Using a Raspberry Pi RP2040 to emulate a DECstation Unix Workstation

rscott2049 on GitHub presents a Raspberry Pi RP2040-based board which emulates the DECstation workstation computer circa 1989.

The hardware:

  • RP2040, running at 1.8v/300 MHz
  • 32 MB of PSRAM
  • 8 MB SPI flash
  • uSD card socket
  • Monochrome VGA at 1024 x 864
  • Ethernet RMII PHY support (socket on rev 1.5, integrated in rev 2.1)

The chip software:

  • 4 port PSRAM PIO engine
  • PIO driven VGA, with seperate 16×16 cursor plane overlay
  • USB HID to DECWindows keyboard and mouse

The build heavily relies on the RP2040 PIO to provide fast memory access. USB keyboard and mouse support is used.

See all the details in the GitHub repository.


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