Zilog Z8000 retro computer part 2: CompactFlash, Floppy, Pi Supervisor, and speech synthesizer

Part 2 in my series on building a Zilog Z8000 computer. In this video I add several more boards. The first is a combination compactflash/IDE and floppy controller board. Next up is a raspberry pi bus supervisor that lets me read and write memory and provides a shared disk. Finally, I add a speech synthesizer. I always add a speech synthesizer. I also play a few old infocom games, generator a maze, and print my name in tiny basic. The Z8000 was a 16-bit microprocessor from the mid 1980s. It didn't really succeed commercially, and it's difficult to find computers that used the Z8000. So I decided to make one just for one to put this oddball CPU to use. For more electronics projects, see www.smbaker.com/

[@Doug_in_NC]

If you upload your designs to PCBWay, then whenever someone orders the boards through their maker space, you get a small payment. I don’t think it’s much, but it’s better than nothing.

[@derekchristenson5711]

Very cool! I'm excited to see what more can be done with this nifty machine and its unusual CPU. 🙂

[@ScottSavageTechnoScavenger]

Nice implementation of Zork I

[@ninjazhu]

if you make a bridge board to link clovers then you can make a field of clover computers. the bridge can map on alternate clock cycles so it can access memory opposite to the z8000, then... the same to the next linked via bridge clover. the bridge can map one clover in a different location to the other - that design allows you to link and bridge as many clovers as you like with the same bridge hardware. All cloves effectively synced, and all bridges on alternate clock cycles with a very fast full memory access to each adjacent clover.

[@jacobdavidcunningham1440]

Also works as a weapon, Shuriken

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

Had this came out in 1984 it would have given the SINCLAIR QL a run for it's money.

[@SpeccyMan]

... its money. (No apostrophe in the possessive pronoun!)

[@Hacker-at-Large]

It’s “Shall we play a game?” W.O.P.R. wouldn’t make that mistake. 😁

[@SpeccyMan]

Four PETALS on a four LEAF clover, eh?