this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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OneChipBook-12-A is a $215 mini laptop with an FPGA for retro computing - Liliputing (liliputing.com)
submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

This looks pretty sweet honestly

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Pretty neat. But why an FPGA? I would imagine if you want to run software targeting really old chips, like the Z80, you might as well run it on a modern x86/ARM/RISCV processor with an emulator on Linux.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Software emulation is generally inferior to FPGAs because of inaccuracies. Also at that point you could just use your own laptop.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I’m aware that’s true for complex multi chip systems like arcade boards. The Mister project for example. But a simple Z80? I expect it to emulate virtually perfectly. Maybe not? Hence why I’m curious.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

This particular device can emulate multiple systems using FPGA, the one before then could only dp Z80.

My guess as to why they used an FPGA for the Z80 is that development was cheaper since they could just flash new software if there's an error. Additionally they gained experience for this project.

With this I could imagine GPU emulation etc. happening on the FPGA maybe even bwing able to configure a sound card in software.