I love this project.
I've been feeling lately that as computers have become more advanced and software has become more inscrutable, our relationship with our computers has changed, for the worse. This essay hit home for me: https://explaining.software/archive/transparent-like-frosted...
These old-school computers viewed their users as creators, as developers. Modern computers (read: smartphones) _are_ the users, and the "used" are just ad-watching revenue cows. I passionately hate this arrangement.
When I have children, I want them to know what computing should feel like---empowering, creative and stimulating, not controlled, consumptive, compulsive and mindless. I want to give them a computer that builds up their spirit, rather than grinding it down.
I think this computer should have several qualities:
0. The computer should be about _creation_ and not consumption.
1. The computer should be _local_, not global. Intranet should be prioritized over Internet.
1.5 A corollary, the computer should be _personal_. It should encourage and reward in-person interaction, physical sharing of information and programs, and short-range connection between computers.
2. The computer should be _limited_. Because the medium is the message, we have to restrict the capabilities of our media to better promote the messages we value.
2.5. A corollary, the computer should be _text-oriented_. Graphics shouldn't be impossible, but text should be primary. The computer should cultivate a typographic mind, not a graphic mind (in Marshall McLuhan's terminology).
3. The computer should be _focused_. It should never distract you from what you want to work on.
4. The computer should be _reactive_, not proactive. It should never give you a notification. You should be in charge of retrieving all information yourself, like a library, not a call center.
5. The computer should be _physical_. It should be oriented around physical media.
6. The computer should be _modifiable_. It should encourage and reward inspection into its internals, and be easy to change.
7. The computer should be _simple_, understandable by a single person in its entirety with time and study.
The Mega65 is amazing and checks these boxes, but unfortunately it's a tad expensive for me. What other machines are out there like this?
I grew up before the Internet and we still craved connectivity with our computers. I remember dialing into BBSes and playing turn-based text games and it was amazing. It was also the best way to get software; my computer would be pretty boring if the only software I had was what I created myself or purchased in a box.
I also could have done so much more with all my computers, from my Commodore 64 to my 286, if had I had the vast information resources that are available now.
I think the difference is that in the days of the nascent internet, connecting with people meant much more than it does now. You dial into a BBS or log into a MUD and you have a small-ish community of real people that you can develop relationships with. Modern internet connectivity almost means the opposite: all the major services are oriented toward moneymaking, nothing is genuine, there is no sincerity, most behavior is motivated by accumulation of worthless social capital.
So, the society that you craved connection with no longer exists now that you are able to connect. This is another thing that, seemingly, has to be rebuilt from the ground up locally.
I've wanted an e-paper laptop ever since I saw a Kindle ad in 2008. I'm also interested in ultra low power computing (solar charging, daylight readable, months of battery life, offline-first, mostly text...). So your list has a lot of overlap with mine!
Such a thing doesn't seem to have been invented yet. The remarkable might come close (or that weird typewriter like thing?) but I haven't been able to justify any of those purchases yet...
I'm not 100% sure about e-paper (the lag may actually be a feature reducing addictiveness), I'm also amenable to those transflective Sharp LCDs! (Though I think they're a bit too small for a daily driver.)
I agree with you a million percent, so you're not alone in this. But we are very much the minority :(
It feels like people aren't interested in being creators. Just consumers. And that shows in how media and companies refer to people as consumers.
I wish there was a way to reverse this trend. It feels in many ways like a Plato's cave kind of situation.
I've been following this project pretty closely and even though it is based on the prototype Commodore 65, I kind of wish they had just gone with the superior aesthetics of the classic c64 for the outer shell even if that would have been less accurate. And the extra long spacebar, just ugh.
My favorite modern retrocomputer these days is https://www.olimex.com/Products/Retro-Computers/AgonLight2/o... which is orders of magnitude more powerful than the computers it is modeled on but affordable.
The ez80 is nice, but it's not 'orders of magnitude' more powerful than a regular z80, especially clocked at 20Mhz (the CMOS Z80C was available up to 20MHz).
(The ez80 is capable of 50MHz, I'm not entirely sure why they limited it to 20Mhz in the Agon Light).
A just had a quick look at the ez80 it and it seems like it's pipelined, so the instructions per clock will be a lot better than the z80. A 20MHz ez80 is probably one order of magnitude improvement than the oftentimes 4MHz z80.
Wikipedia says three times faster at the same clock speed. So 20*3/4=15 give or take.
As an aside, last time I did napkin math estimation on the 8-bit AVR it was faster than an equivalent speed 68000 at the same clock speed. The 68k took 4 clocks to do register to register, AVR is mostly one clock so could do most 32 bit operations as fast or faster using multiple instructions.
I love AVR8 assembly so much and how AVR8 is so much better than any of the 8-bit micros in so many ways except for the small RAM size (though it does make it up in ROM)
Is that just a board or a full computer with a case, keyboard, etc?
I find the all-in-one kind of retrocomputers more appealing than the DIY projects (knowing nothing of electronics or of sourcing parts, cases, etc, DIY is not for me).
According to other sources on the internet that 12 pin header by the removable access cover connects to GPIO pins on the FPGA.
https://shop.trenz-electronic.de/media/pdf/ca/ca/31/Mega65-P...
It looks like the standard-ish PMOD expansion connector found on a lot of FPGA development boards. Maybe it's compatible with those.
I am mildly impressed that the floppy drive is not a supply chain liability nowadays.
Thats pretty cool, expensive but nice features and so expandable. Looks like a large community too.
Interesting. How many MEGA65 units exist out there?
The three batches produced so far are 400 + 400 + 1000 = 1800 units.
Doesn't that name risks to be confused with Atmel Mega CPUs used in Arduinos?
I don't think there is much risk of confusion between a microcontroller and an all-in-one retro computer. They also have different numbers (64/64A vs. 65) and the Mega65 isn't prefixed with an 'AT'.
Great job! Anyone knows of similar projects but for the Amiga?
Have you seen the Vampire? https://www.apollo-computer.com/v4standalone.php
Didn't one-byte man do a good review on this product?
A fully assembled computer? Get out of here with your fancy X2 safety caps and shock proof solder joints.
Now where’d I leave those Galaksija resistors…