The Smithsonian Institution accepted as a gift thru Norm Weise. Manager
at the Sutton Park facility in New Jersey the Z8400P-Z80 8-BIT Microprocessor.
We have provided images for your purview.
The Z80 background information has now become quite popular
in that it is historically significant. Information regarding this important
early development is mentioned here as a quick reference.
The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor
designed and sold by Zilog from July 1976 onwards. It was widely used
both in desktop and embedded computer designs as well as for military
purposes. The Z80 and its derivatives and clones make up one of the
most commonly used CPU families of all time, and, along with the MOS
Technology 6502 family, dominated the 8-bit microcomputer market from
the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
Although Zilog made early attempts with advanced
mini-computer like versions of the Z80-architecture (Z800 and Z280),
these chips never caught on. The company was also trying hard in the
workstation market with its Z8000 and 32-bit Z80000 (both unrelated
to Z80). In recent decades Zilog has refocused on the ever-growing
market for embedded systems (for which the original Z80 and the Z180
were designed) and the most recent Z80-compatible microcontroller
family, the fully pipelined 24-bit eZ80 with a linear 16 MB address
range, has been successfully introduced alongside the simpler Z180
and Z80 products.
Zilog licensed the Z80 core to
any company wishing to make the device royalty free, though many East
European and Russian manufacturers made unlicensed copies. This enabled
a small company's product to gain acceptance in the world market since
second sources from far larger companies such as Toshiba started to
manufacture the device. Consequently Zilog has made less than 50%
of the Z80s since its conception.
Courtesy
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zilog_Z80#In_desktop_computers >
6.5.2008
For general reference only. The National Museum of American History
and the
Smithsonian Institution make no claims as to the accuracy or completeness
of this reference.