Classic computing fanatic Tim Holyoake is seeking to make it simpler for folks to mess around with a Sharp MZ-80K microcomputer — by creating an emulation of 1 that runs on a $4 Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller, now obtainable in beta.
“After enjoying with a few Sinclair ZX emulators, I had a search for a Sharp MZ collection one,” Holyoake explains of the venture’s origins. “There are a selection obtainable (there are a few superb ones), however all of them run on [Microsoft] Home windows, Linux, FPGAs, or specialist {hardware} of some description. Nothing for the [Raspberry Pi] Pico. So… that seemed like a problem to me.”
If you happen to’ve a hankering for the text-mode Sharp MZ-80K microcomputer, this Raspberry Pi Pico-powered emulator is what you want. (📷: Tim Holyoake)
Launched in 1978, the Sharp MZ-80K was a text-centric microcomputer within the Sharp MZ household providing 48kB of RAM, of which 32kB was obtainable to the consumer, and a Zilog Z80 eight-bit processor. Regardless of its comparatively excessive value, the machine proved fashionable each in its native Japan and in Europe — although it isn’t too straightforward to search out in working order lately, because of age-related degradation of its built-in tape deck and built-in CRT monitor.
For individuals who wish to discover out why the machine was so fashionable, or revisit their misspent youth, Holyoake is engaged on an emulator that brings the machine to a extra accessible platform: the $4 Raspberry Pi Pico and its dual-core RP2040 microcontroller. As an indicator of simply how far we have come within the a long time between the 2, the most effective efficiency comes while you run the RP2040 under its inventory pace — clocking it down at 100MHz, which remains to be two orders of magnitude quicker than the Z80 within the unique Sharp MZ-80K.
If you happen to fancy a go your self, you possibly can load the beta firmware onto a Raspberry Pi Pico put in in a Pimoroni VGA Base provider board. (📷: Tim Holyoake)
“I’m nonetheless working my method via a number of MZ-80K software program, however because the emulator appears to be holding up effectively I’ve let a beta model escape into the wild,” Holyoake writes. “I’ve not uploaded any supply code but – so that you’ll must ignore the techniques handbook a part of the documentation in the meanwhile – however my intent is to let model 1 escape on thirty first October. Halloween. Appears applicable!”
Extra data is offered in Holyoake’s Mastodon thread, and on his web site; the beta construct is offered to obtain as a precompiled U2F file from GitHub, and requires a Raspberry Pi Pico — not the newer RP2350-based Raspberry Pi Pico 2 — and a Pimoroni VGA Base or appropriate provider board.