Retro computing is very popular. It’s interesting to experience what computing was like in the 80s when 8-bit processors were the standard and 64K of memory was generous.
This guide takes you somewhere in-between. It looks at running a Z80 emulator on state of the art microcontroller hardware. Specifically, a Grand Central M4 Express. This board is built around the SAMD51 MCU which has plenty of memory and power to run an emulator in real time. Just as importantly, it has an onboard SD card slot which is needed to house CP/M’s virtual disks.
The Adafruit Grand Central Express running CP/M and using the emulated Z80 to handle an LED
The Z80 Microprocessor
Do you like emulating vintage hardware? Let us know in the comments below!
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