The picoZ80 board serves as a replacement for the Z80 microprocessor, utilizing the Raspberry Pi RP2350B dual-core Cortex-M33 microcontroller and an ESP32 for WiFi and Bluetooth.
My first computer was a ZX81 with a Zilog Z80 microprocessor, which was discontinued in 2024 after nearly 50 years of production. However, retro computing enthusiasts maintain the platform’s legacy, typically through softcore FPGA implementations like MiSTer. The picoZ80 uniquely uses the programmable I/O (PIO) state machines from the RP2350B MCU to accurately reproduce the address, data, and control buses of the Z80 MPU.
PicoZ80 specifications:
- MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2350B
- CPU – Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 CPU @ up to 150/300 MHz (RISC-V cores not used)
- Memory – 520KB SRAM
- Storage – 8KB OTP flash
- Package – QFN-80
- Memory – 8MB PSRAM
- Storage
- 16MB flash
- MicroSD card slot (via ESP32)
- Wireless – WiFi and Bluetooth through ESP32 chip and antenna
- USB – Micro USB port for flashing RP2350 and ESP32 firmware
- Host interface – Z80 DIP-40 CPU socket of any legacy Z80-based computer; tested on several Sharp MZ machines.
