Rumbledethumps' Picomputer 6502 Graduates From the Breadboard to Become a True Single-Board Computer
Driven by a MOS 6502 and two Raspberry Pi Pico boards, this breadboard-based eight-bit machine is now available as a solderless SBC.
Pseudonymous maker and retro-computing enthusiast "Rumbledethumps" has built a new revision of their Picocomputer 6502, a vintage-themed design which cuts down on the chip count by packing two Raspberry Pi Pico boards — and which is now a true single-board computer, having graduated from its breadboard prototyping stage.
The new and stylish single-board variant of the Picocomputer 6502, brought to our attention by Adafruit, follows an earlier breadboard variant which, like its successor, also used a pair of Raspberry Pi Picos to reduce the number of discrete components required. At the time, the maker described the Picocomputer 6502 as a "reference design," with the hope that others would create derivative variants — though they warned of "some bumps" ahead for those jumping on the bandwagon and looking to build a device of their own.
The new version uses the same hardware as the original — including a modern MOS 6502-compatible processor from the Western Design Center (WDC) — and boasts all the same functionality, but on a dedicated PCB rather than a breadboard. Like the breadboarded original, though, it's still solderless: the Raspberry Pi Pico boards were ordered with headers pre-attached, and the remainder of the components simply slot into sockets already soldered into place at the factory.
"I've done all of the work so anyone can make this anywhere in the world," Rumbledethumps says of the Picocomputer 6502. "I've also done all the programming and documentation so far, and I've made everything open source."
The full video of the new Picocomputer 6502 being built is available on Rumbledethumps' YouTube channel, with a giveaway of an unpopulated PCB to a random commenter. More information is available on the project website, along with design files for the machine.