A Blast From The Past

I was pawing through the latest issue of Circuit Cellar when I came across an article describing a new development kit from Zilog for their new eZ80acclaim! modules.

I remember playing with Z80 hardware and assembly programming 20 years ago! Before I knew what was happening, the credit card jumped out of my wallet and ordered one of the kits. $99 later, I had myself an eZ80F91 module, a development board, an in-circuit emulator, an ethernet switch, and all the cables I needed. Some manufacturers want to gouge you for their evaluation kits – not so here.

The kit comes with a full function C compiler and IDE. A few minutes after hooking up, I was compiling and loading the sample apps. Very easy to use. Who’d have thought – a Z80 with ethernet!

Free Samples

I was doing some research on the Texas Instruments website the other day looking up some specifications on some serial interface chips for a project I’m working on. I happened to stumble upon the fact that the have a free sample program! I was a bit skeptical while I entered my order, but yesterday UPS showed up on my doorstep with a package from TI! I didn’t even have to pay any shipping, and it arrived 2 days after my order. Very impressive.