UPDATE 23/07/2023 - 8 of these boards have been hand built, 4 are used in company machines and the final 2 have now gone. We're currently tendering to get boards assembled at a PCBA which would significantly lower the price, if not successful will order more parts to hand assemble which can take 8 hours just to make 1 :(.

Overview

The tranZPUter FusionX is part of a series of CPU replacement projects in Vintage Sharp PC's.

In this incarnation, the tranZPUter FusionX hosts a dual-core Linux system on a module which replaces the Z80 CPU within a Sharp computer. A software based Z80 emulation, running under Linux as a device driver, replaces the hard Z80 processor to provide not only original Sharp computer functionality but a plethora of additions only afforded by a modern Linux machine. These include:

• the machine behaves just as though it had a physical Z80 within. There might be slight differences in the Z80 functionality as it is implemented in software but the Z80 hardware timing is accurate.

• Accelerator - the software Z80 can run at much higher speeds due to the abundance of memory and 1.2GHz dual-core processor, typically realising performance up to that of a 500MHz Z80 whilst maintaining hardware Z80 cycles at original host clock rate.

• Emulation - emulation of all the Sharp MZ series machines, experiencing it through the host system keyboard, monitor and I/O.**

• Graphics - all original Sharp MZ graphics modes, regardless of host, including additional resolutions upto HD are available through GPU configuration and these can be selected and programmed on the host in languages such as Basic. **

• Memory - the soft Z80 has full access to 128MBytes of Linux RAM and can be allocated to the host in 2MB blocks, typically as banked memory extensions.

• Sound - the host will have access to the stereo DAC converters, which can playback 48KHz CD quality sound or emulate the SN76489 or basic bit/timer sound of the Sharp series. Sound recording is also possible via the Mic input. **

• Processors - there are many software CPU implementations which can be ported to run on this platform, for example the ARM platform CPU emulations of the BBC PiCoPro can readily be ported. This in turn allows the potential for other machines, using the SOM advanced graphics and sound as necessary, allow emulations of machines such as the BBC to run on this Sharp host. **

• Virtual devices, coded in software, such as the MZ-80A Rom Disk or tranZPUter SW. Ability to add unlimited capabilities by writing simple device drivers.

• Ability to switch persona by hot keys, select a configuration such as an MZ-80A with a virtual MZ80A Rom Disk, tranZPUter SW, Linux terminal etc on your vintage PC console.

• Wifi, greater memory, storage,

• Fantastic method to explore vintage hardware, embedded Linux, device drivers and hardware development.

• Linux - using the host keyboard, speaker, monitor etc, a full blooded version of Linux, including Wifi, can be utilised at the host console.

** - Hardware capability, software under development.

Appearance

Once the tranZPUter FusionX is installed in your compatible computer, power up will be a little different. On power up, the screen will be blank or displaying random characters for approximately 10 seconds, after which a Linux login session will appear where you can login to the tranZPUter FusionX Linux operating system.

If you wish to use the machine as original or with extended capabilities, for example in the MZ-80A, pressing the CTRL+Keypad 1 hotkey will invoke the original monitor and functionality, CTRL+Keypad 2 will invoke original functionality along with MZ-80A Rom Disk extensions etc.

Compatibility

The current state of development and testing allows the tranZPUter FusionX to operate in the following machines:

• Sharp MZ-80A
• Sharp MZ-700
• Sharp MZ-1500
• Sharp MZ-2000
• Sharp MZ-2200
• Amstrad PCW-8XXX / PCW-9XXX *

*= under development.

Daughter Boards

The tranZPUter series was initially developed in the Sharp MZ-80A and was primarily a Z80 replacement. As the concept evolved and the tranZPUter SW-700 was developed for the MZ-700 it became more of an integral component of the machine, offering original and upgraded Video and Audio capabilities by intercepting and routing existing signals.

After significant developments on the tranZPUter SW-700 it became desirable to port it back to the MZ-80A and MZ-2000 but these machines had different CPU orientation and signal requirements, ie. driving an internal and external monitor. This requirement led to the concept of daughter boards, where a specific board would be designed and developed for the target host and would plug into the tranZPUter SW-700 card. Ideally I wanted to port the SW-700 to an MZ-800/MZ-1500 and X1 but the size of the card and orientation of the Z80 was a limitation.

During the design of the tranZPUter FusionX one of the main requirements was to make the board small and the Z80 orientation changeable. As the SW-700 also interfaced to the Video and Audio of the machines and each was quite different, it became apparent that the tranZPUter FusionX needed to include a concept to allow different video/audio interfaces according to the targeted host. This concept was realised via daughter boards. Two connectors would link the tranZPUter FusionX to a daughter board which would be specifically designed for the intended host.

The daughter boards would be responsible for switching and mixing video/audio signals and to drive internal monitors and provide the correct input and output connectors for ease of installation.

Currently three daughter boards have been developed, for the MZ-700, MZ-80A and MZ-2000 and more will follow as the design progresses. The daughter boards function as expected, switching the Video and the Audio out of the Linux SOM onto the host computer video/audio albeit software still needs to be developed to make use of the enhanced video/audio. The daughter boards will go on sale once the software has been developed.

Whats Included

• 1 x tranZPUter FusionX board, configured to your selected host, which replaces the Z80 within your Sharp computer. The tranZPUter board can be re-configured for use in a different host by updating the CPLD and possibly changing JP1-6 on the PCB.
• 1 x 32GB SD card containing Linux, tranZPUter FusionX software and Sharp software for the requested host.

Further Reading

Please see my website for the latest information on the tranZPUter FusionX project.

Please Note

The tranZPUter FusionX is development platform and as such bugs may be present which you can report and will be resolved in good time. The FusionX software/firmware is undergoing rapid development and release(s) will be sent to on request.

Generally the upgrade process involves copying an image to a FAT32 SD card and inserting it into the FusionX board on startup and the upgrade will commence automatically. On occasion it may be necessary to update the CPLD HDL firmware which would require the installation of Altera Quartus Prime software to flash the CPLD.

All documentation, design files, software, schematics are available online here. The designs for this adapter are freely available on github for non-commercial purposes should you wish to source the parts and build the adapter yourself or make changes to the software.