RC11 controller (Was: Reproduction DEC 144-lamp indicator panels)

I've done some pretty large VHDL designs (though not structured in the most conventional manner). It's definitely one option. It's a good one for large designs, or ones with severe performance requirements. FPGA (VHDL or Verilog) work requires learning not just a new language but a way of looking at design that's unfamiliar to software people. It's interesting and rewarding but not a simple thing to do. And even "simple CPLD" projects aren't necessarily simpler done that way, at least not for people like me. To pick an example: I have a rudimentary software-defined radio I built around 1998 (using Harris SDR chips) which uses a Lattice CPLD to interface to an EPP mode parallel printer interface. That's conceptually a simple task but it turned out to be surprisingly hairy. At the time it was the best answer; if I were to attempt a similar project today I would most likely pick a Raspberry Pico to do the interfacing. The Pico is in fact a good example to point to. While a Pi is a full Linux system, a Pico is a deep-embedded device, tiny and dirt cheap even by Arduino standards. I've seen low end FPGA boards but I don't know if you can beat $4 as the price tag. And add to that the fact that FPGA development software often only runs on *gag* Windows, while embedded software boards such as RPico offer open IDE systems that run on real host operating systems. I haven't run into that, it's rather puzzing why that would be so given that MFM does one drive at a time. In any case, the original comment was about RC11, which is massively slower than MFM disks. paul