I have quite a soft spot for the Z80 myself. This is a great way to introduce the Z80 in a way that is easily understandable so you can work up to a more complex setup with a real ROM etc. Great to see the timing signals at a speed that can be comprehended too.
And now all my computer architecture classes from 1986 suddenly make sense. Cheers for an really lovely walk down memory lane while at the same time connecting the dots between software and hardware. Really enjoyed that! Oh Happy new year to you too.
This turned out to be a handy video for me. I was troubleshooting an RC2014 Z80 Board I had just built but something wasn't right. M1 was constantly low. I remembered watching this video some time ago and decided to breadboard this just like you did. Guess what?!? Turns out I had a bum Z80. Out of a tube of six, I pulled the one bad one. I know this because, yes, while I had the breadboard built, I swapped out all the other chips and confirmed they work. My RC2014 Z80 Board appears to be working correctly too!
You are a genius! This was awesome! I love Z80, but in my ~20 years with it, I never thought of something so simple like this. I never ever imagined connecting LEDs directly to its pins! I thought it'd blew up immediately.
This was a great video. Everything from "faking" an instruction to using LEDs to watch the chip request addresses sequentially. Just excellent. Thanks!
Wonderful video Julian! My first computer was Technical Design Labs (TDL) Z-80 kit. Your video brought back wonderful memories of Z-80 machine code. I always enjoy your videos.
Nice video, Julian. It brings back memories of my first foray into computing: a two day intro to the 8080 on a tutor board (all LEDs and toggle switches) back in 1978. I was hooked at that point and it set the direction of my career. Now I'm retired and back bit twiddling with Arduinos and the like :)
Congratulations ! this video is just awesome. I just made my first NOP computer with an old Z80 I had in my basement. Thanks for a such illuminating lesson of how computers work !!
I love your use of ROM... Resistor Only Memory
I have quite a soft spot for the Z80 myself. This is a great way to introduce the Z80 in a way that is easily understandable so you can work up to a more complex setup with a real ROM etc. Great to see the timing signals at a speed that can be comprehended too.
And now all my computer architecture classes from 1986 suddenly make sense. Cheers for an really lovely walk down memory lane while at the same time connecting the dots between software and hardware. Really enjoyed that! Oh Happy new year to you too.
Brilliant Julian - I wish I had this kind of instruction when I was an apprentice in the 80's - very easy to understand.
This turned out to be a handy video for me. I was troubleshooting an RC2014 Z80 Board I had just built but something wasn't right. M1 was constantly low. I remembered watching this video some time ago and decided to breadboard this just like you did. Guess what?!? Turns out I had a bum Z80. Out of a tube of six, I pulled the one bad one. I know this because, yes, while I had the breadboard built, I swapped out all the other chips and confirmed they work. My RC2014 Z80 Board appears to be working correctly too!
You are a genius! This was awesome! I love Z80, but in my ~20 years with it, I never thought of something so simple like this. I never ever imagined connecting LEDs directly to its pins! I thought it'd blew up immediately.
Well Julian, You made my evening !
The blue LEDs around
Excellent video/tutorial. Very well explained.
Love it! One of the best microprocessors ever made, nice to see one dusted off. Great job!
Very interesting and very well explained. Took me back to my 6502 days many moons ago. Keep 'em coming
This was a great video. Everything from "faking" an instruction to using LEDs to watch the chip request addresses sequentially. Just excellent. Thanks!
Thanks for the memories ! back in the days I started to fiddle with assembler, 8080 and z80 ! Very instructionnal for those younger lads !!
Takes me back many, many years. Thanks for a brilliant project I will be trying soon!
Wonderful video Julian! My first computer was Technical Design Labs (TDL) Z-80 kit. Your video brought back wonderful memories of Z-80 machine code. I always enjoy your videos.
A few resistors to program it, love it. Imagine doing that on a PI - most people would start with 'install Linux'!
This facultative lobotomy was awesome! Thanks for letting me understand how the Ghost works :)
Absolutely amazing explanation of the Z80! I almost feel like I understand it (a tiny bit). Thanks!
Nice video, Julian. It brings back memories of my first foray into computing: a two day intro to the 8080 on a tutor board (all LEDs and toggle switches) back in 1978. I was hooked at that point and it set the direction of my career. Now I'm retired and back bit twiddling with Arduinos and the like :)
Congratulations ! this video is just awesome. I just made my first NOP computer with an old Z80 I had in my basement. Thanks for a such illuminating lesson of how computers work !!