Vintage computer enthusiasts Ed Anuff and Josh Norrid have spent the last three years updating the classic Apple II with an HDMI output and a number of newly created add-ins, even though it only occupies a single slot: the A2FPGA Multicard Core.
“The A2FPGA consists of an Apple II peripheral card board that can be installed in any Apple II slot (slot 7 is recommended) that connects a modern FPGA to the Apple II bus,” the project’s developers explain. “The FPGA connects to the Apple II bus to capture all accesses to display memory, to drive a 480p HDMI display, and to provide the functionality of a number of common peripheral cards in a single Apple II slot. The A2FPGA has been tested with the Apple II, II+, //e, and IIgs models.”
Released in 1997 as the successor to what would become known as the Apple I, the Apple II was Apple Computer’s first major commercial product. Designed by Steve Wozniak, the computer used the same MOS 6502 processor as its predecessor—although later Apple IIgs moved to a 16-bit Western Design Center (WDC) 65C816 as part of a series of upgrades that introduced improved audio and graphics capabilities.
However, none of the Apple II models had an HDMI output for connection to modern monitors or televisions – an understandable omission considering that the HDMI standard was only introduced in 2002. The A2FPGA, which came to our attention from Hacker Newsaims to fill this decades-long gap, providing 480p60 digital video output with audio by combining the original Apple hardware with a modern FPGA.
The card offers clear HDMI video output with internal and add-in card audio. (📷: ReActiveMicro)
But that’s not all the add-on card can do: Gateware has been developed that allows the card to function as one or more classic add-on cards, including the rare Synetix SuperSprite graphics card, the Mockingboard AY-3-9810 sound card from Sweet Micro Systems, and Apple’s own Super Serial Card. It only takes up a single slot on the motherboard and can therefore be used together with the original add-on cards.
The project is fully documented on GitHubwhere the source code is released under the permissive MIT license – with separate licenses for files from other projects. The board’s developers also have a partnership with ReActiveMicro to launch a fully assembled version of the board based on the Sipped Tang Nano 20k FPGA board, available for $199.99.
