So, this isn’t exactly retrocomputing and it looks like it’s from four years ago, but I just found it and thought that many here may find it interesting.
This guy built a simple 8-bit CPU out of essentially discrete logic circuits (from what I’ve see so far, nothing more complex than a 4-bit adder chip) and explained the entire process.
Oh Ben Eater? He’s got a fairly large following and his other 6502 breadboard computer series is super relevant to this forum
I bought and built this kit a few years back. Super fun project!
Hmm, I can’t remember now if I’ve linked the guy doing his own semiconductor etching in his garage. I definitely have elsewhere, and that’s kind of similar.
Just in case: Sam Zeloof
He built his first etching setup when in high school, after graduating college a few years ago, he ended up starting a company with Jim Keller, the coauthor of x86-64
Ah, he has a Wikipedia page now!
- extremely cool
- The thing is, while rolling back experienced computer performance/degrowthing computing clearly has to happen
I think hand-wired 8 bit computing is an educational rather than practical thing. (Obviously 8 bit AVR MCUs are a practical thing). 32 bit physical lisp machines on fpgas! (Eventually)
@screwtape @me @retrocomputing Tbh if you’re gonna go FPGA, why not go 36-bit and keep the tag bits? (This is what I keep thinking of doing, anyway.)
@curtosis
Unlike me, you should talk to @amszmidt. What do you think about the existing port/emulation of the 1985 LM-3 #MITCADR to #HDL as a starting point for a modern lisp computer (instead of the scheme things that happen sometimes)? (I’ve tried and failed to get involved because of excuses. ;_;).
I forgot the LM discussion of Actually Using The Extra Bits Available.
@me @retrocomputing
@screwtape @amszmidt @me @retrocomputing I do vaguely recall it was an interesting question, though not the details. I will admit at least partial interest in the Because I Can factor of historical recreation. ;-)
Silicon foundries use a lot of water and raw materials and contaminate the ground. Full degrowth may involve abandoning semiconductor technologies and making computers out of simpler parts, such as electromagnetic relays. They’ll be a lot slower and simpler, but with the right knowledge, one can make them from raw materials without bootstrapping a complex technology chain.
abandoning semiconductor technologies and making computers out of simpler parts
I remember reading an article a while back about basically computing using cards which block or allow light to flow as a series of logic gates. Another way to think of it is reinventing the punch card.
