My new computing platform

Cidco Mailstation

The last #Z80 platform ever made - big thanks to Michał Pleban https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/speaker/michal_pleban/ for his amazing #fosdem #retrocomputing presentation

#Isetta might be the perfect #retrocomputing project, at least in terms of architecture and capabilities. It can run #6502 and #Z80 code, has a graphical OS, and can run games with reasonable resolution & number of colors.

The biggest barrier to growing a larger community around it seems to be that all the components are surface mount, which scares a lot of people. One must also source all the parts other than the board, and a separate board is required for programming the flash chips. An assembled version would make it a lot more accessible.

Surface mount is definitely the way to go. It's really not that hard, and it dramatically increases options for parts and allows for a much smaller board.

Something like Isetta in a case with a keyboard, LCD screen, and battery would be awesome. LCD interfaces aren't much different from VGA.

https://hackaday.io/project/190345-isetta-ttl-computer

#Isetta might be the perfect #retrocomputing project, at least in terms of architecture and capabilities. It can run #6502 and #Z80 code, has a graphical OS, and can run games with reasonable resolution & number of colors.

The biggest barrier to growing a larger community around it seems to be that all the components are surface mount, which scares a lot of people. One must also source all the parts other than the board, and a separate board is required for programming the flash chips. An assembled version would make it a lot more accessible.

Surface mount is definitely the way to go. It's really not that hard, and it dramatically increases options for parts and allows for a much smaller board.

Something like Isetta in a case with a keyboard, LCD screen, and battery would be awesome. LCD interfaces aren't much different from VGA.

https://hackaday.io/project/190345-isetta-ttl-computer

I know what every wire in the bus of my #RC2014 does. They correspond exactly to the pins on the #Z80 CPU. I know what every chip on every expansion board does. I've read the code for the #RomWBW BIOS and understand how it works. I understand how an assembler and a BASIC interpreter works.

Meanwhile, Flutter is over 2 gigabytes.

a handy one-file quick reference: "The Complete Z80 OP-Code Referece" by Devin Gardner: https://www.ticalc.org/pub/text/z80/z80_reference.txt

"Best veiwed fullscreen in NotePad"

#Z80

a handy one-file quick reference: "The Complete Z80 OP-Code Referece" by Devin Gardner: https://www.ticalc.org/pub/text/z80/z80_reference.txt

"Best veiwed fullscreen in NotePad"

#Z80

Leanord Sil’z III, micro-ordinateur français des années 80, fait partie de ces systèmes que Silicium conserve et documente.
Comprendre le passé du numérique,
c’est mieux construire son avenir.

#PatrimoineInformatique #cpm #z80 #RetroComputing
#heritage #toulouse

Any other #Nascom or #Gemini #vintagecomputing geeks out there? I inherited a rather large collection from my late dad, but so far I've only found a handful of people why are into the #Galaxy computers made by Gemini Microcomputers Ltd., and none in the Fediverse yet. The Geminis were made in #England and mostly featured the #Zilog #z80 although they very briefly ventured into Motorola 68K world before throwing in the towel.

#retrocomputing

Any other #Nascom or #Gemini #vintagecomputing geeks out there? I inherited a rather large collection from my late dad, but so far I've only found a handful of people why are into the #Galaxy computers made by Gemini Microcomputers Ltd., and none in the Fediverse yet. The Geminis were made in #England and mostly featured the #Zilog #z80 although they very briefly ventured into Motorola 68K world before throwing in the towel.

#retrocomputing

Found my first computer this week.

Nascom 1 (1978 ish) built into a wind up gramaphone case, swappable roms (tiny basic and a monitor IIRC) space for a Phillips EL3302 cassette player (that i also have some where) also found my software on tape.

Really need to archive those 😊

Z80 at 4Mhz , 2KB onboard 1KB video, 1K user. 4K expansion (8x 2114's)

#RetroComputing #z80 #nascom

Found my first computer this week.

Nascom 1 (1978 ish) built into a wind up gramaphone case, swappable roms (tiny basic and a monitor IIRC) space for a Phillips EL3302 cassette player (that i also have some where) also found my software on tape.

Really need to archive those 😊

Z80 at 4Mhz , 2KB onboard 1KB video, 1K user. 4K expansion (8x 2114's)

#RetroComputing #z80 #nascom

Lisp in 99 Lines of C with TinyLisp.

As one of the oldest programming languages still in common use today, and essential for the first wave of Artificial Intelligence research during the 1950s and 60s, Lisp is often the focus of interpreters that can run on very low-powered systems. Such is the case with [Robert van Engelen]’s TinyLisp, which only takes 99 lines of C code and….

https://github.com/Robert-van-Engelen/tinylisp

#tinylisp #c #programming #engineer #media #z80 #retro #tech #news

Z80:
modify address in register: inc hl
modify data pointed by register: inc (hl)
use constant: ld a, 42
read constant address: ld a, (42)

68k:
modify address in register: addq #1, a0
modify data pointed by register: addq #1, (a0)
use constant: move #42, d0
read constant address: move 42, d0

There's a good reason why 68k created that inconsistency around immediate data and absolute addresses, but it's annoying that I keep making mistakes when moving between CPUs

#Z80 #mc68000 #RetroComputing

Z80:
modify address in register: inc hl
modify data pointed by register: inc (hl)
use constant: ld a, 42
read constant address: ld a, (42)

68k:
modify address in register: addq #1, a0
modify data pointed by register: addq #1, (a0)
use constant: move #42, d0
read constant address: move 42, d0

There's a good reason why 68k created that inconsistency around immediate data and absolute addresses, but it's annoying that I keep making mistakes when moving between CPUs

#Z80 #mc68000 #RetroComputing

I've been compiling and installing the current #FUZIX sources for the #rc2014 platform yesterday and am quite impressed by the work @etchedpixels did so far.

Of course, you can also play #StarTrek on FUZIX ...

#Z80
#UNIX
#8bit

I've been compiling and installing the current #FUZIX sources for the #rc2014 platform yesterday and am quite impressed by the work @etchedpixels did so far.

Of course, you can also play #StarTrek on FUZIX ...

#Z80
#UNIX
#8bit

A proof of concept Z80 Assembly program that "[...] simulates task multitasking that can run up to eight separate tasks at the same time." It requires a specific hardware and software setup.

https://github.com/bchiha/Ready-Z80/tree/main/29-Multitasking

#z80 #multitasking #assembly

Recreating a Homebrew Game System from 1987

https://alex-j-lowry.github.io/z80tvg.html

#HackerNews #HomebrewGaming #RetroGaming #1987 #GameDev #Z80

Pre-emptive Z80 multitasking explainer

https://github.com/bchiha/Ready-Z80/tree/main/29-Multitasking

#HackerNews #Preemptive #Z80 #multitasking #explainer #Z80 #Multitasking #TechExplainer #RetroComputing #HackerNews

#scheme for the #amstradcpc anyone? #z80 #cpm