ZILOG Z8000

Domain	Definition
Computing	Zilog Z8000 A microprocessor from Zilog introduced not long after the Intel 8086, but with superior features. It was basically a 16-bit processor, but could address up to 23 bits in some versions by using segment registers (to supply the upper 7 bits). There was also an unsegmented version, but both could be extended further with an additional MMU that used 64 segment registers. Internally, the Z8000 had sixteen 16-bit registers, but register size and use were exceedingly flexible. The Z-8000 registers could be used as sixteen 8-bit registers (only the first half were used like this), sixteen 16-bit registers, eight 32-bit registers, or four 64-bit registers, and included 32-bit multiply and divide. They were all general purpose registers - the stack pointer was typically register 15, with register 14 holding the stack segment (both accessed as one 32-bit register for painless address calculations). The Z8000 featured two modes, one for the operating system and one for user programs. The user mode prevented the user from messing about with interrupt handling and other potentially dangerous stuff. Finally, like the Zilog Z80, the Z8000 featured automatic DRAM refresh circuitry. Unfortunately it was somewhat slow, but the features generally made up for that. Initial bugs also hindered its acceptance (partly because it did not use microcode). There was a radiation resistant military version. There was a later 32-bit, pipelined version, the Zilog Z80000. (1997-12-16). Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: Zilog Z8000

The Z8000 was a 16-bit microprocessor introduced by ZiLOG in 1979. Although it saw steady use well into the 1990s, it was never very popular.

Although fundamentally a 16-bit architecture, some versions had 7-bit segment registers that extended the address space to 8 megabytes.

The register set consisted of 16 16-bit registers, and there were instructions that could use them as 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit registers. The register set was completely orthogonal, with register 15 conventionally designated as stack pointer, and register 14 for stack segment.

There was both a user mode and a supervisor mode.

Like the Zilog Z80, the Z8000 included builtin DRAM refresh circuitry, but although an attractive feature for designers of the time, overall the Z8000 was not especially fast and had some bugs, and in the end it was overshadowed by the x86 family.

The Zilog Z80000 was a 32-bit followon design.

Anagrams: ZILOG Z8000

Alternative Orthography: ZILOG Z8000

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

5A 49 4C 4F 47 5A 38 30 30 30

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01011010 01001001 01001100 01001111 01000111 00100000 01011010 00111000 00110000 00110000 00110000

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#90 &#73 &#76 &#79 &#71 &#32 &#90 &#56 &#48 &#48 &#48

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

005A 0049 004C 004F 0047 005A 0038 0030 0030 0030

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Proper Noun Anagrams
	Words within the letters "0-0-0-8-g-i-l-o-z-z"
	-5 letters: Gozzi, Zilog.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

ZILOG Z8000

Specialty Definition: ZILOG Z8000

Computing

Specialty Definition: Zilog Z8000

Crosswords: ZILOG Z8000

Anagrams: ZILOG Z8000

Proper Noun Anagrams

Alternative Orthography: ZILOG Z8000

5A 49 4C 4F 47 5A 38 30 30 30

01011010 01001001 01001100 01001111 01000111 00100000 01011010 00111000 00110000 00110000 00110000

&#90 &#73 &#76 &#79 &#71 &#32 &#90 &#56 &#48 &#48 &#48

005A 0049 004C 004F 0047 005A 0038 0030 0030 0030

604346494126026181818

INDEX