Don’t forget about the MSX, Commodore 128, the Sega Mastersystem and the Gameboy (although that used a custom modified version of the Z80, but very similar)
The Z80 was a secondary processor in the C128. The main processor was the rival MOS8502, a descendent of the Z80's main rival, the MOS6502.
The Z80 was included so that the C128 would be able to run CP/M software which was considered to be an important inclusion at the time.
CP/M was supplanted by the ubiquity of IBM-compatible PCs and MS-DOS, which is a shame considering that MS-DOS started life as something deliberately quick and dirty based heavily on the syntax of CP/M. The dir command? That's from CP/M. The peculiar *.* wildcard syntax? Also from CP/M.
Now, it's true that CP/M took a lot of inspiration from Unix and similar, but it wasn't trying to replace Unix. MS-DOS though? Arguably, it came to fill the same niche that CP/M already occupied. Except everyone was then on x86, not Z80.
Incredible, I started with a ZX81 (it was using a Z80) in 1981, then moved to a CPC6128 in 1984, still using a Z80, I learnt assembler on it, cracking games, etc, good memories :)
Greetings, fellow geezer! I had the ZX81 in kit form, which meant you had to solder on every single component yourself. I still have it in the basement somewhere.
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