Have you ever wanted an Apple Lisa but haven't been able to get your hands on one? Or maybe you do have a Lisa but want a faster and more modern Lisa experience?
Well, now there's a solution: LisaFPGA!
LisaFPGA is an FPGA-based device that implements all of the functionality of a Lisa 1 or Lisa 2/5 (minus expansion slots) on a single compact PCB, plus a bunch of modern enhancements that make it better and easier to use. Its key features include:
- Easy firmware updates over USB-C.
- Overclocking up to 3.75x the speed of the original Lisa.
- HDMI audio and video output, plus an onboard speaker if your HDMI display doesn't support audio.
- Real-time switching between square and rectangular pixels ROMs.
- USB keyboard and mouse support, in addition to support for original Lisa peripherals.
- Onboard ESProFile hard disk emulator, alongside an external ProFile hard disk port.
- Maxed-out 2MB of RAM.
- All of the original Lisa's I/O minus the expansion slots.
- Onboard ESFloppy floppy disk emulator, alongside an external floppy drive port. NOTE: The floppy emulator doesn't work yet (and may never work), but it should be enabled with a future firmware update assuming everything goes well. For now, you can connect a real floppy drive or Floppy Emu to the external port if you want floppy drive functionality.
- Twiggy drive support with an optional breakout.
- Ability to reroute the Lisa's Serial port B over the PCB's USB-C port, eliminating the need for an external USB-to-serial adapter.
To get fully up and running, you'll need a USB-C cable to power your board, a microSD card of any size for the ESProFile hard disk emulator, a 1080p HDMI-compatible monitor, and either a USB or original Lisa keyboard and mouse. All stuff that you probably have sitting around already!
You can find the LisaFPGA user's manual: here on GitHub. LisaFPGA is also fully open-source, so the source code and PCB design files are available there too.