Mouser Sells Classic 6502 "Antique" Processor

By Douglas Perry
published

The 8-bit MOS Technology 6502, launched in 1975 and later used in computers by Apple and Commodore, is available as W65C02S6TPG-14 from Mouser Electronics.

Designed by Western Design Center (WDC), the processor is pin- as well as software compatible to the original 6502 and runs at up to 14 MHz. Its ancestor topped out at 1 MHz. Mouser says the 65C02 consumes about 300µA at a clock speed of 1 MHz. Mouser also offers an IP core of the 65C02 for use in FPGAs.

The 6502 was originally a spin-off of Motorola's 6800 processor, which was initially rejected by customers as being too expensive. Compared to the $300 price tag of the 6800, the 6502 sold for $25. Mouser offers the 65C02 for $6.95 today.

Douglas Perry
48 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hoofhearted
    Sweet, I remember the days of my Vic 20 and Commodore 64. Even wrote some assembly language games that split the raster, moved sprites, detect collision and such.

    Rmember the days of compute and computes gazette and even run. Typing in all those numbers out of a magazine to play a game, then LOAD "*",8,1

    Then there was the almight SID chip with square wave, sawtooth, triangle and noise.
    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    A positive rating says someone will ask, "Will it run Crysis?"
    Reply
  • Trialsking
    hoofheartedSweet, I remember the days of my Vic 20 and Commodore 64. Even wrote some assembly language games that split the raster, moved sprites, detect collision and such.Rmember the days of compute and computes gazette and even run. Typing in all those numbers out of a magazine to play a game, then LOAD "*",8,1Then there was the almight SID chip with square wave, sawtooth, triangle and noise.I totally remember doing that. Typing for 30-40mins to watch some program run for like 3 mins. The best was loading games from cassette tapes.
    Reply
  • Will it run Radar Rat Race?
    Reply
  • zybch
    And purchasing one of these will achieve what...?
    Reply
  • daneren2005
    zybchAnd purchasing one of these will achieve what...?Supreme Geekage
    Reply
  • stingstang
    Who knows. It might go back to it's original price tag of $25 in a few years! Although it'll never go back to $25 1975 dollars..
    Reply
  • pedro_mann
    zybchAnd purchasing one of these will achieve what...?Well, it is a CPU, and it is programmable. So I guess the limit is your own skill and creativity. Also, I could see some nice homebrew commodore project being based off this if a guy could get ahold of the original boot rooms, which really should be easy, if it isn't already floating around on the net already.
    Reply
  • scannall
    It would be a cool thing to put in as part of a kit, much like the old Heathkit packages. Give young kids an early exposure to computer hardware and how it all works.
    Reply
  • biscuitasylum
    zybchAnd purchasing one of these will achieve what...?

    Your comment kinda explains your IQ. Not that high, is it. lol
    Reply