For a really really really big case in which to put a Raspberry Pi Zero the closest I know isI am not out to emulate old code. Modern code on something similar. C instead of Assembler. Sort of like dressing up as historical figures but with clean clothes, clean teeth, a shower, deodorant, no fleas, no nits, no polio, no Spanish Flu, no ...emulate
Just talking about it, you realise how we have progressed. A 100 MB file required four disks. A trolley to carry the disks from storage to the drives because each disk was too heavy to carry any distance.
https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11
which is a functioning half-size front panel for the Raspberry Pi that looks like a PDP-11/70.
I've got one, but only half assembled due to time and need for a suitable power supply.
The way I see it modern computing has become unpleasantly complicated. It is possible to start over with new hardware such as a Pico. After that creating a similarly simple software development environment is a lot of work.
One example is modern BBC Basic
https://memotech-bill.github.io/PicoBB/
see also
viewtopic.php?t=316761
Another is pshell
https://github.com/lurk101/pshell
see also
viewtopic.php?t=336843
Finally, there is pt52-lua
https://gitlab.com/DarkElvenAngel/pt52-lua.git
see also
viewtopic.php?t=376692
There are surely other projects, but I was involved in the first two and have been watching the third with interest for some time.
On the other hand, retro-computing avoids having to create a simple software environment to go along with the simple hardware, because the old stuff exists and was already simple enough.
This is the attraction of simulators as well as the new Commodore, whose CEO
https://www.commodore.net/Commodore has returned from a parallel timeline where tech stayed optimistic, inviting, and human. Where it served us, not enslaved us. We’re here to bring that feeling back - retro • futurism, transparent tech, digital detox, real innovation.
The choice between the Commodore 64 Ultimate and the Pi 500+ will be difficult this Christmas.
Statistics: Posted by ejolson — Mon Sep 29, 2025 2:58 am