Collaborate Disseminate
In a lot of ways, Etch-A-Sketch is the perfect toy; simple, easy to use, creative, endlessly engaging, and as a bonus, it’s completely mechanical. We find that last attribute to …read more Continue reading Electronic Etch-A-Sketch, No Microcontroller Required
While the “should have used a 555” meme is strong around these parts, we absolutely agree with [Kelvin Brammer]’s decision to make this 555-shaped plug-in replacement for the 555 timer …read more Continue reading A 555-Shaped Discrete Component 555
As hobbies go, stargazing has a pretty low barrier to entry. All you really need is a pair of Mark 1 eyeballs and maybe a little caffeine to help you …read more Continue reading Keeping Track of the Night Sky with Discrete Logic Chips
MikroLeo is a discrete TTL logic-based microcomputer intended for educational purposes created by [Edson Junior Acordi], an Electronics Professor at the Brazilian Federal Institute of Paraná, Brazil. The 4-bit CPU …read more Continue reading MikroLeo, A 4-Bit Retro Learning Platform
When asked to whip up a simple egg timer, most of us could probably come up with a quick design based on the ubiquitous 555 timer. Add a couple of …read more Continue reading Should’ve Used a 555 — Or 276 of Them
How long has it been since a computer could boast about the fact that it contained 2,500 transistors? Probably close to half a century now, at a guess. So in …read more Continue reading Thousands of Discrete MOSFETs Make Up This Compact CPU-Less Computer
In a world with software-defined radios and single-chip receivers, a superheterodyne shortwave radio might not exactly score high on the pizzazz scale. After all, people have been mixing, filtering, and …read more Continue reading A Superheterodyne Receiver with a 74xx Twist
We see a lot of discrete-logic computer builds these days, and we love them all. But after a while, they kind of all blend in with each other. So what’s the discrete logic aficionado to do if they want to stand out from the pack? Perhaps this CPU-less computer with …read more
Continue reading A CPU-Less Computer with a Single NOR-Gate ALU
Pity the poor TTL computer aficionado. It’s an obsession, really — using discrete logic chips to scratch-build a computer that would probably compare unfavorably to an 80s era 8-bit machine in terms of performance. And yet they still forge ahead with their breadboards full of chips and tangles of wire. …read more
Continue reading Discrete-Logic UART Keeps 8-Bit TTL Computer Connected
Breadboard 8-bit computer builds seem all the rage these days, and with good reason: building your own CPU from the board up using discrete logic chips is a great way to really learn how microprocessors work. Not to mention that it’s an incredible flex. But once you’ve conquered the eight-bit, …read more
Continue reading Homebrew 16-Bit Computer is a Wire-Wrapped Work of Art