brand new Commodore 64 Complex Interface Adapter chip replacements (finally)

I’m a geek, you’re a geek, we’re all geeks.

And geeks fix up old computers. Or build them.

However, chips from the 80s are no longer in production. Sometimes there are modern replacement, such as EPROMs to replace ROM chips or FPGAs to replace old ICs. But sometimes such replacement doesn’t exit.

This was the case with the Commodore 64 (and Amiga) Complex Interface Adapter (CIA) chip. until now.

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A replacement MOS-6526 has been in the work for quite some time – literally years – by Jani Laatikainen, who named his replacement J-6526 (and then simply J-CIA) but progress is slow.

Lots of testing with several beta testers to try out specific timing issues, demoes, games – all in various motherboards and configurations… It takes time to make a chip that is cycle-exact and 100% precise in replacing the MOS chip.

Early this year, Jani’s website showed a message about new production chips being almost ready:

February 2023 announcement on 1nt3r.net

and it wasn’t until recently – very recently in fact: earlier this week – that interest registration was added to the website, with upcoming product availability to be announced hopefully soon.

Demonstration

Perifractic from Retro Recipe on youtube installs and demonstrate on-video the new production J-CIA chip.

Brand new Complex Interface Adapter chips and CPU – demo by Retro Recipe on youtube

As mentionned by Perifractic in his video, the big thing about this is that the CIA chips are the last ditch effort in getting all brand-new replacement parts for the Commodore 64. Even the CPU had somewhat replacement in the 6502 and family. but the CIA was still un-replaceable, meaning for every new computer fixed or built, an old commodore died and his chips scavenged. Now this is a thing of the past.

That’s great news for the Commodore 64 geeks, as well as C128 and Amiga.

Related articles

Build a C64 in 2023 (wereallgeeks)
2332 masked ROM drop-in EPROM replacement (wereallgeeks)
Commodore’s Complex Interface Adapter (CIA chip) (c64-wiki.com)
J-Cia webpage (1nt3r.net)
Testing the J-CIA by RetroRecipes (youtube)

2023/04/192023/07/11 by wereallgeeks Categories: 100% Geek, C64CIA, Commodore 64, Computers and technology, Geekyness, Projects, RetrocomputingTags: 100% Geek, 1nt3r.net, Amiga, C128, C64, C64C, CIA chip, commodore, Commodore 128, Commodore 64, computer, drop-in, drop-in replacement, electronics, FPGA, Geek, Geekyness, j-cia, Jani Laatikainen, microchip, MOS-6526, Perifractic, replacement, retro recipe, Retrocomputing 1 Comment