Electronics woot won a Z80 cpu

Hello I am rather excited I won a new Z80A 4mHz cpu off ebay, it's been a long time dream of mine to rearly build my own computer
although this is a hard project I hope I will be succesfull, do you think I should post a project log once I get started as updates will be on a whenever I can /can be bothered basis and due to the extreme amount of learning I will have to a high probobility of short term failiure?
kind of excited though as I never expected such a find

 

I always wanted to build a small computer but knew it was way over my head but I believe you have the skills to pull this so, Hell Yeah I wanna see a log.

 

this would be pretty awesome.
any idea what type of computer?

 

just getting the cpu to do anything would be awsome, my asyembler skills are not uber so succesfully booting and displaying some indication that it is operation will probobly be the first step (say a beep or an LED lighting etc).

 

if you post a log you'll probably get help when you ask for it and you might even get help to avoid mistakes before you even realise them? they are like 15 years old aren't they? DAMN, just checked google, 1976!!! according to this
So what ideas or plans to you have for the z80?

 

Old, yes, but still useful for this kinda stuff.

 

Good luck

Interesting project, this http://www.hanssummers.com/computers/newz80/index.htm can give you some info and help you get started.

 

Hello world! Always nice to see that when you're done. I built a Z80 computer once, of course I cheated. It was one of those Timex Sinclair kits.

Seriously, I envy someone with the skills to build something like this. Good luck. Definitely create a project log.

 

Thanks for all the enthusiastic responses and info I have stated work on a project log but won't post anything till I have at least got some things worked out as I don't want to disapoint. ALso I want to very well document everything as I like other people to know lots about electronics and be able to do the things I do.

 

Me too.

 

I have never heard of a Z80 cpu before

 

Good luck, looks like a fair amount of work from what cpemma posted (naturally you'll want to build an interface board for your 8800GTX... )

 

It's famous (@ least in my mind) for being the processor in the TI-83 line of graphing calculators.

 

Very common CPU. I'm also on a similar project using a Picaxe microcontroller.

 

the gameboy cpu was very similar to the Z80 if i remember right
and http://futurlec.com./ICZ80Series.shtml is a great place to get parts.

 

Sinclair ZX80 DIY computer I remember them, Blast from the past on wikipedia:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_ZX80

I waited until the 16k ZX Spectrum, then added 32k memory and DK Tronics Keyboard!, better go nostalgia kicking in

 

Oh do please post a log of this, I love stuff like this.

 

Z80 was in (drumroll please)
C=64.
How much did you pay because i have a Z80a,Co processor, I/O driver and other chips.
BTW the Z80 was the predecessor to the 8086
And i have the complete circuit diagram for the C=64

 

Sorry but the C64 had a 6510/8500 CPU which is a modified 6502 CPU.

Also the 8086 has for a predecessor the 8080 CPU made by Intel in 1974. Z80 is made by Zilog who were competitors to Intel at the time.

 

I am not planning on using the Z80PIO chip as I want to have alot of input/output. At the moment I have over 100 sperate logic IC's stuck in shefeild and all the parts for the basic 4mhz proccesor clock I will initialy use and all the parts for the 5v supply (figured my old computer supply is too noisy). I am on the look out for an 8bit parrelel EEPROM to put the boot code in as all the ones I can find are I2S.. which means additional not needed complexity.

I am having real trouble understanding the asyembler for the Z80 as it's orders of magnitude more complex than anything I have ever delt with (only ever programed pics before).

I paid £2.40 for the Z80 cpu including postage.
(keeping a costing seems like a good idea I will produce the price of parts at the start of the log)

I have figured out how to make the cpu light up an LED though so I will start my log once I have got to that point.

Although it's along time in the future I am starting to think about interface and I think that something based around mouse gestures would be awsome as everyone else seems to go for a command line interface... thinking about it a mouse driven interface would be far cooler and faster if done right (I dont think the way we do it on computers with icons is right - more of a gesture based aproach would be faster).