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The Apple Lisa Inside an FPGA!
Posted by: AlexTheCat123 on 2026-07-09 13:34:16
We haven't really discussed that; I'm not sure. I obviously know how they work better than anyone else, so maybe that would fall onto me. I tested all of them pretty extensively before sending them out, and the readme in the GitHub repo explains how to set it up and covers all of the common pitfalls that people might encounter, so I don't foresee tech support really being something that we'll have to worry about much.
Posted by: adespoton on 2026-07-09 13:37:17
We haven't really discussed that; I'm not sure. I obviously know how they work better than anyone else, so maybe that would fall onto me. I tested all of them pretty extensively before sending them out, and the readme in the GitHub repo explains how to set it up and covers all of the common pitfalls that people might encounter, so I don't foresee tech support really being something that we'll have to worry about much.
I sure hope those aren't famous last words -- you're probably right due to the fact that it was a limited run and people already had to be paying attention to get them in the first place.

But after having to deal with decades of tech support escalations... no sane person will EVER foresee some of the tech support required for a shipped product.
Posted by: AlexTheCat123 on 2026-07-09 15:37:03
Yeah, I hope they're not famous last words too. But I tend to think that the people who bought these are a rather technically-inclined audience, so they'd know how to fix basic issues that may crop up and would know to read the manual in full before reaching out and asking for help. But we'll see. I really don't have time to deal with a bunch of tech support on top of everything else that I have to do!
Posted by: eharmon on 2026-07-12 20:37:29
Looks like there's a nearly-stable port to MiSTer. Exciting!

github.com

GitHub - alanswx/LisaFPGA at mister

The Apple Lisa inside an FPGA! Contribute to alanswx/LisaFPGA development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com
Posted by: AlexTheCat123 on 2026-07-13 10:55:42
I've been talking to the guy who did the port, and it's impressive how quick he was able to pull it off. I'll be getting my hands on a MiSTer soon so I can test it out!
Posted by: demik on 2026-07-15 07:49:11
The presentation I gave on this project at VCF is on YouTube now if anyone is interested in watching it!


Watched this with great interest, thanks for posting it

Had a good laugh at the following issues:
- The pesky JLC LEDs being to bright even at sub 1mA
- RX/TX lines crossed
- The TXS/TXB level shifter series oscillating on a parallel bus for no reason.

My first projects also had theses issues... It's like I can definitively name at leas three members here that shared the same fate 😀
We should put this in a Wiki or something!

I know you went the transistor route, if you need to scale this the SN74LVC4245 is a safe choice.
Posted by: AlexTheCat123 on 2026-07-15 10:15:25
We should put this in a Wiki or something!
Haha yeah, I've heard that the TXS shifter oscillation thing is particularly common!

I know you went the transistor route, if you need to scale this the SN74LVC4245 is a safe choice.
I only went with transistors for the bidirectional signals; all of my unidirectional signals use LVC245's for 5V -> 3.3V shifting and HCT245's for 3.3V -> 5V shifting. No point in using the bulky transistor solution everywhere even when you don't need it!
Posted by: eharmon on 2026-07-15 19:08:47
Tried the MiSTer version yesterday, works pretty well! Definitely some kinks to work out there (reset seems...flaky, can't load a profile and floppy at the same time), but it's already very usable.
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