RustZX for ESP32

Rust Bare Metal implementation of ZX Spectrum for ESP32. The project is still work in progress.

Hardware (working):

• ZX Spectrum with USB keyboard over ESP-NOW (wireless)
  • ESP32-S3-BOX, M5Stack CoreS3 or ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 as main emulator unit with display
  • ESP32-S3-USB-OTG as USB keyboard to ESP-NOW converter (wireless) (ESP-IDF)
• ZX Spectrum with UART keyboard over espflash monitor
  • ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 as main emulator unit with display
• ZX Spectrum PS/2 keyboard over UART (wired)
  • M5Stack CoreS3 as main emulator unit with display
  • ESP32-C3 DevKit as PS/2 or USB COMBO keyboard converter to serial

Hardware (work-in-progress):

• ESP32 C3 DevKit RUST - app is not yet optimized for low memory

ZX Spectrum with USB keyboard over ESP-NOW (wireless)

Assembly

Assembly of the keyboard

• plug USB keyboard to ESP32-S3-USB-OTG USB HOST connector
• plug USB power supply to ESP32-S3-USB-OTG USB DEV connector
• plug mini-USB connector to port for flashing

Flashing keyboard

• use ESP-IDF 5.2

cd esp32-s3-usb-otg-keyboard
idf.py build flash monitor

• code is based on ESP-IDF USB HID example

Assembly of the main part

• connect ESP32-S3-BOX or M5Stack CoreS3 with USB-C to computer and flash the application

Software setup

• use espup to install Rust toolchain for Xtensa (ESP32-S3)

espup install

• use espflash to flash binaries

cargo install espflash

• download a .tap file from Speccy archives and store it to data/hello.tap

Run

Flash and monitor the application.

ESP32-S3-BOX:

cd esp32-s3-box
cargo run --release

M5Stack CoreS3:

cd m5stack-cores3
cargo run --release

ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1:

cd esp32-c6
cargo run --release

ZX Spectrum with UART keyboard over espflash monitor

Software setup

• use espup to install Rust toolchain for Xtensa (ESP32-S3)

espup install

• use espflash to flash binaries

cargo install espflash

• download a .tap file from Speccy archives and store it to data/hello.tap

Run

Flash and monitor the application.

ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1:

cd esp32-c6
cargo run --release

Command cargo run --release will turn on espflash monitor after the flashing. You can use the monitor console as kkeyboard output.

ZX Spectrum PS/2 keyboard over UART (wired)

Assembly

Assmebly of the keyboard

• flash ESP32-C3 which should serve as keyboard converter from PS/2 or USB to serial

git clone https://github.com/georgik/ps2keyboard-esp32c3.git --branch feature/serial-converter
cd ps2keyboard-esp32c3
cargo run --release

• take PS/2 keyboard and wire it to ESP32-C3 according to PS/2 ESP32-C3 circuit
• in case of USB keyboard you can skip PS/2 connector and wirePS/2 ESP32-C3 circuit to USB connector using the schematics from USB to PS2 convertor
• recommendation: use wire wrapping to connect parts

Assembly of the main part

• connect ESP32-C3 keyboard converter and M5Stack CoreS3

GPIO4 RX (ESP32-C3 KB) - GPIO17 TX or T at Grove Port C (M5Stack CoreS3)
GPIO5 TX (ESP32-C3 KB) - GPIO18 RX or R at Grove Port C (M5Stack CoreS3)
GND (ESP32-C3 KB) - GND (M5Stack CoreS3)

Software setup

• use espup to install Rust toolchain for Xtensa (ESP32-S3)

espup install

• use espflash to flash binaries

cargo install espflash

• download a .tap file from Speccy archives and store it to data/hello.tap

Run

Flash and monitor the application:

cd m5stack-cores3-ps2-keyboard
cargo run --release

Hit enter to load the tape included in the memory.

References

• RustZX wrapper code reused from https://github.com/pacmancoder/rustzx
• ESP-IDF USB HID example
• Rust ESP-NOW
• older RustZX-ESP32 based with std on v1.0.0-archive