Making your own laptop can be a challenging project, but a doable one, especially given the large number of options available today for computing. Of course nothing says you need to use a modern component in your build, and in the LT6502 project by [TechPaula] they didn’t go with a modern RPi or the like, nope went right back to about 50 years ago to use a 6502 at the heart of this DIY laptop build.
The 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor from the 1970s, found in the Commodore 64 and Apple II. This wasn’t their first venture into 8 MHz world of the 6502, prior to this laptop build there was a desktop build the PC6502 bringing this chip of old into a PC/104 form factor. The LT6502 adds in the things you’d expect with a laptop, a 9-inch foldable screen, a 10,000 mAh battery, several external ports for things such as serial console and USB-C charging. A custom keyboard adds in low-profile switches as well as including a HDSP-style 8-character display, a great addition for a modern take on this vintage chip. Onboard there is 46 KB of RAM and with the addition of the CompactFlash for storage the LT6502 runs EhBASIC which we’ve seen before in some other great projects.
The case is mainly 3D-printed safely enclosing the custom PCBs for both the keyboard and motherboard, and providing a satisfying glow with the built-in LEDs within. All of the files are up on the project’s site so be sure to swing by and check out both this and the desktop PC/104 predecessor to it. Great job [TechPaula], looking forward to seeing the future installments on the LT6502 such as implementing the included internal expansion slot.
This looks very good. That printed case is a wonder. And the display, simply excellent. Great work!
Why doesn’t my laptop have a cute little LED character display on it? That’s awesome!
Those seem to be hdsp-2000
that’s an 8 character display
Really excellent! Nice Work.
If you like this, you might want to check out the case I made for the RP6502 board. It is a real brick, with separate USB wireless mouse and keyboard, but it boasts 12 hour battery life. The RP6502 feature set just keeps growing and growing, and is a dream to develop for.
https://github.com/orgs/picocomputer/discussions/50
The Commodore 64 used the 6510 cpu, not the 6502.
The 6510 is a 6502 with one IO port at address 0.
Amazing work!
I’d genuinely like to have something like this setup as my writing desk.
That looks like it was a lot of fun to make.
The documentation is stellar too.