There's a persistent myth in the electronics commnity that if you want programmable logic to interface with 5V these days you have two options – very old CPLDs (Complex Programmable Logic Devices) or use level shifters to convert the 5V down to 3.3V as there are no 5V FPGA anymore. Well, I'd like to spend a few minutes busting this myth.

Well, I was laid off. But what sucks for me will be a win for the community as I'm working on Buffee again full-time, and progress has been … interesting. We're also really happy to see prices falling on some of the critical parts of our BOM, especially the main microprocessor. So how about a little "State of the Union Address?"

When Apple introduced PowerPC they also introduced the idea of system-level emulation providing a stop-gap for applications (and ROM) to remain as 68K code for a while. The emulator, written originally by Gary Davidian, introduced some novel features, but wasn't terribly fast – it was a later version made by Eric Traut that introduced us to the term "Dynamic Recompiler" which would become the forerunner of Just-In-Time (JIT) Compilers. It serves as one of only two emulators which use this model.

When we originally chose to use the AM3358, one of the major reasons for it was the existence of the GPMC or General Purpose Memory Controller. We incorrectly assumed it would be able to cope with virtually any kind of bus, including the 68000, so we eventually had to add a small CPLD to our board – the GreenPAK. But it wasn't without its own issues.