The ZedRipper: a 16-core, 83 MHz Z80 powerhouse portable #VintageComputing #FPGA #Z80
We’re all used to multicore PC type machines these days but imaging a multicore Z80 machine. Z80? Like 1980 Z80? Yes. Clocked up to 83 MHz. A Kaypro dream to be sure. Chris Fenton has built such a beast:
Meet the ZedRipper – a 16-core, 83 MHz Z80 powerhouse as portable as it is impractical. The ZedRipper is my latest attempt to build a fun ‘project’ machine, with a couple of goals in mind:
Finally use one of the giant FPGA boards I had lying around
Play a little ‘alternate-history computer engineering’ with a hardware-focused approach to multitasking
Build a machine that I could write fun, small programs for on my daily train ride
Build a platform that would allow for relatively easy computer-architecture experiments
The ZedRipper is basically an attempt to build the ultimate CP/M 2.2 computer.
All CPUs and devices connected with a fully-synchronous, uni-directional ring network operating at 83 MHz
128MB of storage on SD Card (available via 16 x 8MB disk drives in CP/M)
A ‘server’ core that boots into CP/M 2.2 and runs a CP/NET file server (written in Turbo Pascal 3 on the machine!) allowing shared access to the SD card
15 ‘client’ cores running CP/NOS from ROM. Each client can access the shared storage and run any CP/M 2.2 programs without resource contention with the other cores.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
