Ed Anuff and Josh Norrid's A2FPGA Multicard Core Brings HDMI Video and Audio to the Apple II
Clever FPGA-powered card can also simulate a selection of other add-in boards, including the rare Synetix SuperSprite graphics card.
Vintage computing enthusiasts Ed Anuff and Josh Norrid have spent the last three years bringing the classic Apple II bang up-to-date with an HDMI output and a range of recreated add-in despite taking up just a single slot: the A2FPGA Multicard Core.
"The A2FPGA consists of an Apple II peripheral card PCB that can be installed in any Apple II slot (slot-7 recommended) that interfaces a modern FPGA to the Apple II bus," the project's creators explain. "The FPGA interfaces with the Apple II bus to capture all accesses to display memory in order to drive a 480p HDMI display as well a providing the functionality of a number of popular peripheral cards in a single Apple II slot. The A2FPGA has been tested with Apple II, II+, //e, and IIgs models."
Released in 1997 as the successor to what became known retrospectively as the Apple I, the Apple II was Apple Computer's first major commercial product. Designed by Steve Wozniak, the machine used the same MOS 6502 processor as its predecessor — though the later Apple IIgs swapped to a 16-bit Western Design Center (WDC) 65C816 as part of a suite of upgrades, which introduced improved audio and graphics capabilities.
None of the Apple II family, though, came with an HDMI output for connection to modern monitors or TVs — a reasonable oversight, given that the HDMI standard wouldn't come about until 2002. The A2FPGA, brought to our attention by Hacker News, is designed to bridge this decades-long gap, delivering a 480p60 digital video output with audio by linking the original Apple hardware to a modern FPGA.
That's not all the add-in board can do, though: gateware has been created that allows the card to act as one or more classic add-in boards too, including the rare Synetix SuperSprite graphics board, the Sweet Micro Systems Mockingboard AY-3-9810 sound board, and Apple's own Super Serial Card — all while taking up only a single slot on the motherboard, meaning it can be used alongside original add-in boards too.
The project is documented in full on GitHub, where the source is released under the permissive MIT license — with separate licenses for files included from other projects. The board's creators have also partnered with ReActiveMicro to release a fully-assembled version of the board, built around the Sipped Tang Nano 20k FPGA board, at $199.99.