About

Spaceape Retro Projects is intended as a way to share the results of my computing and electronic tinkering. The projects here are things I have enjoyed working on and want to document and share with anyone else who might also be interested in them.

I was a teenager in the early 1980s just as the home computer craze was getting going. I got into these systems firstly through playing games on my neighbours Atari 2600 console and later Intellivision. I started programming on my dentists Research Machines 380Z, borrowed a ZX81 and printer for a couple of weeks, and used the schools Apple ][ machines before finally getting my own machine, a BBC micro model B.

Like many others I enjoyed trying to write my own games and other programs. As time passed I grew more interested in how the machines worked and how extra features or performance could be coaxed out of the existing hardware or additional hardware as opposed to pure programming. Consequently I decided to study Electronics Engineering at University and started a career in digital electronics design. For the last 30 years I have mainly worked on ASIC and FPGA designs in a variety of different application areas.

Now that I have more time on my hands I want to recapture some of the excitement of the early home computer days. Computers back then had relatively simple hardware and software which were under the complete control of the programmer yet still could produce amazing graphics and sound. Using my digital electronics design knowledge along with low cost FPGA boards I've recreated a 6502 processor and other support devices and new graphics designs to allow the recreation of some classic machines with a twist.