Building the ultimate retro computer
The MiSTer FPGA project recreates classic hardware
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Although I assembled it myself, and its software all comes from an open-source DIY project, in many ways my MiSTer is the most versatile computer I own. It’s a shapeshifting wonderbox that can change its own logic to make itself run like countless other machines as accurately as possible. From old arcade boards to early PCs to vintage consoles, MiSTer developers are devoted to helping it turn into an ever-expanding range of hardware.
If you’ve ever wanted to use computer software or hardware that is no longer available for sale, you’ve probably run into emulation before. It’s a huge field that often involves a ton of people working on a technically challenging feat: how to write software that lets one computer run code that was written for another. But there’s only so much traditional emulators can do. There are always inherent compromises and complexities involved in getting your current hardware to run software it was never designed to handle. Emulated operating systems or video games often encounter slowdown, latency, and bugs you’d never have encountered with the original devices. So what if there was a way to alter the hardware itself?