This platform is designed as a basis for self-education and further hardware development. The target Forth variant is the 79-STANDARD, an historic reference. The whole design is based on the Hitachi HD63C09E--a much improved implementation of the Motorola MC6809.

Main features are:

• 5 MHz CPU operation.
• 32 KB static RAM. Conceivably expandable to 48 KB.
• 8 KB EEPROM running a native 79-STANDARD Forth sub-set implementation.
• 6 spare IO device lines are decoded and available for further developments.
• USB powered. The current consumption is somewhere between 56 and 150 mA.
• Serial line console operating at 115200 bps.
• Mass storage support on SanDisk CompactFlash (up to 64 MB).
• Interrupt free design.

The software is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3 and is available at https://github.com/frenchie68/Z79Forth. Kicad schematics are also provided over there.

Project status: working wire wrapped prototype. The software itself is believed to perform according to specifications. There are no known bugs at this time.