Connomore64: Cycle exact emulation of the C64 using parallel microcontrollers

170•codewiz•12h ago

Comments

chillingeffect•10h ago

I love it. Ive been reviving a stack of 4 c64s i got untested for $285. I noticed CIA chip replacements cost 40-45 and was wondering if an Rpi pico could replace it! I'll bet they combined two CIAs into one. I'm curious if they repeat the typical 24+ pin bus (16 addr, 8 data, plus more control lines).

croemer•10h ago

Do CIA chip replacements come with a backdoor? </s>

genewitch•6h ago

Yes, via the frame buffer interface pins

robinsonb5•8h ago

Not directly - you'd need level shifters to handle the 5V signals in the C64. (The RP2040 isn't "officially" 5V tolerant - there are certain circumstances where you can get away with wiring some its inputs directly to 5V logic, but those circumstances exclude bidirectional IO.)

sunpazed•10h ago

Love this! The C64 introduced me to the world of computers as a kid. I still have that almost 40 year old machine in my collection, but I’m weary of failure every time I turn it on. This is somewhat better than the MiSTer as I can use physical peripherals with it. Great work!

Gergo•8h ago

The most common failure points in these old boxes are the capacitors and the power supply. Swap out all the caps and replace the original power supply for a modern remake and the 64 could last you another 40 years. :)

abhisek•9h ago

So cool! Things we would do to re-live the past. Not really into hardware but I remember trying to build an emulator for z80 just to learn how it work for old Sega games

Towaway69•7h ago

Can't wait until punchcards make a comeback ;)

Why isn't there an emulation of punch cards using eReaders!

Completely on your side, just wondering how far back do we go?

xobs•5h ago

There are usb-c paper tape readers: https://www.e-basteln.de/computing/papertape/overview/

They even work with phones!

Towaway69•4h ago

Awesome device, it's so small you could attach to a flipper or have a builtin into the flipper.

Also love their motto: "Solving yesterday's problems today" :)

Now for coding doom in ticker tape ... that should fill up the rest of the afternoon!

LargoLasskhyfv•4h ago

Lol :) Interestingly that same site hosts a project related to the topic of emulated 6502, but not cycle accurate, instead 100Mhz in old Spartan-6 FPGA. Unfortunately not 6510, so no plugin for the 'breadbox':

https://www.e-basteln.de/computing/65f02/65f02/ &

https://hackaday.com/2021/10/15/heres-a-100-mhz-pin-compatib...

But! This reminded me of something else:

Micro Core Labs!

Which can either be cycle accurate, or superfast:

https://microcorelabs.wordpress.com/2021/03/14/mcl64-commodo...

https://microcorelabs.wordpress.com/2021/04/16/mcl64-mos-651...

https://microcorelabs.wordpress.com/2021/04/19/mcl64-worlds-...

https://microcorelabs.wordpress.com/2021/11/22/commodore-64-...

https://microcorelabs.wordpress.com/2021/11/29/mcl64-update/

Imagine Durex Forth on that. Ze PoWerRrRr!1!!

TonyTrapp•4h ago

> Completely on your side, just wondering how far back do we go?

The main difference is probably that many people had a C64 in their bedroom, so there's a lot of childhood nostalgia involved. Fewer people probably had a mainframe computer with punch cards in their bedroom. ;) Such emulation would probably be more interesting from a pure preservation perspective, and be less about nostalgia.

sandos•6h ago

Ohh, at first I was excited to see if this mean you could just replace parts of the C64 with some nice modern building blocks: I have a very old C64 that I don't want to cannibalize for parts that has a broken clock module. But this is not quite that. :)

rollcat•6h ago

You may be interested in this: https://www.hackster.io/news/building-a-brand-new-c64-96e803...

rollcat•5h ago

I love the sound of the SID chip, happy to find out about this project as well: https://github.com/frntc/SIDKick-pico

8 Bit Weapon are making some fantastic use of it:

https://8bitweapon.bandcamp.com/album/disassembly-language-a...

https://8bitweapon.bandcamp.com/album/modular-sidsation

LukHash also regularly features C64s in his kit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JQkW6BgUYU

Share your favourite artists!

_the_inflator•3h ago

The best online SID Web player with access to HVSC and beyond can be find here:

https://deepsid.chordian.net/

The host and mastermind behind this artful resource is no other than:

JCH of Vibrants

Enjoy and have fun playing around with the player settings as well to tweak any tune available to your liking.

reaperducer•3h ago

The best online SID Web player with access to HVSC and beyond can be find here

I prefer local. Do you know of a good macOS SID player? I'd love to drag out some of my old files.

scodger2•2h ago

This is a painstaking software remake. It's mostly geared towards making a vst to use as a synth, but you can play old sid files using various chipsets. https://www.plogue.com/products/chipsynth-c64.html

scodger2•2h ago

Previously on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38556261.

eabeezxjc•1h ago

I am in favor of this solution. But let it not be closed. Let's also run fuzix.org on it .

wiz21c•1h ago

> rewritten graphics rendering code (running 5-10 times as fast as the previous code while sacrificing some compatibility)

argh, too bad. If one goes the cycle-accurate way, then not doing everything accurate is a bit strange... I wonder why they made that choice...

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