Open source Z80 clone seeks to help bring classic chip back from the dead

Zilog's classic Z80 chip is soon to be dead, though it might not be gone forever if one open source project succeeds in its goal to clone the legendary processor.

Developed by Unity iOS dev Renaldas Zioma, the Free and Open Source (FOSS) Z80 GitHub project outlines its plans to revive and preserve the Z80 with a physical silicon clone. The project is ostensibly a reaction to Zilog's end-of-life announcement for the Z80, which was introduced in 1976 and was used in many of Texas Instruments' calculators; gaming consoles like the Sega Master System; the ZX Spectrum; and many other devices.

The aim of the FOSS Z80 project isn't to merely replace the Z80, which can be accomplished by programming an FPGA to act like a Z80 – and there are Z80 soft cores out there to drop into FPGAs. Nor is the aim to replace the classic ...