Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Terminal for RC2014

Name: Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Terminal for RC2014
SKU: 7037
Price: 28.31 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 4.47 (9 reviews)

(9 Reviews)

Serial Terminal for RC2014 Homebrew Z80 Computer To Allow USB Keyboard Input And HDMI Video Output

Designed by RFC2795 Ltd in United Kingdom

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Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Terminal for RC2014 1

Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Terminal for RC2014 2

Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Terminal for RC2014 3

Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Terminal for RC2014 4

Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Terminal for RC2014 5

Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Terminal for RC2014 6

Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Terminal for RC2014 7

Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Terminal for RC2014 8

Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Terminal for RC2014 9

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Serial Terminal for RC2014 Homebrew Z80 Computer To Allow USB Keyboard Input And HDMI Video Output

Important - This product is designed to work with the original (V1.0 - V1.3) Raspberry Pi Zero. Due to changes with the UART on the new Pi Zero W (wireless) the software I currently supply will not …

Important - This product is designed to work with the original (V1.0 - V1.3) Raspberry Pi Zero. Due to changes with the UART on the new Pi Zero W (wireless) the software I currently supply will not work

What is RC2014?

RC2014 is a simple 8 bit Z80 based modular computer. It is inspired by the home built computers of the late 70s and computer revolution of the early 80s. It is not a clone of anything specific, but there are suggestions of the ZX81, UK101, S100, Superboard II and Apple I in here. It nominally has 8K ROM, 32K RAM, runs at 7.3728MHz and communicates over serial at 115,200 baud.

As a bare minimum, you will need a CPU, ROM, RAM, Clock and Input/Output module. The RC2014 is designed in such a way that you can build your own modules to expand it. As such, if you have access to similar components, or have specific needs, you might not need all the items I have on offer.

What is this module?

This module was designed for the RC2014 to allow it to connect easily to a tv/monitor and USB keyboard via a Raspberry Pi Zero. The Pi Zero simply acts as a serial termnial and connects to the RC2014 via the UART pins. It does not provide any computing power to the RC2014

You can read about the development of this on my Hackaday.io page https://hackaday.io/project/9567-5-graphics-card-for-homebrew-z80

If you wish, you can run any Raspberry Pi operating system and terminal software on a Pi Zero attached to this module - however, I strongly recommend using PiGFX by Filippo Bergamasco. This is a bare metal terminal emulator for the Pi Zero which has been optimised for the RC2014.

This module has been redesigned to allow you to still talk to the RC2014 via FTDI when it is in place (handy if you use a serial keyboard with it!) it adds a reset button for the Pi and is in the new style RC2014 layout. Includes yellow phono socket for composite out.

What do I get?

Pi Kit Zero - This is the bare essentials, just the PCB, 38 pin header and 2 resistors. You need to supply your own Pi Zero and any other components required to connect it.
Pi Kit Full - This is a kit of everything you need including the PCB, all headers and sockets, PiGFX on a small Micro SD card, resistors, PCB spacers & bolts, and mini HDMI adapter. It does not include the Pi Zero itself.
Pi Kit Full + Pi - As above, but includes a brand new Pi Zero. Please note that I am not a Pi reseller so my stock will be variable, and you can almost certainly get the Pi Zero from your local supplier cheaper than from me

At the time of listing this, the Pi Zero is still in farily limited supply although it is getting easier and easier to get hold of them. Keep en eye open on Pimironi, Adafruit, Canakit, Micro Center or your local Pi retailer as batches of them do turn up regularly

RC2014 is a trademark of RFC2795 Ltd.

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (4.67)

Documentation: (3.67)

Shipping: (4.89)

Communication: (4.67)

David | March 18, 2021

Video using HDMI & USB Keyboard on my RC2014 Pro

This is just so nice. I never thought it was possible to get video onto a modern desktop monitor via RS232 serial. I have used micro controllers before and wondered if this could do as it claimed. I ordered it mainly out of curiosity but hey, it is absolutely brilliant. It just works so well with the RC2014 Pro kit. I am so pleased I got it. What you get is a fully functioning graphics card from a Raspberry Pi Zero costing £5. Now, I can add a dedicated 5" or 7" monitor as well to complete the whole computer system. Once again, there has been much design work that has gone into this Rc2014 kit am so pleased with it. The PCB offered here is essential as it guarantees correct grounding for the Pi video signal and serial voltage settings.

Niels | Dec. 8, 2020

Want a standalone system? Then this is what you need!

If you want to run your RC2014 as a standalone system independent from a PC to provide the terminal console, this is what you need! I've taken a look at other terminal adapter modules (screen + keyboard) but those were either not available or required soldering of smd parts, which is something I am not capable of. This board was assembled very quick and it's been the easiest of my modules to solder.

The product description mentions "issues" with recent Pi Zero (1.3) models when running with a recent release (e.g. 1.8.2) of pigfx. However, despite having to set the "ConvertLFtoCR" option in the pigfx.txt file (otherwise the usb keyboard would not work), there was no problem running the latest version from the pigfx master branch. In fact, the latest version (still WIP) offers features such as drawing lines, circles, triangles and even bitmap graphics and sprites - all by sending ANSI escape codes to the terminal! (Yes, the graphics data resides in the Pi's memory and is inaccessible from the RC2014, but still this opens up lots of possibilities). You can also define a custom font / typeset for pigfx which is another great thing.

I think the Pi Serial Terminal has a lot of potential and given the fair price (I purchased the Pi Zero along with the module) I can recommend this to every RC2014 user: it's just very, very nice to have (and dead cool as well ;)

Mark | Nov. 22, 2020

Works Great... But PiGFX needs work

Great little board that is very simple in design and with the PiGFX software supplied by a third party, it allows for easy connection to a USB keyboard and a HDMI monitor. But the PiGFX software needs some work, and it doesn't help that the link from the suppliers documentation is old and doesn't go to the latest version of the software.

If you are developing your code on a PC and transfering to the RC2014 via a serial connection, then this board is great to make use of your creation. But if you would like to develop software on the RC2014 and using this as your interface, then its lack of file loading and saving to the SD card is a setback. PiGFX is seemingly still being worked on, and is open source, so we might get these limitations fixed... one day.

Ettore | Sept. 30, 2020

buono

Peccato per la mancanza della raspberry pi zero, e della relativa documentazione comunque sempre presente una buona serigrafia sul circuito stampato

Gerald | April 7, 2020

Null Terminal is a must!

The RC2014 approach, and that of a number of similar retro Z80 projects, is to instil a VT100-like terminal and serial communications capability into the design. This means that the 'retro Z80' needs either a real VT100 terminal (requiring either the retro Z80 to meet electrical and timing specifications of such devices) or a Desktop/Laptop machine that can run a VT100 terminal emulator. I'm not aware of any home-based machines that would use the VT100 methods to realise the computer-user interface (there were a number of such devices in commercial and military [my area] applications back in the day). Also, there is no direct interface that meets the physical VT100 requirements in a modern Desktop/Laptop that I'm aware of - External TTL to PCI/PCIe or even Parallel port bus types? None! So here's where the need to go from Z80 bus, via a UART (i.e. the SIO), FTDI cable to USB adapter, USB adapter to the Desktop/Laptop USB port that's being (indirectly) managed by VT100 terminal emulation software in the Desktop/Laptop.

The RaspberryPI Zero Serial Terminal provides the means to ignore all the above, clunky, multi-staged connectivity and the very need for a Desktop/Laptop by providing the RC2014 with a modern USB Keyboard and modern TV/Monitor Display using HDMI connectivity. From purist perspective, neither the VT100 multi-stage nor PI Zero approach is ideal but I think the latter has an edge, in that TV/Monitor tech has largely dropped support for retro microcomputer connectivity - No UHF modulators that do DVB-T/T2 (at a price that makes sense!), no scart, PAL/NTSC/SECAM 'composite' - they're all being consigned to the technical scapheap and, in any event, TV/Monitor resolutions are so high, it's difficult to get an 8-bit machine to be able to 'paint' and refresh a modern display's screen.

The RaspberryPI Zero Serial Terminal kit for RC2014 is simply the greatest! It's straightforward to build (just make sure you heed the warning about the right variant of PI Zero!!) and it provides modern USB keyboard and TV display connectivity that recognises that the tech world has changed enormously since the retro days! Software for support for the PIZero seems to be built into RC2014's own ROMs as well as RomWBW, though you have to be mindful of the Serial solution that your RC2014 has - the SIO/2 seems to be a prerequisite.

Hope this helps!

Ged

Antony | Dec. 6, 2019

Works well with CP/M but of limited use for Basic

I bought the Pi kit Zero - consisting a PCB, a right angle connector, and a couple of resistors. I then added my own extra connectors and bits-n-bobs to bring it up to spec. I did have problems with it to begin with. I had followed the pigfx readme and copied the kernel.img file from the website, and added start.elf and bincode.bin from an existing Raspberry Pi Zero SD card. The screen came up on the Pi but I couldn't get it passed the "waiting for serial" message. I suspected the hardware and tried bread-boarding various resistors and even a line-level shifter but at best got junk characters on screen. As a final attempt, I copied everything from the following page: https://github.com/fbergama/pigfx/tree/RC2014/bin - excluding the config.txt file, and it all suddenly started working. Had I bought a full kit with micro SD card then I'm sure it would have worked first time. A slightly changed set of instructions would have help.

The board contains an FTDI header, but the RX and TX pins are reversed when compared to the serial board, so you need to be aware of this when plugging in your USB FTDI connector.

The Pi Zero Serial Terminal board works in conjunction with the serial board and is not a replacement. The Raspberry Pi acts as a dumb terminal and doesn't "appear" to have any I/O capability, so you have to still connect an FTDI cable to your computer in order to load and save Basic programs. Less limiting when running CP/M as much of the time files can be read and saved to Compact Flash.

Martin | April 22, 2019

Electronically Great - PCB could be modified

The board and software work beautifully. They do need rebooting on start up as the power supplies come to life in the wrong sequence sometimes.

The board requires converters for the HDMI and keyboard (USB) connectors these are rather messy. I converted the board to lay flat and parallel with the backplane board. This gives a tidier arrangement but the board then needs a couple of extra mounting holes to fasten it to the baseboard.

Documentation could address the keyboard interface and the fact that HDMI can be used as well as the composite output to an older TV.

Otherwise- pretty good.

Martin Harris

Daniel | Aug. 6, 2018

I wish to have a better documentation

The module is very simple to put together and work at the first time I plug I didn’t have a keyboard to test yet. I have order a pi zero from Amazon but is coming from China and after two week arrived

Jaime-Ivan | May 3, 2017

A very interesting add-on to rc2014

I bought backplane 8 and The Full Monty, plus this add-on at a very interesting price, just in case I need it. Fast delivery, product in perfect condition, very interesting hardware. Keep up!

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