Nice! Having been wrestling with a z80 driver / console implementation for an Adafruit RA8875 TFT controller for a couple of weeks, I think I’ve cracked it - a great feeling! Oh and I have the day off today in lieu of a holiday I had to work, so that’s a bonus 😁
Really nice! I’d find it useful as is. Looking at the Z80 codes… more example code would be good, and longer descriptions would be cool
Interesting… am thinking about a bus to support 6502 alongside my own z80 board, may look again at rc2014 for inspiration
Yup, thanks for the tip! Installing Qobuz now
Computer display showing some text - MARVIN 2 z80 monitor, and BBC BASIC saying “hello world”
Home made computer with display showing some text - MARVIN 2 z80 monitor, and BBC BASIC saying “hello world”
Exciting moment this morning… I have started implementing console output to the RA8875 TFT display, so far so good - need to add wrapping and scrolling, but exceptionally cool to see it start up and let me jump into BASIC
We loved Small Prophets, and will try The Detectorists. Will give Wonderman a look!
Finally got to the bottom of the timing issues with my Z80 SPI board. Read on for the timing puzzle that took a couple of weeks to crack... turned out to be a design flaw hiding in plain sight.
Back to a bit of software work next...
painfuldiodes.wordpress.com/2026/02/27/b...
“…that’s when six million dollars was worth something… you wouldn’t even get an arm for that these days…” sometimes you wonder where these thoughts come from… this morning it started with the phrase “book em Danno “
I do believe it’s working… SPI board now fully populated, connecting the Adafruit RA8875 TFT controller to my z80 machine. Something odd with the clock divider, and renders really slow - which is all likely software issues - but we have text on the screen!
Wonderful series, the writing, casting, everything. Something gentle about it that makes it feel so good - wish there was more like it
Assembled circuit board without a missing chip
Anyone in the neighbourhood can lend me a 74LS|HCT02 today? Only I seem to have missed it off my parts order 😞🤣🤦♂️
How I miss Maplin…
Oh and any other ideas for a weekend activity?
It may not seem like much, but I’m so excited to have gotten RT Russell’s Z80 BBC BASIC running on my homebrew computer. I have a build system using z88dk and initially support for a terminal over USB
github.com/PainfulDiode...
Delivery of PCBs
Roll on the weekend! 😁
Very true. But I can also ask my Mum to summarise prior works, increasing my enjoyment of the film that’s about to show. I think it’s reasonable for AI to enable me to focus on the learning that’s most important to me right now by avoiding tangents - and so maintain flow?
So, shows you really don’t want to ruin by watching them …
Blakes 7
I’m not sure I dare… past attempts at revisiting childhood TV have been disappointing 😬
Where is it available to watch?
Cassette tapes? ROM cartridges? How about flash memory for my Z80 homebrew computer?
Having considered EEPROM and SD cards chips… @adafruit.com breakout for W25Q16 flash memory hits the sweet spot.
painfuldiodes.wordpress.com/2026/01/31/s...
Yeah, absolutely, or the Sharp MZ80k. There was also an ortholinear keyboard on an old sci fi film - maybe Alien? which I wanted to get the feel of - I have the image in my mind but can’t place it
Very cool. I’m a couple of weeks in with Claude Code, and I find myself aiming too low - constantly surprised what you can achieve. I asked to find a footprint on a previous kicad design, to save time… but reasoning over multiple designs and delivering a support package - very cool indeed
Project for 2026… finally turning my designs from the last year or two into a stand-alone Z80 personal computer: “BeanDeck” - 10MHz Z80, 32K ROM, 32K RAM, keyboard, cartridge storage and colour graphics display, and maybe even an enclosure…
painfuldiodes.wordpress.com/2026/01/22/b...
