The Apple Lisa Inside an FPGA!

[AlexTheCat123]

Over the past 8 months or so, I've been working on implementing a fully-functional Lisa inside an FPGA, and I'm happy to announce that I'm just about done with the project!

I've designed a custom board that contains the FPGA and all of the Lisa connectors and interfaces that you need in order to hook it up to the outside world. I've also added some nice modernizations, like HDMI audio/video output, USB keyboard/mouse input, onboard ESProFile-based hard disk emulation, and overclocking up to about 4x the Lisa's stock clock speed. There's also facilities for onboard floppy disk emulation, and I've written some early code for the floppy emulator, but I haven't tested it and I don't want to 100% guarantee that I'll be able to get that working. You can always just plug up a Floppy Emu or real floppy drive and be fine.

I've tested the FPGA-based Lisa implementation quite extensively, and it seems like it's really rock-solid at this point. It can run every OS that's supported on the Lisa (including obscure ones like GEM), and doesn't really have any limitations compared to a real Lisa.
It's not on there yet because I want to apply all of the finishing touches first, but once everything is 100% done, it'll be open-source on GitHub like all of my other projects. I need to test the final revision of the PCBs before I get to that point though.

Speaking of the final PCBs, I'm going to be at VCF Southwest here in a few weeks, and I was thinking about ordering a decent-sized run of fully-assembled boards to sell to people at the show if there's enough interest. Keep in mind that this may not happen at all depending on when I'm able to get the order in and how long they take to make them, but I think it's worth putting out there in case there's interest. To judge demand and see if this is even a good idea in the first place, are there any people on here who are going to be at VCF Southwest and would like one?

If you want more details about the development process, head over to the LisaList2 forums where you'll find quite a few posts (I think about 100 by now) documenting the entire process from the very beginning until now. I'm also going to be doing a presentation on this project at VCF Southwest, so feel free to come to that if you're there and you're interested!

And one more thing: If you want to see it in action, here's a YouTube video giving a quick demo of the board and an explanation of its features.

 

[MR-DCB]

This is just a FANTASTIC project!

I would not be able to go to VCF but would very much like to buy a board since it's as close to getting to use a Lisa as I will probably get.

 

[JDW]

I just finished watching the YouTube video linked in the opening post. I am floored. @AlexTheCat123 , your incredible work is truly groundbreaking.

You know, I've always wanted to tinker with a LISA, but I never could get the EMULATOR to work. And the real thing is too big, bulky and expensive to own. Your device makes it compact, simple, and comes with some really desirable features too.

I live in Japan and cannot be at VCF, but I would like to hear more when and if you decide to sell your handiwork to the masses.

I realize you said it would be on Github, but a preassembled and working unit is what most people would be after, myself included. If you are unable to offer preassembled units in bulk, perhaps you could tie up with MacEffects, Joe's Computer Museum, CayMac Vintage, Kero's Mac Mods or similar vendors out there who might have the capability to offer it in partnership with you as a licensed product. I cannot speak for those vendors, obviously. Just brainstorming about how you might be able to get preassembled units out to would-be buyers worldwide.

Anyway, bravo on a job well done!

 

[AlexTheCat123]

I just finished watching the YouTube video linked in the opening post. I am floored. @AlexTheCat123 , your incredible work is truly groundbreaking.

Thank you!

I realize you said it would be on Github, but a preassembled and working unit is what most people would be after, myself included. If you are unable to offer preassembled units in bulk, perhaps you could tie up with MacEffects, Joe's Computer Museum, CayMac Vintage, Kero's Mac Mods or similar vendors out there who might have the capability to offer it in partnership with you as a licensed product. I cannot speak for those vendors, obviously. Just brainstorming about how you might be able to get preassembled units out to would-be buyers worldwide.

Don't worry, that's in the works too. I'm talking with two of the people on your list right now, and hoping to have them listed for sale on both of their stores!

 

[wottle]

Got my board on order from @jcm-1! I was thinking about some of the other projects that have stuffed vintage (or modern) guts into new cases and started scheming with ChatGPT about ideas for a way to pay homage to the Lisa while enabling this modern hardware that Alex has created. This is the design it helped me visualize:

While the back and the side vents aren't great, The Lisa FPGA inside of a 3d printed case like this would be so cool to have on the desk. Unfortunately, my 3d modeling skills are the equivalent to a toddler, so the model I ended up with lacks a lot of the polish of the rendering by ChatGPT:

The colors are different to help me visualize the different parts. But the dimensions are sized so that they should fit a 9.7" iPad LCD (I find them to be easily procured along with controller boards to work as HDMI displays). The downside of this size is that the overall width is 330mm. Too big for most 3d printers, but I plan to try to provide a split model that allows me to print in halves and then glue together. Hopefully with the ability to make the seam not super obvious. I also added a small inset for an apple logo, that should fit nicely a logo from a SE, Classic, etc.

Anyway, Once my board comes in, I'll think through the mounting and inside component layout.

I also did a quick check on JLC3DP for the parts and they are pretty hefty for resin prints, but one of these in clear resin to go with my Clear SE/30 would be pretty cool. Unfortunately the total in clear resin was around $250 (not entirely terrible, and it's possible with model optimization I could get that down. I believe resin is priced largely based on the volume of material. I could probably do a better job minimizing unnecessary material. I might just print the front bezel in the cheapest resin they have to avoid seam lines and paint it all when done. We'll see.

Anyway, if anyone is an actual 3d modeler who can produce a model like the one in the mock-up, I would love to partner to try to make it printable.

 

[phunguss]

Anyway, if anyone is an actual 3d modeler who can produce a model like the one in the mock-up, I would love to partner to try to make it printable.

I like the AI generated images, but the ports don't match the example board photo previously posted. Without the Gerber, it would be difficult to model an enclosure to match the ports, unless you intend to totally enclose the board and have jumpers or port extenders to the external case. I could spend time modelling the board based on the photo, but it would be much easier to wait for the Gerber.

 

[stepleton]

Gerbers are here, or so the filename would suggest: https://github.com/alexthecat123/LisaFPGA/tree/main/hardware/lisafpga_deaktop/rev_3

 

[wottle]

I like the AI generated images, but the ports don't match the example board photo previously posted. Without the Gerber, it would be difficult to model an enclosure to match the ports, unless you intend to totally enclose the board and have jumpers or port extenders to the external case. I could spend time modelling the board based on the photo, but it would be much easier to wait for the Gerber.

Yeah, I was planing on simply mounting the board to the back side of the case, but the challenge with the FPGA board is that it has ports on all 4 sides. I'm thinking of mounting it with the USB ports being exposed through openings on the bottom, the HDMI port being the opposite side wouldn't be an issue because that would get routed internally to the LCD. The only other port I would likely need initially would be the power USB-C port. I would likely put a a power port that would power the LCD and the USB-C port off one power input. If I can have the power port be a USB-C port and have it split to power the board along with a USB-C trigger board to provide 12v to the LCD... I just don't think USB-C can be spliced like that. Worst case I extend the USB-C with a pigtail extender and have a separate 12v DC barrel jack extender for the LCD.
For now, I've got it modeled as a generic shell. I'll figure out mounting and wiring once I get the board in hand. I think the Gerber is available in GitHub, but my toddler level 3d modeling is based on measuring things with my calipers to position them. Someone who could import the Gerber and get a better sense for where things go would likely be able to do this much more quickly.

Also, there are things about the AI renders that I like, but that make 3d printing much more difficult, so some of my design is based on those compromises to avoid too much challenge in getting a clean print. Think things like trying to avoid supports on the final exposed surfaces. Some of that will mean more supports to allow the finished surface to be cleaner.