Agon Light
Posted: 28 Jan 2023, 15:31
It's not really retro, in that it's a new design, but it's basically a Z80 8-bit micro with a VGA output to a monitor, a PS2 keyboard connector, an audio output via a 3.5mm jack, a micro SD card slot for storage, 0.5 MB RAM, and a GPIO connector for connecting things like you would to an Arduino.
Out of the box, it runs BBC BASIC at power-on, but you can also run (or set it up to auto-run) CPM, or Forth.
The Z80 is a modern variant that runs at 18.432 MHz, and has pipelined operation so that many instructions run in a single clock cycle. It's blazing fast compared to the original Z80, and can optionally be switched into an enhanced mode with a 24-bit address bus and a 16 MB address space. It does only run at 3.3V though.
The video and keyboard are handled by an on-board ESP32. But the ESP32 doesn't have an antenna wired to it, so you can't use its WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities. Some people have complained about this being an 8-bit processor, with a 32-bit coprocessor, but it's better to think of the ESP32 as just a cheap video driver.
Olimex are now selling a clone for only €50, but if you're in the UK, you need to buy four of them (or some other gear) because Olimex won't despatch orders to the UK under €200.
I chose to buy the original board, which cost me £75 for the 'kit' version, which has all the surface-mount stuff already fitted, so only the through-hole stuff to solder myself. For £10 extra you can get the original board complete and tested.
I 3D-printed a case for mine (not my design, I used the 'official' case design, which is very neat).
All details and downloads here: https://github.com/TheByteAttic/AgonLight There are also a few interesting YouTube videos by the designer explaining this board and some of his other retro computer designs.
Out of the box, it runs BBC BASIC at power-on, but you can also run (or set it up to auto-run) CPM, or Forth.
The Z80 is a modern variant that runs at 18.432 MHz, and has pipelined operation so that many instructions run in a single clock cycle. It's blazing fast compared to the original Z80, and can optionally be switched into an enhanced mode with a 24-bit address bus and a 16 MB address space. It does only run at 3.3V though.
The video and keyboard are handled by an on-board ESP32. But the ESP32 doesn't have an antenna wired to it, so you can't use its WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities. Some people have complained about this being an 8-bit processor, with a 32-bit coprocessor, but it's better to think of the ESP32 as just a cheap video driver.
Olimex are now selling a clone for only €50, but if you're in the UK, you need to buy four of them (or some other gear) because Olimex won't despatch orders to the UK under €200.
I chose to buy the original board, which cost me £75 for the 'kit' version, which has all the surface-mount stuff already fitted, so only the through-hole stuff to solder myself. For £10 extra you can get the original board complete and tested.
I 3D-printed a case for mine (not my design, I used the 'official' case design, which is very neat).
All details and downloads here: https://github.com/TheByteAttic/AgonLight There are also a few interesting YouTube videos by the designer explaining this board and some of his other retro computer designs.