but... I... haven't... made... the... brushed... aluminium... case... yet...
(IRL it probaly won't even get a case)
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31
14-08-2008
, 09:14 PM
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but... I... haven't... made... the... brushed... aluminium... case... yet...
(IRL it probaly won't even get a case)
C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!
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15-08-2008
, 12:02 PM
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15-08-2008
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C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!
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15-08-2008
, 06:24 PM
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i see naught in the rules to say otherwisestatement on the forum says: Post your work in progress in here to get some feedback and comments.
that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"
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15-08-2008
, 06:51 PM
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In other news, I just realized that I forgot about some control signals and some logic that make the adder chips do subtraction... looks like there might be a redesign soon, I must see if I can squeeze in a few more chips on the board. :blush:
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18-08-2008
, 04:24 PM
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EPIC FAIL! well almost...
The problem is that I've got twenty or so chips on a PCB thats roughly the size of a hand which requires over two hundred wires... and this is for an 8-bit section of something that will eventually end up to be 64-bit. Soldering all the wires is impossible (for me at least) at such densities, so I've stopped working on it.
Even a 4-bit adder-subtrator I'm building for testing has failed... too many wires, too little space. I would solder around ten or so wires, only to burn half of them with the soldering iron as I attempt to stick a fine-tip soldering iron through a clearing that is less than 1 cm2 to connect one last wire.
Not giving up just yet... The design works, its tested (well sorta - with those truth tables and a small bit in a simulator), so I'm looking at other ways of building it...
I want one of those industrial machines that make multilayered PCBs!
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18-08-2008
, 04:59 PM
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Hope you get it workinng soon.
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38
18-08-2008
, 06:24 PM
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Can I ask what field of electronics did you used to do? I'm mostly interested in digital logic, hence the project.Originally posted by louis56
Thats why I gave up electronics. Hours of work and frustration for nothing
Hope you get it workinng soon.
Thanks for the encouragement.
C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!
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19-08-2008
, 12:50 AM
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19-08-2008
, 02:52 PM
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Looking into other ways of building this, so I'll post pictures when there is something to show....
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20-08-2008
, 04:52 PM
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Good news everyone!
I was able to add and subtract numbers and perform logical AND and OR operations (in the simulator of course - the real machine isn't finished). I still need to do some more work as I haven't decided on how to add and subtract signed numbers (signed means able to express negative values - atm my machine can only add and subtract positive numbers). Also needing work are the shifters, which are still not finished yet as I have yet to decide what model I am going to use (8-bit or 4-bit??? so many models - no idea as to which one is better).
I've also found out another way to make the PCBs without soldering so many wires, but I don't want to say anything yet in case it doesn't work out.
C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!
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43
24-10-2008
, 02:34 AM
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I have mostly finished designing the ALU (the part that does the math and stuff).
I have said before I have started building it, but it turns out soldering wires to connect each chip doesn't work, so I've decided to solder the chips on a PCB with tracks (the metal lines on the surface on the circuit board that conducts electrical signals), which means less work (no fiddling with wires and that).
The thing is, these PCBs are pricey to buy and to put the tracks on, so I have to design the entire thing before I build it as mistakes are not recoverable, which is a complete shift in the way I'm doing this...
Before, with the wires and soldering, I could build a section first, and if it fails or needs to be changed, I could just modify the design by connecting the wires elsewhere.
At the moment, I'm halfway through designing the register file, which is the bit that serves as the computers temporary storage place for data that is being worked on by the processor (for example, adding two numbers together), which is a challenge as the chips I am using can hold 8 bits of data, and I think I need a minimum of 8 registers, each 64 bits wide, which means I need 64 such chips.
Its not so much the number of chips, but the number of tracks that these chips need... its hard to explain without going on and on (everyone need coffee? :p ), but the number of tracks required means its hard to fit on a single average sized PCB...
After this bit is done, I have to design the control unit, which manages the computer, the memory board, which has SRAMs for the main memory, before doing any building, which will take a long time itself since I am not soldering wires any more (and needs another page to talk about).
After this, I might make a video card for this... nothing fancy, it will be in black and white, be really slow as the processor will fill in as the GPU. Essentially, for those who are into electronics, it is a dumb frame buffer.
Also planned is a tape drive! :p
The memory board uses SRAMs, which looses the info stored in it when the power goes out. I need some place to store things.
A keyboard would be useful too, but I probably "bolt" a normal one on...
At the current rate, I think I will have photos to show by next year, lol!
Ultimate goal: have Pong up and running by the end of 2009! Seriously!
Anyone who wants to have a shot at writing Pong for me, please do say so! :p
C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!
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44
24-10-2008
, 08:23 AM
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the electronics i was talking about was a microphone and radio. And neither worked lol. I'm gonna stick with programming; with that there's always ctrl + z.
Can you post pics of what the chips look like as a bundle. Or is there nothing physically there yet? Either way, want pics :p
Louis
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45
24-10-2008
, 07:15 PM
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I might take a picture of all the induvidual chips, but the design isn't final so I haven't bought most of them yet...
This project probably has a 99% of failure... :p
C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!
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