There was a recent discussion on the MyMENSCH, a FPGA based 6502 core retailing on Tindie for $65.02. I tried to do some searching and it looked like there hasn't been much discussion of the much cheaper ($18.16) MENSCH Microcomputer. That's less than twenty cents cheaper than a single W65C265S (the base microcontroller with a 6502 core that the MENSCH runs).

A genuine Arduino Uno costs $23 new. Obviously, it has USB built in, but if you have plenty of FTDI cables/equivalents laying around, this is an intriguing little dev board for hobbyist use.

In particular, I have been building up an atmega128 based module to provide a clean but variable speed clock, single-step, step-to-next-SYNC kinda thingy. Nothing fancy, but something to play with while I wait for my scope to arrive. It seems fun to have that be a 6502 based system too. Definitely a long term dream.

But does anybody have strong feelings with this little board? Immediately the lack of ADC is frustrating, but I can get away with a rotary encoder if I need to.

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For reference and for interest, some previous threads on w65c265qbx aka qbx aka MENSCH Microcomputer...

Discounted W65C816SXB and WDC boards on Amazon
First steps with the real board ...
Stupid Question(s) but unable to find the answer(s)
Wiring SRAM to W65C265SQXB
ICP Programming Flash on W65C265SXB
265QBX (Mensch) serial interfacing help...
New WDC W65C268QBX Board

It appears to be an FPGA with an 'official' 6502 core. I don't know why it's so slow - 3.6864 MHz.

Arlet's core runs at 100MHz on ancient Spartan3s, and faster with modern chips.

The only reason I can think of is to avoid competing with their own chips. If you choose to go the FPGA route, you can go much faster for a little more money.

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In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. ...Jan van de Snepscheut