ATMega based home computer
On the following pages an ATMega162 based home computer system built at the beginning of 2010 is described. The system is connected to a TV using SCART, a standard PS/2 keyboard works as an input device and SD card access allows to transfer programs and data to / from SRAM (128 kB).
An ATMega microcontroller is a Harvard architecture machine. So to be able to load and run arbitrary code without reprogramming the flash memory the code has to be interpreted. Therefore the ATMega emulates a 6502 processor (→ von Neumann architecture).
Like for many early 1980s home computers the programming language BASIC, an assembler and games are available for the system.
One of the design goals was to keep the hardware simple, i.e. using only DIL packaged "standard" chips (no CPLD).
Source code and binaries (version 1.6.3) are available here.
The following video gives an overview of the possibilities of the system. All images and sounds in the video are produced by the home computer (with the exception of the computer voice which describes the system).