Remember the Z80? Remember Zilog? No, Zilog hasn't announced embedded Linux for the Z80. But what the company has done, however, is unveil an effort to “reinvent” the popular (Z80-derived) Z180 as an embedded Internet processor. How? By releasing a comprehensive embedded Internet software suite that will be bundled with Z180 CPUs at no extra cost. The intention, of course, is to make a compelling case for using the Z180 as the basis of cost sensitive embedded Internet applications.

According to Daryl RuDusky, vice president of Zilog's Internet Processor Division, Zilog made a “significant investment” in developing the new Embedded Webserver Software Suite, “in order to provide a software solution that is both scalable and fully compliant with today's Internet protocol standards.” “The suite,” explains RuDusky is “not just a stack, but a complete complete embedded Internet development environment.” Accordingly, the new Z180 Internet support suite adheres to better than 15 Internet protocol standards defined by groups such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These include: IPv4, TCP, UDP, ARP, RARP, IGMP, ICMP, PPP, SLIP, HTTP 1.1, DHCP, SMTP, TFTP, SNMP, and TELNET. In addition to the new Internet support, Zilog also provides a C compiler and a small real-time kernel for use with the Z180 family.

The Z180 family processors include an 8-bit CPU plus a full set of 8-bit peripherals, tools, and memory. For example, the Z80S183 contains a Z180 processor, 1KB ROM, 2KB SRAM, 10-bit A-to-D and D-to-A converters, a pair of 512Kbps UARTS, DMA and system timers, and pulse-width modulation (PWM) interfaces — all in a single device. According to RuDusky, the only active components you need to add to the Z80S183 are RAM and ROM memory, to end up with a fully functioning Internet-connected webserver.

How much does a Z180 cost? The Z80S183, the flagship of the Z180 product line, goes for $15 at quantity 1,000.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.