July 30, 2026
Dial-up drama, but make it DIY
Memo-1: A 6502 computer built from scratch, using a Minitel as its terminal
Retro phone meets DIY computer, and the comments are loving the nerdy chaos
TLDR: Memo-1 is a scratch-built retro computer that uses a Minitel terminal, turning old hardware into a playful learning machine. Commenters were charmed by the nostalgia, joked about painfully slow old internet speeds, and nudged the creator to share more build files so others can join the fun.
A homebrew computer called Memo-1 just rolled onto the scene looking like a love letter to the 1980s: a tiny machine built from scratch around an old-school chip, with a French Minitel terminal as its screen and keyboard sidekick. On paper, it’s a fun learning project with memory, a startup menu, joystick support, sound, and even a way to save and load programs. But in the comments, the real energy is less “spec sheet” and more retro geek reunion with a side of constructive nitpicking.
The biggest vibe? Admiration mixed with backseat engineering. One commenter instantly clocked the Ben Eater influence and basically said, “Very cool, now show us the design files too,” which is classic maker-community behavior: praise first, then a gentle demand for more receipts. That wasn’t really drama-drama, but it did bring out the familiar open-hardware tension of “awesome project” versus “drop every file so the rest of us can obsess over it.”
Then came the nostalgia flex. Another commenter jumped in to remind everyone that the Minitel wasn’t just a cute vintage terminal — it could also limp along as a hilariously slow modem. 1200 bits down, 75 up. Yes, really. That sparked the funniest reaction of all: a collective sense that modern users would last about eight seconds before rage-quitting. The mood was part admiration, part “we used to live like this?” disbelief. In other words, the project landed exactly where great retro builds do: somewhere between museum piece, weekend toy, and comment-section time machine.
Key Points
- •Memo-1 is a 1 MHz 65C02 computer with 32 KB RAM, 16 KB ROM, a 65C22 VIA, and a 6551 ACIA, intended to work with a Minitel 1b terminal.
- •Its memory map assigns $0000-$7FFF to RAM, $8000-$8FFF to the VIA, $9000-$9FFF to the ACIA, $A000-$BFFF to an external slot, and $C000-$FFFF to ROM.
- •The external 32-pin slot exposes the full CPU bus and can host external ROM code or a KCS cassette tape extension for saving and loading BASIC programs and raw memory dumps.
- •The 65C22 VIA is used for two Atari CX40 joystick ports, and the article documents the JOY() BASIC function and bit mapping for joystick inputs.
- •The system includes a BASIC TONE routine for square-wave audio on Port B bit 7 and maps ACIA serial registers to addresses $9000-$9003.