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Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2023 06:48:47 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: Re: The ideal standalone Z80-based retro computer
From: Phil G <philg@talk21.com>
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>>please describe, in your opinion, which should be the hardware characteristics of an "ideal" standalone Z80-based retro computer!

These are my own thoughts, tongue in cheek but honest, others will likely disagree:
To me, 20-25mhz isnt retro, it doesnt give the retro experience to properly feed the nostalgia.
To be accurate, a retro Z80 should run 4mhz which was the 'industry standard' for a CP/M box, thats what we had back in the day - I enjoy Richard Russell's
CP/M music compiler, which won't run at 20mhz, its timer variables are too small.
Chipsets should be separate,  ie no combinational logic, in DIP format, through-hole. All Z80 family, PIO, SIO, CTC etc.  No SMD, thats not retro either.
CP/M 2.2 and 64k of ram, because thats what we had, thats what the monumental CP/M software library is based on, so that is the standard that nostalgists want to revisit.
Bytewide static ram, although expensive, was available at the time so that is good retro and much nicer than dynamic whilst allowing the nv option too.
We cant realistically have 8" drives any more - drive availability, media availability, cost, space, power - so thats one area I'd concede to modern alternative!
I think what you're describing could be termed 'modern retro' which is a different thing entirely - you asked for "an 'ideal' standalone Z80-based retro computer"  :)
It all boils down to how you define 'retro' and I think we all have different ideas on that, mine is to recreate my heyday with some fidelity :)
Cheers
Phil
PS sorry I think I clicked 'post' twice...