uTerm (micro-Term) is a VT100-like terminal for the Z80-MBC2 . It has a VGA out and PS/2 keyboard connector, a power supply for the Z80-MBC2 and a "transparent" serial-USB port.

uTerm can be mounted horizontally or vertically to the Z80-MBC2.

With the uTerm the Z80-MBC2 becomes an "autonomous" compute

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This project was created on 05/01/2019 and last updated a year ago. Description uTerm (micro-Term) is a VT100-like terminal for the Z80-MBC2 (https://hackaday.io/project/159973). It has a VGA out and PS/2 keyboard connector, a power supply for the Z80-MBC2 and a "transparent" serial-USB port. The video terminal is based on the ChibiTerm (https://hw-by-design.blogspot.com/2018/07/low-cost-vga-terminal-module-project.html). Details

• • HARDWARE OVERVIEW * *

uTerm is an add-on card for the Z80-MBC2 single board computer to add a VT100-like terminal, a power supply and a "transparent" serial-USB port for a serial-USB adapter.

Here a previous version of uTerm vertically inserted into the Z80-MBC2 board:

and here assembled horizontally:

With the uTerm the Z80-MBC2 becomes an "autonomous" computer:

A couple of videos running "famous" CP/M games:

THE "TRANSPARENT" SER_USB PORT (J5)

The uTerm has a "transparent" USB-serial adapter connector, so you can upload firmware to the Z80-MBC2 (using Arduino IDE) or load an Intel-Hex file (with iLoad) or use XMODEM to exchange files with a PC (running a terminal emulator that supports XMODEM file transfer) while the uTerm is in use.

Both the "mixed" power supply scenarios (USB-serial adapter not powered from USB but Z80-MBC2 powered and vice-versa) are managed by the HW, so you don't need to worry about it. In the following photo a serial-USB adapter is connected with a cable to the transparent SER_USB port:

This allows to use two keyboards and two monitors in the "same" time (one keyboard and monitor attached directly to the uTerm, and another keyboard and monitor of the terminal emulator on a PC connected with the serial-USB).

Or you can use the monitor attached to the uTerm and the keyboard of the terminal emulator on a PC. This is exactly the "configuration" I used in the following photo. As you can see, there isn't any keyboard attached to the uTerm (previous version attached to the Z80-MBC2 with a cable):

CHANGING THE COLOR (JP2-JP3)

It is possible choose among 4 colors (green, white, cyan, amber) for the output VGA signal. To select the color use the JP2 and JP3 jumpers. In the following photos are shown the setting for JP2 and JP3 to select the color as white or green respectively:

THE AUX_P CONNECTOR (J3)

This connector is intended for a better power supply connection for the Z80-MBC2. The use of this connector is recommended only if the uTerm and the Z80-MBC2 are connected with a cable. If they are directly connected (vertically or horizontally) the use of J3 is optional.

CUSTOM 3D PRINTED ANGLED BRACKETS

For a solid vertical mounting two 3D printed angled brackets have been created:

Please note that the left and the right angled bracket are different:

The .STL files are in the Files section.

CUSTOM 3D PRINTED STRAIGHT BRACKETS

For a solid horizontal mounting two 3D printed straight brackets have been created:

The .STL files are in the Files section.

• • SOFTWARE OVERVIEW * *

uTerm is based on the ChibiTerm (https://hw-by-design.blogspot.com/2018/07/low-cost-vga-terminal-module-project.html), and the original software was modified to avoid any "interference" using the "transparent" serial-USB port.

The FW is available as source or a binary file ready to be flashed into the STM32. The source files are in the linked repository on Github. The binary file ready to upload is in the Files section.

uTerm serial is set to 115200 baud to meet the speed of the Z80-MBC2 with the current IOS revision. Only the US keyboard is supported. It has a 80 columns x 30 rows screen.