Electronics hobby blog

What you see here is a Commodore 64 cartridge that I have created by sticking an EPROM and some other components on a breadboard.

A while back I also made a prototype for C64 PLA chip replacement, but I never did any further tests and completed the project. I thought that it was time to do some more tests on the chip. But will it pass the tests? Let's find out...

This is a Magnetic print bed that can be installed on a 3D printer for better adhesion and also so your finished prints can be easily removed. A while back I installed a similar print bed on my main 3D printer, but did not document it apart from some posts on Twitter. In this post I will cover the installation in more detail.

The 4164 DRAM memory chips can be found inside old 8-bit computers like Atari 800XL and Commodore 64. In this blog I will try to explain how they work by going through the datasheet and then building a breadboard with an Arduino to look at the operation in more detail. You can also watch this on youtube.

In my previous blog, I have written a bit about the remake of the PCB board for Atari 800XL computer. Now I will describe the process of acquiring all the parts needed to build it. 

To house my set of MiSTer PCBs boards, which are: IO Board v5.6, SDRAM extra slim (XS), USB Hub v2.1 connected with USB Bracket with L-shaped connector, I wanted to 3D print a case. Unfortunately I could not find a design one that met all my needs, so I decided to remix existing Thingiverse designs and combine them into this case.

There are a few simple assembly steps required to dress up your DE10-Nano board and transform it to a fully functional retro machine.

As a child I have owned an Atari 800XL. This 8-bit computer always had a special place in my heart. After almost 35 years I have decided to dive a bit deeper into the circuitry of this now called retro computer. What better way to start than to remake the PCB from scratch.

When you need to connect more then one USB device to your DE10-Nano FPGA board then you need to use a powered USB hub. It is possible to use normal hub, but it is way cooler to connect the one that is custom designed for the MiSTer project.

MiSTer project that is installed on the DE10-Nano board can only output video using the on-board HDMI connector. However if you want to get the real retro gaming experience then you can attach the MiSTer IO Board. Among other things, this add-on board let's you output 15KHz analog RGB video and audio signals that will let you connect to a CRT monitor. This blog post describes how to build such a board.