Introduction
In november of 1928 the Sharp Corporation started selling the Sharp MZ-700 computer. There were three variations that could be purchased:
- Sharp MZ-711: bare bones computer
- Sharp MZ-721: built in cassette tape player
- Sharp MZ-731: built in cassette player, and color plotter
The MZ-700 came with 64K Memory and 4K VRAM. The VRAM is addressable within the normal Z80 Address space, and can be swapped for regular RAM using bank switching. The MZ-700 was not capable of graphics, however it came with a second characterset built into ROM that had predefined characters that could be used for games.
CPU View - Zilog Z80 Family
The Z80 quickly became popular in the personal computer market, with many early personal computers, such as the TRS-80 and Sinclair ZX80, using the Z80 as their central processing unit (CPU). It was also widely used in home computers, such as the MSX range, SORD, and the Amstrad CPC, as well as in many arcade games. Additionally, it was also used in other applications such as industrial control systems, and embedded systems. The Z80 was widely used until the mid-1980s, when it was gradually replaced by newer microprocessors such as the Intel 80286 and the Motorola 68000.
The Z80 microprocessor was developed by Zilog, a company founded by Federico Faggin in 1974. The Z80 was released in July 1976, as a successor to the Intel 8080. It was designed to be fully compatible with the 8080, but also included new features such as an improved instruction set, more powerful interrupts, and a more sophisticated memory management system.
The Z80 quickly became popular in the personal computer
