This Pi-Powered, Palm-Sized MZ-80K Actually Runs!

The MZ-80K — first available as a kit in Japan in 1978 — was one of the devices that started the home computing revolution, the aftermath of which we live today. In 1981, then-student hacker “Panda Precision” decided to make a 1/5 scale of this early computer, with incredible details like a colored and lettered keyboard, and a realistic-looking tape deck. Of course it didn’t function at the time, but was an impressive enough replica that it was kept intact until 2017. This year, he was able to turn it into a working computer using a Raspberry Pi Zero W.

Aside from the Pi, the mini MZ-80K now includes a 1.5-inch TFT display, audio circuitry, a 2000mAh LiPo battery, and a PowerBoost 500.

Physically, most of the project was left intact from 1981. A hinge was added for maintenance, allowing the top of the little computer to rotate up like the hood of a car.

Though this isn’t the first miniaturized computer using Raspberry Pi hardware, it has to be the first collaboration like this between the same person over many decades!

More details and photos from the build can be found here.