It's
weird, that... I suspect I could rustle up something
'traditional' around
a Z80/6502, ROM, RAM and some decoding - but my brain just doesn't
cope well
with single-chip 'black boxes' such as PIC-based widgets. I really
don't know why!
Jules, I work developing hardware for a living, and I'll tell you
something: If you are used to Z80, you'll have a hard time using a PIC.
But an AVR will be easy to you to swallow.
The PIC is one I always found interesting, in that it's generally easier
to program in assembler than C...
Gordon