Engineer Launches Custom Motherboard for Classic PlayStation 1 Console
An anonymous reader reports that Lorentio Brodesco has unveiled the first custom PlayStation 1 motherboard created outside of Sony, marking a significant achievement in reverse-engineering efforts for the 1994 console. The nsOne motherboard is a fully functional circuit board capable of working with original PlayStation 1 components, including the CPU, GPU, SPU, RAM, oscillators, and voltage regulators. Brodesco’s project, which began in March 2024, involved reverse-engineering work that started with incomplete documentation discovered during a repair process.
Brodesco emphasized in a Reddit post that the nsOne is not an emulator or an FPGA-based replica, but a genuine motherboard designed to work with original PlayStation 1 chips. This innovation is particularly appealing to PlayStation 1 enthusiasts who can now revive damaged consoles by transplanting original chips onto new, functional boards. As original PlayStation 1 motherboards become increasingly prone to failure after three decades, the introduction of replacement boards offers a viable solution without the need for emulation.
The nsOne project, abbreviated as ‘Not Sony’s One,’ is based on a hybrid design derived from the PU-23 series motherboards used in SCPH-900X PlayStation models, but with the reintroduction of the parallel port that Sony removed from later revisions. Brodesco upgraded the original two-layer PCB design to a four-layer board while maintaining the same form factor. On Kickstarter, Brodesco explained that the project’s goal is to create comprehensive documentation, design files, and production-ready blueprints for manufacturing fully functional motherboards. His work not only aids in repairing PlayStation 1 consoles but also preserves the hardware architecture of the classic console for future generations, embodying the belief that one person can indeed build the impossible.