Re:Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on ...
by Marazan on Friday March 15, 2019 @04:28PM
(#19403973)
You can hand clock a Z80. There is a certain magic to that.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on ...
by saagarjha on Friday March 15, 2019 @08:01PM
(#19405455)
I'm sorry, but what does "hand clocking" a Z80 mean?
Re:Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on ...
by dangerbird2 on Saturday March 16, 2019 @12:30AM
(#19406359)
I think GP's use of "hand-clocking" to refer to the factthat the z80 can run on a very low clock rate, to the extent that you can have a hand switch that sends individual clock pulses to the processor. This can be useful for testing purposes as well as for low power operation in embedded applications.
Re:Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on ...
by Marazan on Monday March 18, 2019 @11:49AM
(#19422084)
As the Z80 doesn't use dynamic registers (I think basically the only "modern" CPU to make this decision) it doesn't need a minimum clock signal speed to refresh the registers as every other CPU does.
This means you can rig up a push button switch and manually advanced the clock one button press at a time.
To me that's super cool. It also makes them really easy to debug.