How did the Z80 instruction set differ from the 8080?
Oct 26, 2016 · The Zilog Z80 microprocessor, known for its use in the ZX Spectrum, was designed to be a backwards-compatible extension to the Intel 8080 processor. It introduced several new instructions …
Comparing raw performance of the Z80 and the 6502
May 21, 2022 · The Z80's fastest memory fetch — the first half of an operation fetch — takes two cycles. That's always paired with another two cycles for refresh though, so the shortest instructions are four …
What was the last commercial Z80-based computer sold?
Jul 13, 2025 · AFAICT, the last Z80 desktop computer sold was the TRS-80 Model 4, in production until late 1991. If you include notebook computers, the Amstrad NC200 was released in 1993.
Long Term Prevalence of 8080 Code Over Z80 Code in Software …
Feb 20, 2023 · TL;DR: The Z80 was introduced not long after the 8080 and replaced it quickly and almost entirely for personal computing. Still, a large chunk of new software written stayed with 8080 …
Why do C to Z80 compilers produce poor code?
Mar 29, 2018 · The Z80 has 6 (ish), and 2 of those basically have to be reserved for use as a pointer for almost all nontrivial code. This gives compilers for those architectures a lot more scope to optimize.
Could a Z80 address a total of 128 KB of ROM and RAM?
Nov 16, 2020 · The Z80 has total memory address space of 64kB, so the answer to your question would be no. However it can be filled with ROM and RAM as you see fit, and with some extra hardware to …
Managing registers/memory effectively on the Z80
Feb 17, 2023 · The Z80 assembler unified the mnemonics to a great extent. Its rather abstract angle simplifies first steps. In contrast 8080 mnemonics are more diverse, if not chatty, presenting more of …
Z80 Memory Bank Switching - Retrocomputing Stack Exchange
Oct 31, 2025 · WAITDRV_ – Drives Z80 WAIT during sound-memory transactions or when the row-write path is active, to meet timing. So IC69 ensures nSMOE, nSWEL, nSWEH only assert on the right …
Good Z80 disassembler/decompiler on modern equipment?
Jun 27, 2021 · I have previously played a bit with REZ (the Z80 version of RESOURCE) which was nice but I was wondering if there are better tools now 30 years later running on modern equipment.
Z80 to x86 asm translator? - Retrocomputing Stack Exchange
Apr 14, 2021 · Converting from Z80 asm obviously inherits all the difficulties of 8080-to-8086 translation and adds more, which is why SCP's (later, Microsoft's) TRANS86 just attacked a tractable, human …