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The Z80 chip family was also "easily" available behind the Iron Curtain because East Germany manufactured reverse-engineered Z80 clones (called the U880). AFAI
by flohofwoe 3y ago
The Z80 chip family was also "easily" available behind the Iron Curtain because East Germany manufactured reverse-engineered Z80 clones (called the U880).
AFAIK the ZX Spectrum ULA could be 'emulated' with TTL logic, that's what East German hobbyist Spectrum clones did at least. That's also why Spectrum clones were so popular, they didn't require any complex custom chips like the C64.
- lstodd 3y agoThere were clones of 8080, Z80 and 8086. The KR580VM80A - an 8080 clone was the most popular/accessible in the USSR I think. The U880 was a Z80 clone, Soviet designation KR1858VM1, but most of the early-mid 1980s 8-bit home-built machines were 580- and thus 8080-based.