should be able to build the original Colour Maximite for about $60. To make it easier you can purchase the pre programmed microcontroller and printed circuit board from Silicon Chip magazine. All the details are on the original Colour Maximite Design and Construction page. Note that soldering the 100-pin surface mount PIC32 chip takes some skill so if you are at all doubtful you should consider any of the below choices - all of which have this chip pre programmed and already soldered to the PCB.
CircuitGizmos (in the USA) has a fully assembled and tested version of the original Colour Maximite without a case called the CGCOLORMAX2. It is fully compatible and has some extra features such as a RS232/485 driver. At a cost of about US$65 it is unbeatable value and makes an excellent alternative to building your own. See this link for details.
As at the time of writing you can still purchase a complete kit of parts for the original Colour Maximite which includes a copy of the magazine articles from Altronics for A$95 (they can ship the kit to anywhere in the world). This approach is the easy option as you get all the parts including the pre cut box and the microcontroller is pre programmed and soldered to the board. See this link for details.
Purchase a UBW32 experimenter's board (about US$40) and build an original Colour Maximite around that. Details are on the page UBW32 version of the Colour Maximite. Mick Gulovsen has designed a low cost (about $6) circuit board that holds the extra components required to turn the UBW32 into a full original Colour Maximite. Mick has even written a comprehensive assembly manual. See this link for more details (for prices look in the folder named "00 Prices & Contact Details").

Maximite and MMBasic Support

The first thing that you should read is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list as this covers construction problems, usage questions and general questions related to all Maximites (colour, monochrome, DuinoMite, etc).

Also, you should check the list of current bugs found in MMBasic as it lists any faults found in the current version and provides workarounds if applicable.

The Back Shed has an active forum where a many knowledgeable users are happy to help newcomers to the Maximite and MMBasic: http://www.thebackshed.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=16

MMBasic Library

The MMBasic library is a collection of programs specifically written for MMBasic. These include games like Space Invaders and Pacman, demonstration snippets of code and programs to do interesting things like generate morse code. Because the programs are so small they are all bundled together into a single downloadable file available in the download section below.

This library is no longer being updated but it is still a great resource for beginners and experts alike.

Interesting Web Sites

Two great classic games for the Maximite plus a file manager:
http://www.nickmarentes.com/MaximiteProjects/index.html

The Back Shed forum is a great place to hang out and disscuss the Maximite and microcontrollers:
http://www.thebackshed.com/forum/Microcontrollers

An excellent video review of the original Colour Maximite by the 8-bit Guy on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQA8lowEKOo

A review of the original Colour Maximite and a preview of the Colour Maximite 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv99JO52FJo

Another video review and discussion of the original Colour Maximite by Chris Tusa:
https://youtu.be/gREGXfMRHuw

A video clip showing a moon lander game running on the original Colour Maximite with sound effects:
http://youtu.be/knq5vX65Xy4 (the program is included in the MMBasic Library which can be downloaded below)

And another clip which introduces the original Colour Maximite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtkjOr1pzsQ

A review of the Altronics kits for the original Colour Maximite:
http://demin.ws/blog/english/2012/12/04/colour-maximite/

A benchmark showing the speed of the Maximite compared to the 80's style computers (it is fast):
http://www.thebackshed.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4685&PN=1&TPN=1

RetroBSD. A port of BSD Unix running on the original Colour Maximite (also see downloads below):
http://retrobsd.org

Source Code to MMBasic

The source code for MMBasic is available from the main MMBasic website at http://mmbasic.com

Downloads

All downloads are for the current version. Older versions can be found in the archive.
The firmware updates include all the relevant documentation (it does not have to be separately downloaded).

Documentation

Maximite Hardware Manual	DOWNLOAD
MMBasic Language Manual	DOWNLOAD
MMBasic Language Manual - Russian language version by Alexey Skomorohov (V4.4 only)	DOWNLOAD
MMBasic Change Log	DOWNLOAD
Colour MMBasic for the UBW32	DOWNLOAD
Using Serial Over USB on the Macintosh	DOWNLOAD

MMBasic Updates

Original Colour Maximite MMBasic firmware V4.5C (also for the UBW32 with colour)	DOWNLOAD
Special Version of V4.5 with support for CAN (Controller Area Network)	DOWNLOAD

Other Downloads

MMBasic Library dated 3-July-2015 (user written programs for MMBasic)	DOWNLOAD
Demonstration programs for the Colour Maximite (including a synthesiser demo)	DOWNLOAD
Windows Serial Port Driver (for connection to the Maximite via USB - Windows only)	DOWNLOAD
MMEdit, a full featured editor for MMBasic (it runs on your PC). By Jim Hiley	WEB SITE
Sprite and Font File Editor for the Maximite (written by Fabrice Muller)	DOWNLOAD