Z80-MBC2 Emulator on LILYGO FabGL VGA32
A software emulation of the Z80-MBC2 homebrew computer running on the LILYGO FabGL VGA32, outputting to a real VGA monitor with PS/2 keyboard support and SD card storage.
Overview
This project runs a full emulation of the Z80-MBC2 — a well-known 4-IC homebrew Z80 computer by SuperFabius — on the LILYGO FabGL VGA32 board. The ESP32's processing power, combined with Fabrizio Di Vittorio's FabGL library, provides VGA video output, PS/2 keyboard input, audio output, and SD card storage all in a single compact board with no additional hardware required.
Emulation Details
The Z80 processor is emulated at approximately 5.7 MHz (without throttling). The Z80-MBC2 system is wired internally to the FabGL ANSI/VT terminal emulator, providing a full color extended terminal experience. An NTP-synchronized real-time clock sets the system time on boot, and Wi-Fi settings are configurable via the onboard menu.
Configuration
Press the USER button on boot to access the terminal configuration menu where you can select VGA display mode and resolution, keyboard layout (international options), and Wi-Fi network settings. The Z80-MBC2 menu is also accessible from the USER button. A FAT32 micro-SD card loaded with the original Z80-MBC2 disk image provides the operating system and software library.
