GoKawiil
Tech News
French electronics engineering student Thomas Sanfourche has built the SGBC, a console that uses an FPGA chip to replicate Game Boy hardware and play original cartridges natively. The device can rip inserted cartridges directly to a microSD card, outputs 1080p video over HDMI with integer scaling, and includes an SNES controller port plus a Game Boy Link port for multiplayer.
Commodore has begun shipping the 64C Ultimate, a new computer built in the wedge-shaped case style of the 1986 Commodore 64C, starting at $299.99 for customers who missed the pre-order campaign. The machine uses an AMD Artix-7 FPGA to replicate the original hardware cycle-for-cycle, claims up to 99% compatibility with vintage software and peripherals, and now supports standard USB mice alongside the bundled GEOS desktop suite.
YouTube creator Throaty Mumbo built a functional desktop environment running on the original NES, dubbed NESPC, by offloading x86 emulation to the EverDrive N8 Pro cartridge's FPGA chip rather than the console's weak 6502 processor. The project uses the open-source Next186 soft core to emulate an Intel 80186 CPU, and Throaty Mumbo has released the ROM and RP2350-based USB interface firmware for keyboard, mouse, and MIDI on GitHub.
Analogue unveiled updated versions of its Super Nt and Mega Sg consoles, which use FPGA chips to natively play SNES and Sega Genesis cartridges without emulation. The new Plus models add USB-C power, a USB-A port, built-in Bluetooth or 2.4GHz wireless controller support, remote power-on, and hot-swappable cartridges. Preorders open October 19th at $219.99, with shipping expected in December.
A project called openTPU has released an open-source AI inference accelerator whose hardware design, instruction set, compiler and simulator were developed by AI agents rather than human engineers. The design was tested on an Inspur YPCB-00338 FPGA card, successfully running ten language models including LFM2.5, Qwen3, Gemma 4 and SmolLM3, with output matching the simulator bit-for-bit.
A tech enthusiast known as Throaty Mumbo replaced an outdated VHS gaming console with a setup using a DE1-SoC FPGA board and a Raspberry Pi RP2350 MCU. His project features a VHS-based FMV system that plays modified versions of Doom and Super Mario Bros., with overlay graphics and interactive streams. The system tracks player input and displays video overlays, creating a nostalgic yet modern gaming experience.
FunnyPlaying has released the FPGB Mini, a handheld barely bigger than a Game Boy cartridge that uses FPGA hardware to emulate Game Boy games with near-perfect accuracy. It supports both physical cartridges and ROMs via microSD, features a 2.98-inch 800x720 IPS screen, and runs on an 1800 mAh battery for four to six hours of play. The standard price is $89, though early units sold for $69.
FunnyPlaying has released the FPGB Mini, a compact FPGA-based handheld that plays original Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges as well as ROMs from a microSD card. Priced at $69.99 for its first limited batch of 20 units, it undercuts the $239.99 Analogue Pocket significantly, though it lacks support for GBA or Game Gear cartridges.
Zettascale, a YC S24 startup, is recruiting ASIC and FPGA engineers to design custom chips aimed at advancing artificial superintelligence hardware. The company's careers page invites applicants without a specific listed role to send a demo of prior work to its hiring email for consideration.
An independent hardware developer has extended their z486_MiSTer project, a software-defined 486 PC built on FPGA hardware, by adding a working recreation of the original 3dfx Voodoo Graphics (SST-1) chip called zSST. Combined into a system dubbed z486 XL, running on a Xilinx KV260 board at 100 MHz, the setup can run period DOS games like Tomb Raider using their original 3dfx renderer.
Hardware hackers, led by q3k, reverse-engineered the Colorlight 5A-75B, a cheap receiver card originally built for modular LED displays, turning it into an accessible development board for Lattice's ECP5 FPGA. Priced around $20-25, the board pairs the FPGA with dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, SDRAM, flash storage, and HUB75 outputs, and can be programmed via an open-source toolchain using Yosys once a JTAG header is soldered on.
Fomu is a tiny programmable device that plugs directly into a USB-A port, combining an FPGA chip, four touch pads, and an RGB LED in a compact plastic case. It ships with enough RAM and storage to run Python natively, while also supporting a RISC-V softcore and other softcores like LM32 and OpenRISC, all programmable through a fully open-source toolchain without accounts, NDAs, or heavy installers.