Building a better "old" computer

From: Ron Hudson <rhudson_at_ix.netcom.com>
Date: Sun Jun 25 09:06:58 2000

Even better.. Today you could use one of the modern chips (pentium) to emulate
the Z80, probably at unheard of speeds, with full access to all the internal
registers (after all the pentium would be keeping those registers in memory
somewhere..)

You could build a machine with a live control panel, ie you can examine and
deposit to memory while a program is running.


Using original parts we may not be able to make a better computer than then, but
using modern parts, perhaps we can make it smaller and faster, even using a Z80
memory is denser (and cheaper) today than then, right? <imho>

Ernest wrote:

> Based on what the current computer industry knows about building computers,
> would it be possible to build a better Z80 based computer today, using the
> same chips that the builders in, say, 1979 had available?
>
> I heard someone say that the manufacturers did the best they could with what
> they had to work with "back then," and I started to wonder if we could do it
> better today. Has our understanding of how it all works improved enough to
> do it better now, using the same chips, etc.?
>
> Just curious,
>
> Ernest
Received on Sun Jun 25 2000 - 09:06:58 BST