NaZ80 – Not Another Z80 homebrew

This is the project page for my NAZ80 homebrew computer. What’s NAZ80 stand for, well ‘Not another Z80’. This project has been done a hundred times and there is nothing new about it. However, I’ve not done it before, so wanted to put one together. This may also include a simple z80 compiler  – yes, not another z80 compiler. But Its fun writing a high-level language for a processor. It also gives the opportunity to make up some interesting peripherals for this.

This will be Mark 1 – a simple version just to get things going and keep things simple – The intention will be to do a Mark II which is more along the lines of a full-blown home computer with a keyboard, screen, sound and perhaps even a 5 1/2 inf disk!

A simple enough machine… with the main control links to the outside world being the two USART modules. I wanted two as one can be used for general propose and one for terminal control so that I don’t need to worry about keyboards or screens in Mk I.

Why the Z80? Well, like so many (older) people, it holds a special place in my heart. In the ’80s, at the age of about 9 or 10, I took on a newspaper delivery job to save up to but the ZX81. It cost R99 (in South Africa), the same price as the UK. It was a lot of money for a 10 year old, but I did it. I can clearly remember going to the shop to buy the computer – So exciting.  I remember being on the lounge floor with the ZX81 plugged into out TV coding away. It was huge fun.