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Z80 technical information

Posted: 12 Oct 2014 16:46
by Tony Brewer
There is a lot of very interesting low-level information about the Z80 at
Ken Shirriff's blog http://www.righto.com/

All the posts relating to the Z80 can be seen on one page at
http://www.righto.com/search/label/Z-80

Future posts should be added at the top. As this page is rather large, here are links to the individual posts:

Reverse-engineering the Z-80: the silicon for two interesting gates explained
http://www.righto.com/2013/09/understan ... -gate.html

The Z-80 has a 4-bit ALU. Here's how it works
http://www.righto.com/2013/09/the-z-80- ... ow-it.html

The Z-80's 16-bit increment/decrement circuit reverse engineered
http://www.righto.com/2013/11/the-z-80s ... ement.html

Why the Z-80's data pins are scrambled
http://www.righto.com/2014/09/why-z-80s ... mbled.html

Down to the silicon: how the Z80's registers are implemented
http://www.righto.com/2014/10/how-z80s- ... -down.html

* * * * * * * * * *

Some PDF files and other links from the above pages:

Z80 ALU Schematic
http://righto.com/files/z80-alu-schematic.pdf

Z80 Incrementer Schematic
http://righto.com/files/z80/z80-increme ... ematic.pdf

Photos of the Z80 chip
http://visual6502.org/images/pages/Zilo ... shots.html (CMOS version)

Z80 Instruction Decode PLA
http://arcfn.com/files/z80-pla-table.html

Z80 Memory Refresh Patent
https://www.google.com/patents/US4332008

Zilog Oral History Panel on the Founding of the
Company and the Development of the Z80
Microprocessor
http://archive.computerhistory.org/reso ... .05.01.pdf

Re: Z80 technical information

Posted: 12 Oct 2014 17:04
by Tony Brewer
The 16-bit increment/decrement circuit explains how during refresh cycles bit 7 of R does not increment and why - to prevent the I register from incrementing too.

Re: Z80 technical information

Posted: 12 Oct 2014 19:54
by Martin A
Very interesting.

Re: Z80 technical information

Posted: 12 Oct 2014 22:01
by 1024MAK
Hey, I was reading that blog last week :shock: :roll: 8-)

Yes, it is very interesting.

Thanks for posting the links, when I was reading it, I was on a so called smart device, so was too lazy to grab the links (not as easy on a smart device).

Mark

Re: Z80 technical information

Posted: 13 Oct 2014 01:44
by Dave
1024MAK wrote:Hey, I was reading that blog last week :shock: :roll: 8-)

Yes, it is very interesting.

Thanks for posting the links, when I was reading it, I was on a so called smart device, so was too lazy to grab the links (not as easy on a smart device).

Mark
So, maybe the device is not so smart after all? :lol:

Re: Z80 technical information

Posted: 13 Oct 2014 19:49
by Martin A
Dave wrote:
1024MAK wrote:Hey, I was reading that blog last week :shock: :roll: 8-)

Yes, it is very interesting.

Thanks for posting the links, when I was reading it, I was on a so called smart device, so was too lazy to grab the links (not as easy on a smart device).

Mark
So, maybe the device is not so smart after all? :lol:
Not Z80 powered then ...