Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

489 点作者 kmooney超过 5 年前

18 条评论

barefoot超过 5 年前

Another great resource is NAND to Tetris (currently auditable on Coursera for free):<a href="https://www.coursera.org/learn/nand2tetris2" rel="nofollow">https://www.coursera.org/learn/nand2tetris2</a>

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mrspeaker超过 5 年前

This series is truly excellent. Ben Eater is a brilliant teacher, and I wish I have has this series growing up - I think I'd be in hardware/electronics now... at the very least, I would have wasted a lot of time tinkering with making my own stuff!I followed along with the clock module and when I was done I had a Matrix style "I know kungfu" moment - it all was crystal clear. And the series doesn't brush over important details (like dealing with flaky inputs that would cause extra clock pulses etc) so even though I still don't know all the math needed for electronics, I'm far more confident in making my own stuff!

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retrac超过 5 年前

For the last couple years I've been toying with a relay computer design. Only a few prototype circuits have been built, but I do have (several) completed designs. I'm cautiously optimistic... it should be the fastest relay computer ever built, if I actually do build it. I have a whole bunch of reed relays on hand but the boards (and construction time!) are still expensive for a project of that size.What fascinates me is that, even with a full design under my belt which works in simulation, computation remains somewhat magical to me.

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ObsoleteNerd超过 5 年前

Ben Eater is without a doubt in my top 10 youtubers. His videos are so in-depth and explained in such a great way that I come away learning huge amounts every time he posts.I’m sure a lot of this stuff is basic to people here, but to a software guy, I’ve found his channel invaluable for understanding how computers work at an electronics level and also just wildly fascinating.

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zw123456超过 5 年前

The first time I built a computer from scratch using TTL components was in 1978 for my senior project. I have repeated the effort a couple of times on FPGA's. If you have never tried building your own computer from scratch, you should, it is a great learning experience and also, kind of a lot of fun, I guess if you are a geek which a lot of us on HN are :)

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transitorykris超过 5 年前

I’ve been working through Ben’s videos on the 6502 since September. It’s been a highly enjoyable way to relax and learn for me. It’s very easy to go beyond what he’s teaching. There’s so much material out there (6502.org for instance). The most rewarding for me has been taking the basics he gives on address decoding and going beyond it.

laxd超过 5 年前

Just started on a fun educational project to emulate a Z80 processor in C. Trying not to look at any existing work, only documentation. Thinking I'll need to expand the project (emulating the rest of an actual, vintage computer) in order to run existing software and get the full kick out of it though. Suggestions? Looking for simplicity as I don't need another forever-project.Edit: asking because there's so many to choose from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Z80-based_home_computers" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Z80-based_home_comput...</a>

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Accacin超过 5 年前

I've been meaning to do through his videos for a long while now and finally over christmas I've managed to binge watch nearly all this series.As a software guy currently doing the Embedded Systems course on edX, Ben's videos have really helped solidify what I've read in the course.Big example was tri-state drivers, after reading about them in the course they hadn't quite clicked, and I searched YouTube and came across Ben's video. He explained the concept so incredibly well, it clicked immediately and I've found it a good companion for the course.

333c超过 5 年前

I watched the whole video series in the last two weeks. I quite enjoyed it.It suffered from my classes in that Eater actually deals with the minutiae of working with real electricity — debouncing, clock edge detection, and so forth — because he's building his CPU in the real world on breadboards. That was interesting for me to see.

jedimastert超过 5 年前

For anyone itching for more Ben Eater, he's currently working on a series where he takes a 6502-type processor and turns it into a usable computer.Here's the first video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnzuMJLZRdU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnzuMJLZRdU</a>

sircastor超过 5 年前

I just recently found his videos for the 6502. I really wish I'd seen these when I was going through my computing logic class. The text for that was terrible, but these videos explain tremendously well for computers work.

dang超过 5 年前

Two from 2017:<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14450945" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14450945</a><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14883776" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14883776</a>Related from a few months ago:<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20974405" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20974405</a><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20614129" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20614129</a>

codedokode超过 5 年前

The description says:> I built a programmable 8-bit computer from scratch on breadboards using only simple logic gates.Sorry, but this is slightly incorrect. First, he is using ready-made adders in ALU which are not "simple logic gates", second he seems to use ROM in control logic which replaces tens or hundreds of logic gates one has to use of they don't have a ROM and a programmer.If I was building a CPU, I would make 1-bit ALU and shift data bit-by-bit to save ICs because 1-bit ALU requires 4-5 simple ICs and 8-bit ALU would require 8 times more and that's too much.Next, I would use 4-bit registers instead of 8-bit because 8-bit register requires 2 ICs and 4-bit register can be implemented with one IC. Also it allows to reduce the number of wires and amount of work to connect them. This makes CPU slower though because it has to access memory twice as often.Also I was surprised to read in comments that in some universities students are designing CPUs as a practical project. Must be interesting.

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userbinator超过 5 年前

<pre><code> "You need to enable JavaScript to view this site." </code></pre> I was expecting an interactive 8-bit computer simulation webapp, but all I got was something that could've been several pages on a static site. More disappointingly, it apparently requires a very "modern" browser to view :-(In my experience, to see this sort of anti-accessibility from someone who knows the "low-level" enough to build CPUs successfully is unusual, but unfortunately getting more prevalent. The others I'm aware of, <a href="http://www.homebrewcpu.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.homebrewcpu.com/</a> and <a href="https://www.bigmessowires.com/bmow1/" rel="nofollow">https://www.bigmessowires.com/bmow1/</a> , have far more accessible sites.Edit: looks like others here think accessibility is not a concern anymore. That's really disappointing, especially for low-level stuff.

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chrismmay超过 5 年前

This project looks awesome, and I may purchase Ben's kit to do with my 7 year-old son. My love of computers and software was largely inspired by the 6502 processor. I grew up with the commodore VIC20, C64 and 128 and reading books by Rodnay Zaks in the 1980's. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodnay_Zaks" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodnay_Zaks</a>Perhaps I should look to see if any of my old books are still at my Dad's house. This one is going for nearly $1k on Amazon. Not sure how a book from 1981 can be sold as "new" but wow.<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Programming-6502-Rodnay-Zaks-1981-09-03/dp/B01FKX0O8O/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Rodnay+Zaks&qid=1577631949&s=books&sr=1-2" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Programming-6502-Rodnay-Zaks-1981-09-...</a>

TheBiffer超过 5 年前

There is an iOS version of this at: <a href="https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/cpu8/id1448776028" rel="nofollow">https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/cpu8/id1448776028</a>

kjs3超过 5 年前

I built a Z80 computer for my high school senior project in the early 80s. I got CP/M mostly running; the floppy controller had some bugs I never quite worked out. Pretty much started me on the career path I've taken.I'm building a 68000 system now for fun. I know I'll never really understand my desktop, so I'd like to have at least one computer in the house that I really fundamentally understand.

m0xte超过 5 年前

I am continually impressed that that number of breadboard connections actually works for a lot of people. I never had such luck even with 3M boards.