C-One

Digital archeology of a different kind: Perhaps a pioneer for computers like the MEGA65, the C-One claimed to be the very first reconfigurable FPGA computer. Started in 2000 as a new C64 by Jeri Ellsworth, who soon after preferred to work on the C64DTV, the C-One was light and shadow at the same time. Only about 200 pieces were sold. This was perhaps due to the same problems that made it insanely difficult for us today to get the beast working: closed-source mentality, poor to non-existent documentation, dependence on exotic PC memory modules, horribly ugly form factor (ATX), way too unfocused. Why is there a PCI slot that no one has ever used? After three days of research, we brought this thing to life and gave it a fresh, more compact look – without an ATX case. It was fun because it was so complicated.

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