FAP80 is a Homebrew Computer Built with Zilog Z80 CPU

Designed over the course of a year dekuNukem built – twice! – this homemade ‘FAP80’ computer. Short for FPGA Assisted Processor, FAP was originally designed with numerous through-hole components on breadboard and perfboard (below, left) before being redesigned with SMT and custom PCBs. The stats – 8MHz CPU, 16KB RAM – might not be much compared to modern cellphones or even an Arduino Uno (16MHz, 32KB flash) but this is nothing short of an impressive build, a life achievement no doubt.

  • 8MHz CMOS Z80
  • 5-slot active backplane, USB powered
  • 32KB ROM, 16KB RAM, 16KB double buffered VRAM
  • 64 color 640×480 VGA graphics
  • PS/2 keyboard, ESP8266, SD card, I2C EEPROM, RTC, UART, Timers

You can see more quick pics of the finished builds here on imgur; specs, datasheet and documentation here on GitHub; and complete backstory here on dekuNukem’s blog.


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