- ZPX-128 the universal Z80 computer kit
- 23 Jan 2016 03:57:44 pm
- Last edited by Muessigb on 25 Jan 2016 11:12:22 am; edited 1 time in total
Hello!
c4ooo, adekto and I are working on a Z80 computer kit.
It will have:
- 128KB of static RAM,
- 10 MHz CMOS Z80 (Z84C0010),
- VGA (probably 800x600; 3 graphic modes [text, graphic using sprites and tilemaps and buffered]),
- mono audio,
- PS/2 (for connecting a keyboard; active and passive USB to PS/2 converters are available),
- SD card (SD card will be used to load the kernel into RAM, before the Z80 boots; the Z80 can also request files from the SD card to be copied into RAM and the other way round),
- Serial port (interface is 3.3v or 5V, UART; you can use a USB serial adapter if you want),
- GPIO (4 pins, 3.3v or 5v),
- HDMI (adding about 15€ to the overall price; optional).
The Z80 is connected to a system management controller that we call PXA. It runs at 80 MHz, has 8 cores, 32 KB of builtin memory and is a 32-bit architecture. It will have 32-128 KB of flash for the firmware and can be programmed over the serial port. The PXA is connected with the Z80 through a 15 MHz interface and can be mapped into address space. It handles all IO, interfaces and the initial bootstrapping and has full control over the Z80 (interrupts, WAIT, bus and address control, etc.).
The PXA can be programmed to emulate many Z80 peripherals and provide an hardware emulator for many platforms, possibly even the TI-83+. Custom programs can be written for the PXA in C or in SPIN. The Z80 can be programmed in assembly, C or any other language you can come up with.
One cool feature is, that it has no ROM and the kernel is loaded into ram before the Z80 boots. Also can the frequency of the Z80 be adjusted on the fly up to 0.1 MHz accuracy (to a maximum of 10 MHz).
We will probably also do a case for it that will be made out of slotted together black, laser cut acrylic.
Here is an older drawing of it:
The official website is located here: http://zpx-128.ninjabyte.eu/
I hope you like this project and I appreciate and help. Currently we are working on the schematics, a breadboard setup, and the interface between the PXA and the Z80.
c4ooo, adekto and I are working on a Z80 computer kit.
It will have:
- 128KB of static RAM,
- 10 MHz CMOS Z80 (Z84C0010),
- VGA (probably 800x600; 3 graphic modes [text, graphic using sprites and tilemaps and buffered]),
- mono audio,
- PS/2 (for connecting a keyboard; active and passive USB to PS/2 converters are available),
- SD card (SD card will be used to load the kernel into RAM, before the Z80 boots; the Z80 can also request files from the SD card to be copied into RAM and the other way round),
- Serial port (interface is 3.3v or 5V, UART; you can use a USB serial adapter if you want),
- GPIO (4 pins, 3.3v or 5v),
- HDMI (adding about 15€ to the overall price; optional).
The Z80 is connected to a system management controller that we call PXA. It runs at 80 MHz, has 8 cores, 32 KB of builtin memory and is a 32-bit architecture. It will have 32-128 KB of flash for the firmware and can be programmed over the serial port. The PXA is connected with the Z80 through a 15 MHz interface and can be mapped into address space. It handles all IO, interfaces and the initial bootstrapping and has full control over the Z80 (interrupts, WAIT, bus and address control, etc.).
The PXA can be programmed to emulate many Z80 peripherals and provide an hardware emulator for many platforms, possibly even the TI-83+. Custom programs can be written for the PXA in C or in SPIN. The Z80 can be programmed in assembly, C or any other language you can come up with.
One cool feature is, that it has no ROM and the kernel is loaded into ram before the Z80 boots. Also can the frequency of the Z80 be adjusted on the fly up to 0.1 MHz accuracy (to a maximum of 10 MHz).
We will probably also do a case for it that will be made out of slotted together black, laser cut acrylic.
Here is an older drawing of it:
The official website is located here: http://zpx-128.ninjabyte.eu/
I hope you like this project and I appreciate and help. Currently we are working on the schematics, a breadboard setup, and the interface between the PXA and the Z80.