<i>Build Your Own Z80 Computer</i> by Steve Ciarcia of Byte Magazine and Circuit Cellar fame may also be useful :<p><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Build-Your-Own-Z80-Computer/dp/0070109621/" rel="nofollow">https://smile.amazon.com/Build-Your-Own-Z80-Computer/dp/0070...</a>
Recently found Z80 video of how a guy makes ZX Spectrum computer from ground up, fixes bugs and problems as he proceeds. Video is in Russian, but still amazing even if you don't understand it!<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rWCYo1UcOQ" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rWCYo1UcOQ</a>
Z80 micros are a lot of fun. I was looking for a kit last year and ended up building this one:<p><a href="http://cpuville.com/Z80_kit.html" rel="nofollow">http://cpuville.com/Z80_kit.html</a><p>Getting it to work and writing simple programs is really satisfying and totally worth the burns from learning how to solder.
I love this. I started on a project to do a homebrew Z80 machine late last year as well. I haven't made much progress yet, but I'm really champing at the bit (no pun intended) to get this going. Reading stories like this is really motivational! And it's always good to learn from those who went before...
Quick note: if you want a full-hardware "computer" (screen, keys, cup and I/O stuff) consider buying an old Texas Instruments calculator: models up to Ti86 have a Zilog Z80-similar (ISA-compatible) inside, the TI89 and later have a Motorola 68000 cpu inside.<p>The Ti86/Ti89 are programmable in both Assembly and BASIC (interpreter on-rom). If you are willing to buy the data cable and fiddle with SDCC (Small-devices C compiler, a "mod" of gcc) you might program them in C as well.<p>Links:<p>* Ti86: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-86" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-86</a><p>* Ti89: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-89_series" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-89_series</a><p>* SDCC: <a href="http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/" rel="nofollow">http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/</a>
It looks awesome. I'm looking forward for your documentation.<p>Is the PCB multi-layered, or two layers? Could you also comment which software did you use to design it? I've used Eagle CAD quite a lot in past and it works great, though I always wished to use KiCAD because it's open source. Thank you!
That is awesome. Coincidentally, I've been spending my weekend revisiting my Z-80 based Nascom 2 (see <a href="http://nascomhomepage.com/" rel="nofollow">http://nascomhomepage.com/</a>) and playing with Turbo Pascal's great grandfather, BLS Pascal. Even now, ~ 35 years later, I still think good code generation on the Z-80 is a significant challenge and wonder what else could have been done with the transistor budget and technology constraints of the time.<p>Good times
I've been wanting to do a project like this for a while. Specifically, wanting to write a basic program to visualize ALDL data from my 88 fiero on an 8 or 16 bit homebrew mini system, for extra retro goodness. Ideally I want a keyboard and serial port, a vga out, and a spot for a cf or sd card. Maybe running cp/m or similar. I've looked at rc2014 and similar and even some fpga options, but haven't settled on the right starting point yet. Ideas?
Perhaps not the "world's smallest", but pretty small:<p><a href="http://noplabs.com/cpm50/cpm50.html" rel="nofollow">http://noplabs.com/cpm50/cpm50.html</a>
Similar project featuring a screen and I2C bus: <a href="http://benryves.com/projects/z80computer" rel="nofollow">http://benryves.com/projects/z80computer</a>
This is just remarkably uninteresting. Interesting fact however is that there is no CP/M simulator for Linux. Only MSDOS has. So you have to first run DOSBOX and then CP/M. -- I recently found copy of MUMATH from 1979 and it was as good as I remember it was.