Re: [rc2014-z80] New buyer looking for some info

[Pierre Gaston]

Hi,

On Thu, Jan 1, 2026 at 8:49 PM sphinxios <sphi...@gmail.com> wrote:

are there any other rc2014 forums/infoplaces out there?

There is the retro-comp google group and various facebook groups (e.g. https://www.facebook.com/groups/428735714230194)

 

i am going to get pi zero v1.3 but i cant get them with headers

does anyone have specifications(measurements) of those(lots of them on mouser)

so i can order those.

A search on mouser leads to https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/SparkFun/PRT-14275?qs=YCa%2FAAYMW01SLG%2FRsDUFug%3D%3D

but they are pretty standard headers, any kind would do.

What are you planning to use the pizero for? it looks like https://z80kits.com/shop/pi-zero-serial-terminal-module/ is retired.

I'm pretty new too, but I suspect because https://z80kits.com/shop/rp2040-vga-terminal/ is cheaper 

 

is there any terminal software where one can use a file as a keyboard input

and get it typed to terminal(was a long time since i used telix, procomm or any

other soft to connect.

 

Assuming this is from windows:

https://teratermproject.github.io/index-en.html has   "send file" 

 

/sphinx

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[Kevin Boone]

The Pi Zero takes bog-standard 2x20 0.1"-pitch PCB headers. You can get them in male, female, and angled varieties, to suit whatever you want to connect. The male versions can be cut with pliers, so you can cut down longer headers if you have them. I guess you could also use two rows of 1x20 headers side-by-side, if you happen to have them instead.

If you have an affordable source for the Pi Zero v1.3, I'd like to know more. These things are as rare as hens' teeth, now that the Pico is so popular, and the Pi Zero 2W so cheap. I prefer the 1.3 for non-wifi applications, but they're hard to get.

I suspect that all modern terminal emulators have a "send file" function. On Linux, I just copy the file direct to the terminal device -- don't even need a terminal emulator. 

If you're planning to use a Pi Zero as a terminal interface to a Z80 system, this might be of some small assistance, since I've been there:

https://kevinboone.me/pi_zero_terminal.html

However, I can see the appeal of those modules that can plug directly into an RC2014 backplane.

Best wishes

Kevin

[Kevin Boone]

There's so much latitude in these PCB headers, that I'd be amazed if any 0.1" headers you could buy wouldn't work fine. The board drillings are reasonably generous, and there's reasonable space on the board around the header base. Still, if it would help, I'm happy to get out a ruler and measure the ones I use.

I think 0.1" pitch is still pretty universal on stuff intended for hobbyists and experimenters, for what it's worth.

When it comes to sending files from a Pi to a CP/M system, on the Pi I just do

cat my_file > /dev/ttyACM0

(or whatever UART/USB port the CP/M system is connected to) and run something like WordStar on CP/M to capture the data as if it were keyboard text. The problem with this approach is that you'll need to set a very low baud rate, or have serial handshaking in place, because the Pi can send serial data thousands of times faster that a CP/M system will be able to process it. I recall that this particular issue has been discussed repeatedly on this forum, and elsewhere.

Best wishes

Kevin

On Friday, January 2, 2026 at 2:57:18 PM UTC sphinxios wrote:

Thanx for the info

As for the facebook i wont be using that i had an account extremley rare to use it, and all of a sudden they wanted my id/passport/.... I said never and dont use it anymore

For the pin headers i wanted the pin lengths at both ends and the thickness of "plastic in the middle i already knew they were 100mil pitch.

I know about the spakfun header, but i wasn looking for headers to have in a spare drawer and bying them in cut away bits like 50x 80x2 or even 100x2

and some long strips of single row. I have measured headers on RB Pi 1 1.2 boards and the meaurents do not exactly match the sparkfun headers.

I dont want them to be too long nor to short i.e. make a good fit. By the way 100mil might have been a standard today not so much

Why i am preferring pi zero over vga is the thick cables "hangning" on tiny connectors and over time things might losen up and create other issues

and not only that monitors today are hdmi friendly but vga not so much.

Why i made the choice for pi zero 1.3 is because the internal hardware changes and compilation was needed, so i wot have a need for that as well. 

I am not looking for a send file function for the software i am looking for comm soft where i can use a .txt file as an input instead of typing

ex. i write a basic program on my pc and want that on my rc2014 comp but not writing it again in the term app just tell it to use it to send the content of it.

i use putty/telnet/ssh(linux) on a semi-regularr basis but never had the need to such function yet.

@ Kevin

will let you know when i made my order dont want to reveal the source so i might be out of those

/sphinx

p.s. My first contact was with a basement based computer with paper roll for a "screen" and strips with foles for storage.

Then came didact a 650x series hex keyboard and input 1 or 2kb mem later itt was 8080 and then z80

i preferred the z80 over the 650x because of its use of i/o ports system not using up the memory for i/o handling

then 8088 80286 386 486 ....