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posted by martyb on Wednesday October 13 2021, @10:55PM   Printer-friendly

http://www.e-basteln.de/computing/65f02/65f02/

The 6502 was the CPU in my first computer (an Apple II plus), as well as many other popular home computers of the late 1970s and 80s. It lived on well into the 1990s in game consoles and chess computers, mostly in its updated “65C02” CMOS version. Here’s a re-implementation of the 65C02 in an FPGA, in a pin-compatible format that lets you upgrade those old computers and games to 100 MHz clock rate!

The concept

The idea of implementing a CPU core inside an FPGA is not new, of course. In fact, the CPU core I am using is not my own, but was developed as a 6502 core by Arlet Ottens, and extended to cover the 65C02 opcodes by Ed Spittles and David Banks. A big thank-you to Arlet, Ed, and Dave for developing the core and sharing it freely! Links to their original work are on the Files & Links page.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @12:20AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @12:20AM (#1186830)

    I miss the days when my computer booted nearly instantaneously!

    And understood all the ins and outs of CPU/memory/IO. Those days are long gone.

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  • (Score: 2) by martyb on Thursday October 14 2021, @01:00AM (4 children)

    by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 14 2021, @01:00AM (#1186837) Journal

    And understood all the ins and outs of CPU/memory/IO. Those days are long gone.

    My OSI Challenger 4P even included complete schematics printed inside the case!

    Imagine if they did that with, say, a current-day Ryzen! (Never mind all the support chips for PCI, networking, USB, etc.)

    --
    Wit is intellect, dancing.
    • (Score: 2) by corey on Thursday October 14 2021, @10:38PM (2 children)

      by corey (2202) on Thursday October 14 2021, @10:38PM (#1187136)

      Yep that was common back then. I found a Sanyo ghetto blaster with manual on a nature strip (the bit between the road and the foot path (side walk)). In the back of the manual it has a full schematic of the whole unit. But back then if it stopped working, you’d take it to a repair workshop (if you were not an EE). These days when something stops, you chuck it and but a new one. Sad. I blame China (and planned obsolescence, and capitalism).

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @10:48PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @10:48PM (#1187142)

        I blame custom integrated circuits and miniaturization more.

      • (Score: 1) by anubi on Friday October 15 2021, @12:28AM

        by anubi (2828) on Friday October 15 2021, @12:28AM (#1187163) Journal

        With the advent of robotic assembly, economies of scale, runs of specialized components, tremendous gains in component reliability yet inexpensive to make, trying to maintain a supply chain of replacement parts becomes an exercise in futility.

        It becomes like trying to fix a burned out CCFL. The inverter is usually still operable. Yet we change the whole thing.

        So far I have happily accepted inexpensive "throwaway electronics" in the same manner as CCFL bulbs...with the exception of wired in place batteries. The age, lose capacity, and often I need to field swap for another battery that has a fresh charge.

        But for expensive stuff, such as laptops and major appliances, I heavily consider "can I fix this thing?" in a purchase decision. My "new" washing machine is a rescue from the trash truck. Old Kenmore. I can maintain that thing nearly indefinitely. I can't fix the new ones.

        --
        "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Acabatag on Thursday October 14 2021, @11:06PM

      by Acabatag (2885) on Thursday October 14 2021, @11:06PM (#1187144)

      You had to buy it seperately, but the IBM PC had a published Tehnical Reference Manual with full schematics. That included the schematics of the floppy drive and power supply. Plus it has the commented source code for the BIOS. I have the same material for a number of other machines of that era, including the Compaq Deskpro 386 and the AT&T 6300. I think I remember that the 6300 techref has the schematic for the hard drive.

      IBM didn't keep secrets about the PC.