The C-One is a

single-board computer A single-board computer (SBC) is a complete computer built on a single circuit board, with microprocessor(s), memory, input/output (I/O) and other features required of a functional computer. Single-board computers are commonly made as demonstrat ...

(SBC) created in 2002 as an enhanced version of the Commodore 64, a home computer popular in the 1980s. Designed by

Jeri Ellsworth Jeri Janet Ellsworth (born August 14, 1974) is an American entrepreneur, computer chip designer and inventor. She gained fame in 2004 for creating a complete Commodore 64 emulator system on a chip housed within a joystick, called Commodore 30 ...

and Jens Schönfeld from Individual Computers, who manufactured the boards themselves, the C-One has been re-engineered to allow cloning of other

8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data buses of ...

computers.

Design

The machine uses a combination of configurable

Altera Altera Corporation was a manufacturer of programmable logic devices (PLDs) headquartered in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1983 and acquired by Intel in 2015. The main product lines from Altera were the flagship Stratix series, mid-ra ...

field-programmable gate array A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturinghence the term '' field-programmable''. The FPGA configuration is generally specified using a hardware ...

(FPGA) chips and modular

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, an ...

expansion cards to create compatibility modes that duplicate the function of many older home computers. The default CPU is the W65C816S (by

Western Design Center The Western Design Center (WDC), located in Mesa, Arizona, is a company which develops intellectual property for, and licenses manufacture of, MOS Technology 65xx based microprocessors, microcontrollers (µCs), and related support devices. W ...

) which is used in Commodore 64 compatibility mode as well as the C-One's native operating mode. The C-One is not merely a

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

emulator In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use peri ...

, it loads various core files from a card to configure the FPGA hardware to recreate the operation of the core logic chipsets found in vintage computers. This provides for a very accurate and customizable hardware emulation platform. The C-One is not limited to recreating historical computers: its programmable core logic can be used to create entirely new custom computer designs. In 2004, the platform was expanded to include an

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the S ...

core made by Tobias Gubener. In 2006, Peter Wendrich ported his FPGA-64 project (originally intended for a

Xilinx Xilinx, Inc. ( ) was an American technology and semiconductor company that primarily supplied programmable logic devices. The company was known for inventing the first commercially viable field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and creating the fi ...

FPGA) and enhanced it for the C-One. This core supported both PAL and NTSC machine emulation, and aimed to be cycle-exact and emulate many of the bugs and quirks of the original hardware. In 2008, after development of an "Extender" card which added a third FPGA, Tobias Gubener added

Amiga 500 The Amiga 500, also known as the A500, is the first low-end version of the Amiga home computer. It contains the same Motorola 68000 as the Amiga 1000, as well as the same graphics and sound coprocessors, but is in a smaller case similar to that ...

compatibility by porting Dennis van Weeren's

Minimig Minimig (short for ''Mini Amiga'') is an open source re-implementation of an Amiga 500 using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Minimig started around January 2005 as a proof of concept by Dutch electrical engineer Dennis van Weeren. He inte ...

code to the board. This core replaced the physical 68000 CPU and the PIC chip from the original with his own TG68 CPU core on the FPGA. developments to this core include features not possible with the original Minimig board. In 2009, Peter Wendrich released a "preview" of a next-generation C64 core called "Chameleon 64", with a greatly expanded specification compared to his earlier core. A new version of the CPC core was also released in mid-2009, featuring an embedded

SymbOS SYmbiosis Multitasking Based Operating System (SymbOS) is a multitasking operating system for Zilog Z80-based 8-bit computer systems. Contrary to early 8-bit operating systems it is based on a microkernel, which provides preemptive and prior ...

core for control of device emulation, and a clock unlocked mode for CPU speeds of up to 80 MHz. So far, C-One

circuit board A printed circuit board (PCB; also printed wiring board or PWB) is a medium used in electrical and electronic engineering to connect electronic components to one another in a controlled manner. It takes the form of a laminated sandwich stru ...

s have been produced by

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company Individual Computers, and they sell for €333 with the FPGA extender card.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://c64upgra.de/c-one/
Wiki

Retroputing's forum on the C-One

Yahoo's C-One Group

Yahoo group for technical discussion about development of cores for the C-One
Home computer remakes Microcomputers 6502-based home computers Home computers Commodore 64 Amstrad CPC Reconfigurable computing

Design

See also

References

External links