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Over the last few weeks Ive been redesigning the Z80 Project hardware to fit on
a smaller, double-sided PCB. (I'd not used FreePCB to create a completed design in the
past so it was a good learning experience if nothing else).
Anyway, I've now finished it and am considering having the board professionally made..
I've done some calculating and worked out that if anyone is interested in a V5 Z80 Project
(NOT a complete laptop like my own) I'd be able to make and sell them for approx £75
GBP (plus postage). Yes, not cheap - but I'd be producing them individually and I dont
have access to trade price parts and huge production runs.. Trust me, I wouldnt be making
a fortune in profit.. :)
The board would be supplied with the same FPGA architecture as the V4, with
one or two (hopefully transparent) changes as it'll be for a single chip, instead of
two smaller FPGAs. The larger FPGA should allow more features to be added. I've
already added a second PS2 port (for a mouse) and intend to clock the Z80 CPU up to
16MHz.
Of course you could tweek / totally reconfigure the FPGA config code if you wanted and make
your own 8 bit computer system. (Same with the OS etc.) The common elements would be: 16MHz
Z80 CPU, 256K System RAM, two seperate 128K SRAMs with their own buses, PS2 ports for keyboard
and mouse, IDE interface, RS232 comms, stereo sound jack, RGB TV video out (also have added
2 digital syncs for possible PC monitor compatibility - though I havent looked into that
too deeply as yet). Size of PCB: 120 x 116mm.
Current status: PCBs made, testing and architecture conversion in progress.
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