{"id":52389,"date":"2022-08-22T00:41:34","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T00:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/clover-computer-a-modern-z8000-cp-m-machine\/"},"modified":"2022-08-22T00:41:34","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T00:41:34","slug":"clover-computer-a-modern-z8000-cp-m-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/clover-computer-a-modern-z8000-cp-m-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"Clover Computer: A Modern Z8000 CP\/M Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-548823\">\n    <!-- .entry-header --><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Seeing some old Zilog 16-bit chips on eBay recently, [Scott Baker] was curious enough to snap them up and build himself a Z8000 computer.  It started as a two-board solution, then he added a display module.  Instead of layering the boards vertically \u00e0 la a PC\/104 stack, [Scott] decided to build them flat.  His first backplane was triangular, but he opted for a square to accommodate one more expansion board in the future.  The assembled contraption resembles a clover, hence the name Clover Computer.<\/p>\n<p>The Z8000 was Zilog&#8217;s first 16-bit microprocessor, introduced in 1979. It was not hugely popular for a variety of reasons (the Z8000 Wikipedia article has some interesting details).  The Z8000 was eclipsed in the marketplace by Intel&#8217;s 8088 and Motorola&#8217;s 32-bit 68000. One interesting point is that the Z8000 did not use microcode, and as a result, its transistor count was significantly less than its contemporaries.  The Z8000 was used in some military applications, and despite its limited commercial success, it continued to be available from Zilog and licensed second sources up until 2012.<\/p>\n<p>[Scott]&#8217;s design splits the system into a CPU board, a memory and serial board, and a display board.  Along the way, he learns 1980&#8217;s era tricks from the Olivetti M20, one of the few computer systems designed around the Z8000.  He also manages to find a recent Z8000 implementation of CP\/M by GitHub user [<span class=\"author flex-self-stretch\">4sun5bu]which [Scott] forked and adapted to his project (see project repo here).  He succeeds in getting everything working, and ports a monitor, Tiny Basic, and Zork.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"author flex-self-stretch\">Check out his project write-up introductory link, and see it in action in the video below the break.  Did you ever use or encounter the Z8000?  Let us know in the comments!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container\" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Scott&#039;s Z8000 CP\/M-8000 Clover Computer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SvSKPFVnW94?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .entry-content --><\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .entry-footer -->\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seeing some old Zilog 16-bit chips on eBay recently, [Scott Baker] was curious enough to snap them up and build himself a Z8000 computer. It started as a two-board solution, then he added a display module. Instead of layering the boards vertically \u00e0 la a PC\/104 stack, [Scott] decided to build them flat. His first &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/clover-computer-a-modern-z8000-cp-m-machine\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Clover Computer: A Modern Z8000 CP\/M Machine<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51333,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/z80-single-board-computer-looks-like-it-could-have-been-a-killer-product\/","url_meta":{"origin":52389,"position":0},"title":"Z80 Single-Board Computer Looks Like It Could Have Been A Killer Product","date":"August 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Most retrocomputer builds seem to focus on either restoring old machines or rebuilding them from scratch. Either way, the goal is to get as close as possible to the original machine, and while we certainly respect those builds, there are other ways to celebrate the computers of yesterday, as this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51315,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/please-lego-let-this-engineer-bring-your-computer-brick-to-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":52389,"position":1},"title":"Please, Lego, let this engineer bring your computer brick to life","date":"August 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"James Brown loves building weird displays. Like animatronic skulls, or mechanical bit-flipping cellular automatons. Or, in this case, an entire computer inside a mock Lego brick. Not just any brick, either. I'm talking about the classic sloped Lego computers from our childhood spaceships, now brilliantly brought to life. They display\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27739,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kevin-durantkyrie-irvingjaylen-brown\/","url_meta":{"origin":52389,"position":2},"title":"Kevin DurantKyrie IrvingJaylen Brown","date":"July 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"HoopsHype's Michael Scott and Celtics beat writer Jared Weiss share the latest updates on trade talks between the Celtics and Nets surrounding Jaylen Brown and Kevin Durant. Plus, the possibility of Marcus Smart and Grant Williams being involved in the trade talks, what's next for Kyrie Irving's future, and more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hoopshype.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2022\/07\/USATSI_18153988.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2975,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/scott-stallings-spends-400-to-go-back-to-old-irons-moves-up-leaderboard-at-john-deere\/","url_meta":{"origin":52389,"position":3},"title":"Scott Stallings spends $400 to go back to old irons, moves up leaderboard at John Deere","date":"July 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"With his bread-and-butter iron play a tad off, Scott Stallings dipped into his wallet and had some old friends sent his way.It was money well spent.Before last week's Travelers Championship, Stallings had a friend go to his house and hunt down an old set of irons he hoped would cure\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51897,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/eagles-rookies-storylines-ahead-of-the-browns-preseason-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":52389,"position":4},"title":"Eagles rookies storylines ahead of the Browns preseason game","date":"August 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"After the moment exciting showing against the Jets last week, the Eagles' rookies have a lot to build on going into the second week of the NFL preseason. The Cleveland Browns are a deeper, more talented team on both sides of the ball and there are a few things to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48720,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/an-emmc-gives-up-its-secrets\/","url_meta":{"origin":52389,"position":5},"title":"An EMMC Gives Up Its Secrets","date":"August 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"An increasing phenomenon over the years since mobile phones morphed from simply telephones into general purpose pocket computers has been that of the dead device taking with it some treasured digital resource. In most cases this means the device has died, but doesn't necessarily mean that that the data has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/z8k-feature.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52389"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}