The schematics are nearly done. I’ve finished all of them except the memory/device subsystem, which is proving to be difficult. Unlike the registers and all the other machine components, the RAM and the USB interface don’t use a clock. Instead,…
My Hewlett-Packard 1631D logic analyzer / digital oscilloscope arrived today: the finest 1985 technology that $35 can buy. I bought it dirt cheap from eBay in “as is” condition, but it seems to be working great! With this acquisition, I…
I keep accumulating more and more hardware, and my office is beginning to overflow with boxes, tools, and wires. I need to start turning this pile of parts into an actual machine ASAP. The first of my recent acquisitions was…
While hunting for my soldering iron, I found my first digital electronics project gathering dust in a box. I thought I’d thrown it out long ago, so I was happily surprised to see it. It’s not much to look at–…
I received an email from CPU-builder Dieter Müller, describing his very impressive M02 project to build a custom CPU binary compatible with the 6502, using standard 74LS and similar parts. In short, a project quite similar to my own, except…
Here’s a job that sounds reasonable enough: connect an 8-wide dip switch to a pair of 7 segment LED displays, so that the 8-bit binary number on the dip switch is displayed as a 2-digit hex number on the LED…
I got a TOP 2007 universal programmer yesterday, for burning EPROMs, GALs, and Flash memory. Whenever I hear the term “universal programmer”, I imagine a nerd-equivalent of the 1992 movie Universal Soldier, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Plot: a mild-mannered C++…
I’ve started creating schematics for the machine, using an evaluation version of CSiEDA 5. Making a real schematic that shows all the parts, pins, and interconnections is amazingly time-consuming, but it’s essential if I want to avoid making construction mistakes.…
I’m trying to finish up the final hardware design now, so I can get started with actually building this thing. Although it will probably never be truly “done”, I don’t want to end up ripping out half the components and…
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