RetroShield 6502 for Arduino Mega

Name: RetroShield 6502 for Arduino Mega
SKU: 17860
Price: 18.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.73 (12 reviews)

(12 Reviews)

Add a classic microprocessor to your Arduino Mega

Designed by 8-Bit-Force in United States of America

2019-08-19T23:43:48.488Z-A9C01532_DxO.jpg

2019-08-20T00:17:15.892Z-A9C01505_DxO.jpg

2019-08-20T00:31:23.182Z-RetroShield6502_pcb.jpg

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Add a classic microprocessor to your Arduino Mega

2024-09-01: Shipping w/ 65C02 from now on. My Brain-In-A-Jar Project A daughtercard with a real 8bit microprocessor, plugged into Arduino Mega. Arduino Mega emulates system hardware such as ROM, RA…

My Brain-In-A-Jar Project

A daughtercard with a real 8bit microprocessor, plugged into Arduino Mega.
Arduino Mega emulates system hardware such as ROM, RAM, I/O devices.
Real microprocessor executes code.
Clock speed is about 170~200kHz.
200KB ROM space available in Arduino.
6K RAM available in Arduino (can be expanded to 128KB - see my blog).
Any existing Arduino shields (LCD, SDCard, etc.) can be used to add new features.
Compatible w/ my Teensy Adapter for RetroShield for faster clock (>1 Mhz) and more memory (256 KB RAM).

What can you do with it?

You can run the following:

Apple-1 (Woz monitor, Apple BASIC, and Cassette Interface ROM)
KIM-1
Fig Forth v1.1
Commodore 64 BASIC (heavily modified ROMs, stable enough, no VIC/SID support.)

Or design your own hw platform in Arduino.

What do you get?

Three options:

Assembled and tested board w/ microprocessor*
Kit for you to build: PCB w/ surface mount parts soldered + microprocessor* + socket/header/LED
Bare PCB w/ surface mount parts soldered. (You supply rest of the parts)

Why did you make it?

First, I have been building SBC's with old microprocessors since high school. For every SBC, I had to spend time wire-wrapping the ROM, RAM, peripheral chips over and over again. Then it was more hassle to expand the SBC. I am now lazy; Arduino Mega is capable enough so I now do my wire-wrapping in software :)

Second, I wanted to give back to the retro community. So all hardware and software design files are open source.

What makes it special?

You can "breadboard in software" meaning you can design, change, update your hardware platform as easy as compiling and downloading a new Arduino code.

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Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (5.00)

Documentation: (4.42)

Shipping: (4.75)

Communication: (4.75)

Mason | March 11, 2024

Appreciate the board.

I'm trying to learn computer engineering and science. This is really going to help me understand at a lower level about computer principles like how cpu's work.

Bought the pre-soldered for convivence since I don't trust myself with soldering, came in perfect condition.

Davi | March 21, 2023

Very Happy with the Purchase

Simple and good kit to get started with 6502. Assembled the kit and tried k65c02_apple1.ino, things didn't worked. Didn't got the prompt (\) and no response to serial input. With some debugging and adding 5 microseconds delay after clock high and another 5 microseconds delay after clock low, things got working. Hooked up digital analyzer to understand the timing to figure out the difference. Overall good experience (debugging was the fun part).

Jay | May 14, 2021

Another fun kit

This kit was very quick and easy to build. It's been fun to run the 6502 from my Teensy. It's very quick to load new 6502 firmware into the teensy instead of pulling out an EPROM, burning it and replacing it as I've done many times in the past. Thanks!

John | June 15, 2020

Want an Apple 1?

Fantastic idea - use an Arduino (or Teensy) to be the Ram, Rom, Clock and IO for a genuine 8-bit processor. This kit let me emulate an Apple 1 and play with the WOZMON and even BASIC. Nothing beats using hardware to run this retrocomputing stuff, and this is a easy way to get started. Bravo!

Rene | June 15, 2020

Great project, great support!

It took almost to months for the shields to get to me - half of the time spending at the custom's office. But now they arrived. Soldering was a matter of a few minutes. The printed schematics and hints are all you need. Software is available on the Internet. I will now start exploring it.
This is a great project if you want to explore different CPU types with minimal hardware effort. I developed several CPU cards to work in an Z80 compatible BUS system and know how complicate it can be to adapt the different signals, timings, (support chips for 8080) ... So these shields come really handy if you want to start with another processor almost at once and get to know it - before making your own project.

Thanks a lot! I'll be waiting for the other shields to come. 8008, 4004 etc. sound really interesting.

BTW: Also after sales support before shipping was great!

Toshimichi | May 6, 2020

I tried assembling "Retro Shield 6502 for Arduino Mega".

I thought the idea of using only the original processor and emulating the others on the Arduino side to reproduce the computer of that time was interesting.
I purchased the "RetroShield 6502 for Arduino Mega", but assembling is as simple as soldering the IC socket, header and LED.
I wrote "k65c02_apple1.ino" to Arduino Mega to emulate Apple-1.
The APPLE-1 OPERATION MANUAL's TEST PROGRAM worked normally. Also, BASIC started, and a simple program also worked.

Ennio | March 17, 2020

Love it!

Love it! Works quit well. Only could use some updates to the documentation, like libraries required like DIO2.h, etc... Also bought the Z80!

Bryan | Feb. 4, 2020

Very happy

I bought the kit, the seller answered all my questions quickly and even went above any beyond to help me out. I've still got to put the kit together, but only like 4 parts. Got my mega all hooked up and ready to program. I definately recommend this seller! The parts are packaged very professionally too.

Tor | Nov. 26, 2019

Amazing daugtherboard.

I bought a bare PCB w/ surface mount parts soldered, shorted R2 and removed R4 as described in the assembly instructions , added a W65C02S and a LED. The result is an amazing daughterboard for Arduino Mega. Thank you for marrying the Arduino ports with the 6502 buses! A fantastic product if you are into Arduino Programming and retro Computing.

Jack | Nov. 14, 2019

Very pleased

I have not yet had a chance to actually use this, but wanted to drop a quick thanks to the seller here: The customer service, personal touch and build quality of this product are excellent. Cannot WAIT to tear into this thing! Bonus: It even came with a 6502 chip, which I didn't realize when I ordered it. I'll update this review once I've had a chance to use the shield in a couple weeks.

Karl-Heinz | Oct. 10, 2019

All ok but a little bit to long delivery time

And i must pay 7 Euro here in sweden because of delivery from the United States ... that's not so nice

Massimiliano | Sept. 27, 2019

One of the best shield ever

What can I say, it's so fun and easy and you can do everything you want for a very small price.
8bitforce the seller, is probably the kindest ever met and I can only said thank you.
A must for everyone

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