Note it was possible to use a Z80 to function as a display controller, people used to do it back in the day...
replyhttps://archive.org/details/Cheap_Video_Cookbook_Don_Lancast...
The Galaksija computer used it's Z80 to help generate the video signal. I'm not sure how its implementation compares to your link.
replyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaksija_(computer)
https://media.ccc.de/v/29c3-5178-en-the_ultimate_galaksija_t...
Crazy what you can buy nowadays like the Teensy 4.0 with 600MHz base clock
replyGranted that's $20 not $1
My sweet spot of choice between power and price is the ESP32 S3 (2x core @ 240mhz) at ~$6 per board, but yeah, the power to dollar ratio is crazy these days, across the board. And they are absolutely tiny and sip power if you write the code well.
replyThe key here is the "PIO" which you won't find on a Teensy. It lets you do extreme "bit banging" tricks including generating video. People have even implemented Ethernet on it. I've used it for some custom serial protocols ("Weigand") used by alarm panels.
replyReally I guess I don't know what that is then as I buy the Teensy since it has so much IO, multiple UART, multiple I2C busses, sd card reading, etc...
replyedit: interesting
(Teensy | Pico)
Special Features: CAN Bus (3x), SDIO, S/PDIF | PIO (Programmable I/O) (8 SMs)
The Pico PIO has an instruction set and can be programmed.
replyYou write PIO assembly that runs autonomously on a state machine, with explicit timing (e.g., out, in, set, mov, jmp, wait) and cycle‑accurate interfaces. The CPU communicates via small FIFOs, and interrupts are optional; the PIO can be “fire‑and‑forget” for many protocols.
That's cool, I'm not at that level right now, side note I bought an FPGA like 5 years ago and still haven't used it.
replyYes, I understand that, but I wonder about the multiple (obviously there is more to it than clock speed). I chose the Z80 because of its long-standing reputation.
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