> I believe it's identical to the more well known Z80 CPU that saw massive use during the 80s in scientific calculators and many arcade machines.
Interesting that the Z80 seems to be so relatively unknown (as home computer CPU) in some parts of the world. Apart from calculators and arcade machines it was in many home computers that were popular at least in Europe (the biggest being the ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC), and Japan I believe because the MSX standard was popular there. And it could run CP/M which was the standard office software operating system before DOS, and was the reason why Commodore added a Z80 CPU to the C128 (in addition to the 6502).
CP/M was (most likely) also the reason why the Eastern Bloc choose the Z80 as its standard 8-bit CPU architecture. While 6502 clones were produced in Bulgaria, it was a complete underdog compared to the Z80 on the eastern side of the iron curtain.
Oh, and not to forget: the Nintendo Gameboy also has a Z80 CPU, although stripped of some instruction ranges.
Ah, my first computer! I was gifted this for my sixth birthday back in NZ in a plastic bag full of games and old magazines and it set me on a lifetime of computer obsession.
The pictured Star Jacker game was amazing for the time.
Amongst the memories:
* Finishing every level in Lode Runner bar one (and somehow discovering a cheat allowing you to change to any level)
* spending hours typing out hundreds of lines of code from a magazine to make a basic dynamic curve "screensaver"
* trying to hack into a bank (from a non-connected device, hey I was 7) after discovering the mem command
* Coveting the better games my cousin had, like Sindbad and Yamato, on the SC-1000
* I feel like I finished Flicky at level 40. I can't remember the specifics but from the lens of a near-40 year old, the feeling on that run was the closest to perfect "flow" I could imagine at that age
* So much blowing on the cartridge and other cargo cult behaviour on timings of off-on switches and first actions to not have things break
* having the recorder (Sr-1000?) That never worked meaning everything was a sudden death knockout event. Stakes was high back then!
Interesting that the Z80 seems to be so relatively unknown (as home computer CPU) in some parts of the world. Apart from calculators and arcade machines it was in many home computers that were popular at least in Europe (the biggest being the ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC), and Japan I believe because the MSX standard was popular there. And it could run CP/M which was the standard office software operating system before DOS, and was the reason why Commodore added a Z80 CPU to the C128 (in addition to the 6502).
CP/M was (most likely) also the reason why the Eastern Bloc choose the Z80 as its standard 8-bit CPU architecture. While 6502 clones were produced in Bulgaria, it was a complete underdog compared to the Z80 on the eastern side of the iron curtain.
Oh, and not to forget: the Nintendo Gameboy also has a Z80 CPU, although stripped of some instruction ranges.