A simulator reproduces a Commodore 64 motherboard down to component pins and electrical connections. Remove a chip or disconnect a pin on screen, and the virtual machine responds to the resulting fault.
Creator Salvatore Sanfilippo, known as antirez, built it to investigate problems without risking an old computer. The detailed simulation runs at about 31% of a real C64's speed even on an Apple M3 Max.
A simulator intended to help investigate computer faults actually lets you break its components on purpose. That's dedication to reproducing what goes wrong.
LastComputer turned a badly damaged Samsung Galaxy S23 into a desktop gaming computer. The build combines the phone's mainboard with a 512 GB SSD, USB hubs including HDMI output, and an added cooling fan.
The creator straightened the bent frame with a hammer and installed a replacement battery. A heatsink and fan lowered temperatures by about seven degrees Celsius compared with the phone's original cooling setup. Samsung DeX provides the desktop environment, with PS2 emulation and other games demonstrated.
The phone looks beyond saving as a phone, but a hammer, fan and SSD give it a second career as a gaming PC.
A simulator intended to help investigate computer faults actually lets you break its components on purpose. That's dedication to reproducing what goes wrong.