Due to the wear of electronic components over time, today a good part of the systems with a certain age have stopped working. Yet when a computer like the C64 ends up becoming a milestone that marks an entire generation, everything is done to keep it alive even beyond its commercial life. Is it possible to recreate a Commodore 64 with 21st century components? Well it’s him MaxFake64
One of the reasons many older systems are completely lost is because they used proprietary ICs that have ceased to function over time and have no replacement in the world. That’s why one of the things that is being done is to recreate old chips using new technology. To do this, two different methodologies are used: the first is to configure an FPGA or a CPLD as if it were the original chip or, failing that, to create a microcontroller programmed to perform the same function as the original chip.
MaxFake64, a Commodore 64 that is not a C64
Ultimately, the goal is to have a device that works exactly like the original system, with no emulation in between, but at the same time it’s not the original hardware either. That’s what the MaxFake64 is, which is a rebuild of Commodore’s classic 8-bit computer using currently available parts.
In reality, it is common among this type of restoration systems to take parts from incomplete or partially working systems to build a fully functional version of the system, however, due to the problems that can be caused by things like broken capacitors. , it is normal to recreate the entire original PCB and place the various elements.
Although the new one is not only made up of modifications to the analog electronics of the board and elements such as the renewal of the power supply and the external video connectors, which have been soldered to the original board and therefore have had to be redone in this reconstruction of this classic 8-bit computer.
Which elements are not original on a C64?
For example, websites such as AliExpress sell components that replace many of the generic chips used at the time, such as Texas Instruments’ 7400 series TTL chips. However, the problem lies more with the specific chips that the manufacturer designed for the system at the time.
- The VIC-II was the video chip for the C64, the MaxFAKE64 uses an FPGA implementation called Kawari which supports both PAL and NTSC modes.
- The processor was the 6510, a system-modified version of the 6502 with additional I/O pins and the ability to be shut down by the VIC-II to access shared system RAM. The classic chip created by Chuck Peddle is still sold to this day, but the 6510 is not. of origin. .
- The PLA was the chip responsible for intercommunicating the others, which is why in this case the creator of the project programmed two CPLD chips to perform the same function.
- 8-bit computers used ROM memories, from which their simple operating system was loaded, its BASIC interpreter, in addition to the character map, today they can be replaced by EPROM memory or, failing that, by small flash memory chips.
- The famous SID audio chip, which gave the Commodore 64 its personality, has been replaced by a SinSID chip.