New Zilog Z180 with NEC uPD7220 dev board

Hardware
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Z180 GDC V1 delivered thumbnail
Z180 GDC V1 delivered thumbnail1080×810 211 KB

Hi
I just took delivery of my new Zilog Z180 with NEC uPD7220 Graphic Display Controller (GDC) dev board. Will start building this weekend. The purpose of the board is to demonstrate the uPD7220 Graphics Display Controller in a stand-alone all-in-one SBC.

Board contains Z180 CPU, 512KB Flash ROM, 1024KB SRAM, RTC, two serial ports (TTL & RS-232), PPIDE (CF-IDE), PS/2 Keyboard & Mouse ports, and uPD7220 GDC with BT478 RAMDAC. Intended to use VGA frequency monitors and standard PS/2 keyboard & mouse. Uses RomWBW as it’s operating system.

Of the five PCBs, four are claimed so I still have a spare if someone is interested in building their own. However, this is a prototype board and likely will have changes before next version. Purpose of prototype is to ensure the design works as intended and make any necessary corrections.

For those wondering what is a uPD7220, here is an article explaining

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Hi
I’ve distributed all the PCBs to the build and test team. If you’d like to build your own you’ll have to order the PCB from JLCPCB using the Gerbers from the Github repo found here: GitHub - lynchaj/rhyophyre: Single Board Computer featuring Zilog Z180 processor and NEC µPD7220 Graphics Display Controller

I have started early build and test focusing on passives for now like resistors and capacitors while verifying the power nets are working. Seems to be OK so far but keeping notes for improvements in the V2 version

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Hi,
I have not heard of anyone building their own Z180GDC using the Gerbers on the Github repo but I suppose it is possible. If you are doing that please monitor the prototype page for build and test notes as I go through my own build. This will save you some of the problems and annoyances I am discovering and will make your build easier and more successful. This is where the prototype build and test notes are captured: rhyophyre/Prototype at main · lynchaj/rhyophyre (github.com)

PS, if you are building your own please don’t be shy. I’d really appreciate knowing how it is going for you and what you discover, like and/or dislike

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Hi
The team is receiving their boards and building has started. Updated Github repo with more build notes. Added threshold goals and objectives.

Power systems seem to be working OK. Fixed the diodes silkscreen errors.

Next is installing jumpers & dual row pin headers and then sockets

Z180 GDC V1 with connectors thumbnail
Z180 GDC V1 with connectors thumbnail1080×810 158 KB

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Hi
Good news on rhyophyre; team got first boot using a modified N8 RomWBW configuration! We’ve just started but major progress – CPU core only at this point; minimal IO. Need some time for things to settle out and let the team work out some details but major milestone achieved! Thank you to the build and test team! You are incredible!

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Hi
Making more great progress today. The DS1210s work for NVRAM as does the RTC for keeping track of time and various utility functions. PPIDE is working and it looks like the PS/2 keyboard and mouse interface is working. Still a lot to do but the big show is coming up to get the uPD7220 GDC section working.

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Hi
More good news, my own rhyophyre booted for the first time. That was a welcome sight. Now to go about adding the remaining IO devices and build up the board to full complement

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Hi

Build and test continues on the rhyophyre prototype board. Making good progress and so far all the major subsystems check out although there have been a few discoveries. I am documenting the fixes in the repo prototype build construction notes so be sure to check those out before starting your own build. Some changes will be reserved for the Z180GDC V2 board which will be discussed later.

The final stage of check out is the uPD7220 subsystem itself. There is a test program which initializes the uPD7220 and successfully generates an empty VGA screen. The good news is the VGA monitor recognizes the display and locks on it. However, this is only a partial initialization useful as a demonstration it can generate a VGA display. Still to go is initializing the RAMDAC and actually programming the uPD7220 to display useful information. Great sign to get the VGA monitor to sync to a display signal though.

More to come

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Great to hear your progress!

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Hi
Making progress on Z180GDC V1, adding a few items to builders notes on the repo but overall going well. All subsystems check out either fully or mostly. Now working on uPD7220 to produce VGA compatible video. Getting very close. Have two test programs and between them we can create an image with one program (but no sync) and use the other to get the monitor to sync to display the image. Very close but programming the uPD7220 can be rather tricky so it may take a while.

Here is a photo of the fully populated board

Z180 GDC V1 fully populated thumbnail
Z180 GDC V1 fully populated thumbnail1920×1440 354 KB

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This really looks nice, quite a clean board!

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Hi, Thank you!

Yes, for a first generation prototype it is holding up amazingly well. Usually, my prototypes by this stage are a mass of flying leads, dead bugs, cuts, jumpers and all sorts of modifications.

There are 6-8 patch wires on the copper side of the board but no showstoppers. Mostly annoyances that we easily fixed. Overall, I am very happy with how it is turning out.

Looking forward to the uPD7220 test code to ring out that subsystem. The goal being this computer will be self-contained and not need a PC for support eventually. Connect to VGA monitor and PS/2 keyboard & mouse for console.

Have a lot of plans for Z180GDC V2 which will be a modest expansion on this concept.

Thanks!

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Hi
Initial build and test of Z180GDC V1 is making solid progress and has advanced to the uPD7220 video section. There are two test programs written by members of the team which now present a video image to the monitor. This is a significant milestone event!

Sorry about the terrible image quality. It looks much better in person and the monitor is less dusty than it looks in the photo. It doesn’t do it justice but it gives a solid idea of what’s being displayed. It is 16 colors at 640x480@60 Hz refresh for basic VGA

D7220 test screen

Z180 GDC V1 D7220 results thumbnail
Z180 GDC V1 D7220 results thumbnail1080×810 149 KB

T7220 test screen

Z180 GDC V1 T7220 results thumbnail
Z180 GDC V1 T7220 results thumbnail1080×810 76.3 KB

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Hi
Z180GDC V1 project seems to be coming along nicely. Hardware seems to be working fine although there seems to be some mysterious blanking during drawing operations on some LCD monitors. Some work fine and other have random blanking. Looking into what is causing this phenomenon.

The team has written some demonstration programs which work well including a text terminal demonstration. All things considered I think it works remarkably well and smooth. So that’s good news.

Would like to have more people build this board and try it out to shake out any other bugs and/or write
software programs. All of the tech data can be found here including PCB Gerber files

lynchaj/rhyophyre: Single Board Computer featuring Zilog Z180 processor and NEC µPD7220 Graphics Display Controller (github.com)

Thanks, Andrew Lynch

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Hi
It looks like we found the root cause and a fix to prevent the random blanking on some LCD monitors. It has to due with DRAM refresh during drawing operation video memory writes. Disabling the DRAM refresh fixes the problem with a simple patch. Since the design uses SRAMs and no refresh is needed at all. Not an obvious connection but glad to see it is finally resolved.

Thanks, Andrew Lynch

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Hi
I am still very interested in the uPD7220 GDC board. While I think rhyophyre as a project was successful, it was ultimately a prototype and I’ve learned a lot from it.

Rather than make a V2.0 rhyophyre, the next iteration will come as a uPD7220 GDC board for the duodyne project. Essentially, the uPD7220 GDC subsystem from rhyophyre captured on a duodyne form factor board.

duodyne/13 input-output.GDC, V1.0 at main · lynchaj/duodyne (github.com)

Actually, there are two uPD7220 boards; the one above is a 16-color VGA compatible graphics board. The second one (below) is a monochrome text only board to serve as a compliment to the graphics board.

duodyne/14 input-output.Text, V1.0 at main · lynchaj/duodyne (github.com)

Why two boards? Because I’ve never been able to figure out how to make one board that can do both graphics and text modes. The long term goal is to make each board work well enough on their own and then attempt a merger into a single board. However, I may need some help with that last step because I’ve never quite gotten my head around a combined graphics and text mode uPD7220, although it definitely seems possible from the datasheet and application notes.

As a note, the uPD7220 GDC and text boards are still a way off yet. The next two boards in the duodyne build queue are the Media IO (V9938/V9958 VDP plus AY-3-8910 sound generator) and the Voice IO (CTS256/SPO256 text-to-voice plus ADC/DAC and dual SN76489 sound generators). Also, there are a few respin boards that need to be built and tested.

I am hoping to order Media IO and Voice IO in late January 2024. I do not know how long it will take to build and test them. As soon as they are reasonably complete, I will order the uPD7220 GDC and text boards with a plan to build and test them probably in the spring or summer 2024.

Of course, anyone is welcome to join in on duodyne. You don’t need me to send you the PCBs, just use the Gerber files posted on the GitHub to get your own. They are very affordable and provide a lot of hobby fun time. Also, you can give away any spare boards to your friends and relatives. There is no one to buy anything from so it is all up to you on how you’d like to build your own. Feel free to make your own designs and use whatever material is on the GitHub however you choose.

Best of luck! Thanks, Andrew Lynch