Computer From Scratch

[Dex]

A member of "Team DexOS" is building one around the Propeller chip
http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/pr ... -v1.01.pdf
And here is a nice project using the same chip.
http://ybox.tv/index.php?page=index

[Combuster]

but i am clueless as where to start and i only have an elementry
or u can say moderate ( i know how to set up counters's , differentiators
, small signal amplifiers etc ..... ) Can any one give me some direction.......

get the hardware and anything to mount it.

A possible shopping list:

1x AT90S2313 (or some other AT90Sxxxx)
1x 10MHz oscillator
1x 5V regulator (with cooling fin)
1x power supply 6..9V
8x LED
8x 1K resistor
1x parallel port connector
1x something to build on
and lots of wires

then browse the atmel site for the manual and connect the processor to the regulator, and the clock. connect the 8 leds via a resistor to Port D and wire the parallel port connector to the chip so you can program the flash memory embedded in the controller. Next, write a program emulating Knight Rider's front light and enjoy

[DeletedAccount]

That was really helpful......................
Is there any way i can return the favour ...
My Skills are C,C++,Java,Python,C# :- elementry shell scripting ,some x86 experience ... I am working on an unfinished Compiler and an 8085 simulator
are u interested in reading the source ... may i send you .. the source....
May i write a Python based platform indepent installer for Dex Os ...
I wrote (crappy installer)one for bos but didnt submit it ... it's just 45 to
50 lines of code.......

[Dex]

May i write a Python based platform indepent installer for Dex Os ...
I wrote (crappy installer)one for bos but didnt submit it ... it's just 45 to
50 lines of code.......

That would be very usefull for DexOS, but its not necessary, as i am sure your busy with your projects, but thanks for the offer.

[binutils]

http://www.homebrewcpu.com/

[Zacariaz]

Building a computer/cpu and other simular devices from scratch can be fairly easy depending on what you want and what "scratch" means to you.
Keep in mind that theres severel aproaches to this, fx if you really want to built it from scratch you can use relayes, radio tubes or (of course) transistors. This is not a wise aproach, much too complicated. Next step would be the use of logical gates.
After this "from scratch" would no longer be the right term i think.

I have build an "virtual" 8-bit adder out of 16 XOR, 16 AND and 8 OR gates. It wouldnt have been difficult to enable subtraction too, even multiplying and division would be possible, but somewhat difficult.
By "virtual" i of course mean that i used a piece of software to emulate it. (i never was any good with a soldering iron)

Bottom line, it is possible, and it doesnt have to be that difficult as long as you restraing your self to fair simple devices, but really it is something you do for fun if you ask me.


I dont know how much you actually know about electronics, boolean logic, etc. (i know im a noob about it) but i do know a book that is guarantied to teach the basics, that is no matter how little you might know or think you know. Its a must have for anyone who want to understand how it really works.

title: "CODE"
author: "Petzold, Charles"
isbn: "?"

Do a google search or something, youll find it is quite popular.


Regards

[GLneo]

does anyone know any good software to simulate logic, I've tried a lot of them but none are very good , something that if i had enough time i could make and test a CPU?

thx!

[Pyrofan1]

why don't you make your own it's easy to simulate logic

Code: Select all

bool AND(bool one,bool two)
{
	if(one && two) return true;
	else return false;
}

[AndrewAPrice]

why don't you make your own it's easy to simulate logic

Code: Select all

bool AND(bool one,bool two)
{
	if(one && two) return true;
	else return false;
}

A write an entire processor in C/C++? You could have a linked list of components and a linked list of connections, except it wouldn't be very good for designing, only for implementing, because you'd easily get lost with what does what. There are hardware descriptor languages for this purpose anyway.

[JamesM]

Take a course in digital electronics. Thats where I learned all my electronics knowledge (university!). Last term's project was making a pong games console from a H180 processor (Z80 clone with a few nice extra instructions (like multiply!!) and a serial port) and a lcd screen. It interfaced with RAM and ROM, and used both potentiometers and infrared distance sensors for input (so you can move your hands to move the paddles )

I'm going to get some more electronics stuff when my paycheck comes in. I'm also interested in robotics. Does anyone know about any pneumatic (less messy if it all goes tits up) actuators controlled by binary signals? That are small and cheap?

JamesM

[Solidus117]

Does anyone know about any pneumatic (less messy if it all goes tits up) actuators controlled by binary signals? That are small and cheap?

You'd probably have to convert that binary signal to a PWM signal. Most cheap ones like PWM.

Edit: If that uC is decent enough, it probably has a few PWM ports on it somewhere.

[draggy]

http://www.mycpu.eu/