Other: Argue about who writes the next poll.

Well, maybe not.

MWM

they talk about what they think we are talking about what we think they are talking about....

....so therefore.....slluuurppp.......orange slushie.

and we talk about what we think they talk about what they think we are talking about what we think they are talking about....and they talk about what they think we talk about what we think they talk about what they think we are talking about what we think they are talking about

Wow... *brian freeze* Must have been from slurping that slushie too fast :-D 120d

brian froze!!! *gasp* you better save him quickly! gather up a bunch of calculators and hook them together to create a massive heat beam (somehow..) and then quickly focus the beam on brian so that he will not die. how lucky to be saved by a massive quantity of calculators....

Unfortunately, while grabbing a bunch of calculators, we had taken a TI-108 and it made his brain freeze again because of its need of solar (heat beam) power... 120d

what does 120d mean? i feel like i'm outside of some really serious "120d loop".

ohhpp.. never mind. just read the explanation a few pages back after posting.

No, I think he meant "brain freeze", not "brian freeze"! :-D

Z80'S DON'T GENERATE HEAT!! FOR THE LAST TIME!!!

The Z80 in the Z80-based computer I am building (shown on my web page) did get hot when running. I had to add a voltage regulator to prevent that (now the voltage regulator gets hot instead - oh, well).

You made a Z80-based computer? Why? It's an 8-bit chip based off the second-generation of Intel chip, the 8080 (the first was the 4-bit 4040.)

Give me a 64-bit CPU any day- AMD 64, Xeon EMT64, Power5- it matters not.

It is an electronics project (sort of - I have no schematic for it, I just wired it together). Also, it gives me a computer less complicated than a PC for which I can write an operating system.

You might be able to run *nix on it - seriously. Check the link for a *nix for the MSX, a Z80-based computer.

You'll need to use banked RAM to run it as it is. The MSX had (I think) 1 MB of RAM in (I'm guessing here) 32K banks and one static 32K bank. The Uzix kernel runs in the top 32K, and user programs all run in the swappable lower 32K.

It might fit (I do not know - I have 32K ROM & 32K RAM), but I would rather write my own operating system from scratch (perhaps some retro ROM BASIC or a computer algebra system of some sort (it would be really neat to have a symbolic functional equation solver (& yes, I do program in LISP))).

If *nix is not your style, or if it might be too much for your computer, then you could try another OS which has been ported to several different 8-bit computers already. It's called Contiki (see URL).

It is network-capable (Web server and client, email, telnet), is multi-tasking, has a spiffy windowing system and GUI, and has screen savers.

There's another modern OS for an 8-bit system (the Intellivision) which you might be able to use too; it's called IntyOS (see http://intyos.free.fr/).

Writing your own OS could be loads of fun too. I just wanted to point out a few OS's that have been written for the Z80 already.

I like Linux (I only use Windows because it is more convenient for what I do), & I would really like to have a GUI, but that is impossible, since my Z80-based computer has a 4x20 text display (graphics displays cost too much...it was hard enough to get one with a backlight).

Let us not forget the 4004, which came before the 4040 chipset.

Well, it's a lot easier to build your own computer with a 68020/Z80/8086 than a Xeon...

Z80 processors are not very expensive, they're relatively easy to build around, and the other parts to build a computer are cheap too. Also, they don't generate quite as much heat (very little, in fact) as more modern processors.

If I were building a computer I'd use at least a 68k or an ARM, since they're 16/32 bits (and 32 bits is enough for anyone!).

EVERY electronic component generates *some* heat!!! In the case of the Z80, it's not enough to be noticeable (usually), but it's still there!

I'm guessing you're going to say that everytime I mention z80s don't generate any heat.

that's why i love posting here. starts out about orange slushies, ends up about chipsets and making OS's for z80's :^)