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From: Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: Zilog stopping Z80 production
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2024 13:40:13 -0700
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On 4/23/2024 6:09 AM, Peter Heitzer wrote:
> The most difficult part is to put all into a 40 pin 300 mil package as
> a drop in replacement.

The most common Zx80's were 600mil.

> If all I wanted was a machinery to run Z80 software
> my choice wuild be a RP2040 board.
> https://github.com/djbottrill/rp2040_z80_emulator

You can likely emulate a Zx80's *software* faster than even the
fastest devices, nowadays.  But, for legacy software, you would
have problems supporting the I/Os -- even if you virtualized them.

One amusing anecdote re: MAME's nominal emulation of older games
is how they can't[1] ensure the same timing relationships that were
guaranteed in the original hardware.  Getting the functionality
correct but the timing "off" can have visual consequences.

Part of that is a consequence of trying to get more performance
out of the hardware than was nominally available.  And, part was
a lack of concern for "portability" (of which emulation is
probably the epitome).

[1] You could, of course, do so -- by dramatically increasing the
complexity of the emulator!