Collaborate Disseminate
Homebrew 8-bit computers tend to have fairly limited displays, often one or more seven-segment displays and an array of LEDs to show the values of RAM or perhaps some other …read more Continue reading 8-Bit Computer Addresses LEDs
In an announcement that came as a surprise to few, NASA now says that landing humans on the Moon by 2024 is no longer likely. Acting administrator Steve Jurczyk lays the blame at the feet of Congress, for failing to …read more
Teaching students about logic gates is often done in two parts, once on the whiteboard for the theory, and again on the breadboard for the practice. [shurik179] wasn’t a fan of the abstraction between easy-to-understand symbols on the whiteboard, and …read more
Continue reading A Big Set Of Logic Gates For Teaching The Basics
Join us on Wednesday, December 9th at noon Pacific for the Vacuum Tube Logic Hack Chat with David Lovett!
For most of us, circuits based on vacuum tubes are remnants of a technological history that is rapidly fading from our collective memory. To be sure, there are still applications for …read more
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
How do you celebrate your YouTube channel passing the 7400 subscriber mark? If you are [Low Level JavaScript], the answer is obvious: You create a 7400 TTL logic simulator in JavaScript. The gate simulations progress from simple gates up to flipflops and registers. You could probably build a 7400-based computer …read more
It’s best to admit upfront that vacuum tubes can be baffling to some of the younger generation of engineers. Yes, we get how electron flow from cathode to anode can be controlled with a grid, and how that can be used to amplify and control current. But there are still …read more
Continue reading Reverse Engineering a Module from a Vacuum Tube Computer
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
While working on recreating an “ancient” (read: 60-year-old) logic circuit type known as resistor-transistor logic, [Tim] stumbled across a circuit with an unexpected oscillation. The oscillation appeared to be random and had a wide range of frequency values. Not one to miss out on a serendipitous moment, he realized that …read more