The MOS Technology 6502 processor needs no introduction. Beyond serving as the brain for all kinds of consoles and home computers, its popularity among electronics enthusiasts remains intact despite having been originally designed in 1975. Documentation is extensive, and with a bit of reverse engineering you can achieve amazing things, such as MOnSter 6502, a large-scale reproduction of the chip with nearly five thousand components on the PCB and hundreds of LEDs to visualize its operation.
The 6502: A Legendary Chip
What do the Nintendo NES, Apple II, Atari 2600, and Commodore 64 have in common? Apart from being launched during the golden era of computing and video games, they all use the MOS 6502, or a compatible variant, as their processor. This chip took the silicon market by storm in 1975, with such a low cost that it completely distorted the strategies of its direct competitors. Of course, that caused MOS Technology a few problems, starting with a lawsuit from Motorola. However, the enormous popularity of the 6502 did not prevent the company from being absorbed by Commodore a year later. The list of products based on this hardware grew rapidly, and enthusiasts did not hesitate to adopt it for their personal projects, but MOnSter 6502 takes it to a new scale, literally.
Technical Details
What you just saw in the video is a 7000:1 reproduction measuring 30.5 by 38 centimeters and 2.5 millimeters thick. Its components, 4,769 in total, were installed on both sides of the PCB. Of these, 3,218 are MOSFETs, accompanied by 1,019 resistors. More than 300 LEDs bring the MOnSter 6502 to life and help visualize all the processor's activity. Its power consumption is approximately 10 watts, and the maximum speed reaches 60 KHz, a fraction of the full MHz delivered by an original 6502.
The MOnSter 6502's Journey
The first prototype was presented at the 2016 and 2017 Bay Area Maker Faire, and if you are lucky enough to be in Mountain View on August 5 and 6, you can see it in person as part of the Vintage Computer Festival West. MOnSter 6502 has demanded more than two years of work so far, and its creators have some trouble calculating the cost, but they said that if it were available for sale, its price could range between one thousand and five thousand dollars, a very wide gap that must consider multiple factors.
