https://blog.adafruit.com/2023/10/02/the-olimex-neo6502-now-can-emulate-an-apple-ii-and-oric-atmos/
The Neo6502 board above may be an interesting way to make kind of new build Apple II or one that could access Apple II accesories. Anyone looked into it yet?
I'm not sure about this project - if I'm missing something or what its real purpose is.
From what I understand, it uses a Raspberry Pi SoC (RP2040) to emulate almost everything: Video, I/O - even RAM (!). The only thing which is not emulated is it's using a real 6502. The 6502, however, is extremely well understood. That's the one component of a system, which can be very accurately emulated.
So, I don't quite get what the benefit of this new design is - compared to just using a stock Raspberry Pi to emulate everything - including the 6502. I like real retro systems. And I don't mind emulation. And I occasionally use emulators on the Raspberry Pi and on the PC even for 6502 systems which I do have as real machines. Just for convenience or to simplify development.
So, I'm not sure what to make of this project. My first impression when looking at the design was: the only reason the 65c02 was integrated as a real component, is just to be able to say "it's a real 6502 system". Since otherwise, one could have used a stock Raspberry Pi to emulate everything in the first place.
But again, I maybe missing something...
When the project was first announced 6 months ago, I was left with the impression that it was going to have a DIP40 socket so you can drop an Apple II CPU and test it and I was planning to buy one based on that assumption. Unfortunately this is not the case.
I think it started as a 'small 6502 DIY computer' for making a generic 8 bits computer experiment, but it morphed into an apple II emulator as soon as someome with with the knowledge got hold of a prototype, so yeah it doesn't make a lot of sense. I wanted to order one anyway (I like Olimex, they are Good Guys) but the minimum order for the UK is 80 euros and I didn't find anything that took my fancy.
They don't seem to have this minimum for Ireland, so it looks like they just don't want to deal with the customs overhead.