The Wichit Sirichote Z80 MICROPROCESSOR KIT (uPF--1 become uPF--2).

The original Z80 kit from Wichit Sirichote :

 

This kit is a very good equipment for learning the principles of digital electronics. But, in the uPF--1 version, I had some issues with downloading files using a PC. After studying the code of the monitor, I realized that the method used for sending and receiving through the serial port is not really appropriate.
In addition, the maximum speed of 2400 baud is really too slow for transferring even small files between the kit and the PC. 

So I wondered if it might not be interesting to study a new version of this kit, more robust and more flexible. And why not, faster too if possible.

So I started to investigate the possibility of transferring all of this kit into an FPGA circuit. The study was not easy at first, because I had to understand  the code of the monitor with precision to determine the general operation of this small computer. But, it is done now : 

The monitor work on the FPGA board.

Closer with a filter on the display of the FPGA board.

Next? the most difficult : implementing a real serial converter for transmission / reception with the PC, and adapting the monitor to this new component. 

[08-24-2020] The new version of SDCC, the V4.0.0, has been successfully tested on the FPGA board. For the occasion I renamed this version "uPF - 2" because it will be necessary to write new parts of code to manage the hardware extensions of this FPGA version.