Olimex has launched an all-in-one pill PC with a distinction: that is powered by the MOS Know-how 6502 microprocessor — or a contemporary equal, a minimum of — courtesy of an inner Neo6502 single-board laptop.
“The world quickest 6502 laptop, Neo6502, [which is] open supply {hardware}, is now could be obtainable as [an] all-in-one PC,” Olimex founder Tsvetan Usunov explains, “with plastic field, LCD show, USB hub, 4 UEXT [expansion] connectors, 12 GPIO [General-Purpose Input/Output] extension connector, LiPo battery permitting three hours of operation with out exterior energy provide.”
The Neo6502 is now obtainable as an all-in-one battery-powered pill — full with kickstand. (📷: Olimex)
Olimex unveiled the Neo6502 again in June final yr, promising a tool combining the trendy incarnation of a MOS Know-how 6502 eight-bit microprocessor with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 for peripherals and glue logic to maintain the fee down. By July a “Developer Version” of the gadget had been launched — functionally full in {hardware} however with work-in-progress firmware and software program.
The corporate’s newest model, although, takes a unique path, and turns the Neo6502 into one thing really plug-and-play: an all-in-one. The Neo6502 itself is housed in a custom-built chassis with an built-in shade touchscreen show, whereas three exterior USB Kind-A ports present connectivity for exterior units together with flash drives, keyboards, mice, or sport pads.
The gadget will be ordered in 5 completely different colours: black, blue, pink, yellow, and inexperienced. (📷: Olimex)
To really make the gadget, which Usunov has termed the Neo6502PC, an all-in-one, the construct additionally consists of an built-in lithium-polymer battery and charger — permitting it for use on-the-go, both hand-held as a 6502-powered pill or at a desk with the case’s built-in kickstand.
“This small gadget works thrice sooner than any of the opposite latest 6502 opponents,” Usunov claims of his design, :”and 30 occasions sooner than Nineteen Eighties 6502 machines. Neo6502 can emulate Apple II, Apple IIe, Oric [Atmos] and [has] its personal NeoBasic [programming language].”
The Neo6502PC is accessible to order now on the Olimex internet retailer for €128 (round $137); KiCad design information have been uploaded to GitHub underneath the reciprocal GNU Normal Public License 3.