PragmatIC's MOS 6502 Reimplementation Offers a Bendy Chip for Truly "Flexible" Computing
Built with the support of 6502 co-designer Bill Mensch, this chip takes vintage computing into a new realm with a bendable substrate.
PragmatIC Semiconductor has announced the production of a 6502-compatible processor built on a flexible plastic substrate, rather than a brittle slice of silicon.
"We are delighted to have made a flexible 6502, the processor that is credited with creating the personal computer revolution," says Scott White, PragmatIC chief executive, of the project. "The design symbolises one of our key beliefs that a new paradigm for semiconductors is required to enable innovators to build extraordinary electronics solutions that improve everyday life."
Originally launched in 1975 by MOS Technology, the 6502 found a home in some of the most popular computing products in the world — from the Apple I and Apple II to the Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Atari 2600, and Acorn's BBC Micro family. Perhaps surprisingly, it's still in production today, at Western Design Center (WDC), for use as an embedded microprocessor.
"I see what PragmatIC is doing to be as transformational as what we did at MOS Technology back in the 1970s,” said Bill Mensch, WDC founder and one of the creators of the original 6502 design alongside Chuck Peddle. “In validating the 6502 design on their FlexIC Foundry, we can now extend the original goal of the design to support embedded processing for the Internet of Everything."
PragmatIC has been working hard to show off its flexible chip-making skills, which it claims extends semiconductor technology into new realms from wearables and medical devices to asset tracking and "smart object" technologies. Recently it announced the world's first flexible Arm processor, putting a version of Arm's Cortex-M0+ core on its FlexLogIC platform — though without testing it in a flexed position.
More information on PragmatIC's FlexIC Foundry and its FlexLogIC platform is available on the company website.