I love how you and James Sharman have taken Ben Eater's work in further and different directions.... some of the best electronics content I've ever seen on UA-cam. We did all this on the chalkboard at college years and years ago... so much better to work with real hardware.
Thanks, it's friendly comments like yours that keep me motivated :-) It was a bit quiet on this channel during the last month but I have *a lot* in the pipeline. Stay tuned!
Thats Incredible! I was in the lookout for something like this ever since i learned "from nand to tetris". This is wayyyy cooler than a 6502 vor z80 Mini Computer. I might just Jump into this.
@@slu467 I shure do. As usual, the lowest quantity of Boards to order is 5 Boards. I recon you are also from Germany? If you like I can send the 4 leftovers after I am done to you or somebody else that may approach you. I realy realy appreciate what you have done here, this is realy the full package for people like me who are interrested but lack the skills in the hardware department. Also under www.reichelt.de/my/1796674 i made your BOM easily accessible (+ 2 74hc595 for EEPROM Burning, sockets for all chips, I hope the SRAM equivalent works, no affiliate) - shure most people have some chips, or the resistors/ caps on hand but you can order the list in parts also.
Thanks, this is much appreciated! I've also ordered my stuff at Reichelt. Maybe someone from Europe who is interested can approach you for a PCB. Cheers!
Hi Slu4, Thanks for this great project. I'm impatiently waiting for PCBs and parts. I'm an old mainframe application guy, but have coded a few games on micros. Looking forward to seeing what develops!
Hi Bruce, that's great news! Let me know how things go during assembly. Mainframes and mini computers - that was REAL hardware :-) My little machine tries to capture that spirit a bit. Any new tool or game would be highly appreciated :-)
BTW I have published a "Flash Edition" for this design offering SSD storage capability and a simple file system. I'll soon publish a 512KB SSD hack for it ;-) So there will be potential for larger applications (native assembler, text editor, etc.). Also with FLASH memory (cheaper than EEPROMs) the system is in principle capable of running at 3.6MHz rather than at 1.84MHz. We'll see...
@@slu467 Thanks, the Flash Edition is the repo I'm working from. Haven't been able to get the emulator working on my older hardware, (32bit winXP & win7) so I'm really looking forward to the build.
@@slu467 It's weird, I was able to re-compile with a 32-bit version of g++, and the emulator displays the splash screen with esc characters visible. From there, responses to keypresses are painfully slow, 10+seconds. Programs run very slowly with esc sequences visible. Pre Windows 10, the cmd prompt doesn't deal with ANSI control sequences, so I'm thinking that's my problem.
hey SLU4 Super! I must admit dough, your very first one that you showed us with the tape reader, VGA and keyboard was something different from the many of B. Eater's inspired CPU. It looked like a standalone PC, a revival of the 8 bit era (c64, atari,...) for the newer gen. I am sure, with that one many kids and adults would have been interested in playing and learning together, without the distraction and need of powerful modern PC etc. Great job on the PCB. cheers, have fun!
Hi Alessio, glad, you like the new design, too. And you are right, I loved the paper tape stuff, too. But the Minimal UART offers an ultra-clean interface and it does not "cheat". It does not have any Arduinos on board :-) In fact, it is much more stand-alone that my first humble design. You could hook it straight up to an old DEC VT-220 terminal. Cheers!
@@slu467 yes I know it is a much improved v. don't get me wrong, but some how is missing some of those fun to play with pieces of the 1st v. also not found in many other 8-bit proj... Maybe you could add them in a kit and make it available, what you say?. Me , I would buy it (for a reasonable price that is haha) ...hope to watch other new vids of yours. cheers.
Thanks, Alessio! Since you are officially the second person on this planet showing interest in my paper tape reader build, I might reconsider doing a video about it in the future :-) Producing kits like Ben Eater does is a bit out of scope for me since my channel generates way less traffic. The stuff I have done so far did already eat up waaaay too much time :-) Cheers!
@@slu467 Nice!! . ..proof that the good stuff is understood only by few ;-) , but if you really wanted to have millions of views perhaps in your next vid you should use a catchy title like certain people are doing ;-) e.g: "built a simplest C64 look alike TTL 8 bit computer from scratch with paper tape, VGA and UART/keyboard" , definitely originals stuff yours, slu4!. .. differentiating from the remix of "inspired by..." titles , admittingly very well presented step-by-step work, maybe inspired by 10+ years old vids. ( "sap 1 computer" yt. search) with sap-1 clearly stated on their titles. ---give to caesar what it is to caesar--- BR. Cheers!!
Thanks again! I definitely do these vids just for my own amusement and for the few who find and appreciate them :-) Nice though, when it happens from time to time. And you are right of cause, all this stuff is no new computer science :-) SAP-1 is from the early 70's, too, isn't it? All the best!
Great video.. beautiful PCB and with Gerbers and everything else, wow!!...Many thanks Slu4, have already ordered my parts...;-) I remember using machine code/Op codes, assemblers etc. on 6800, CDP1802 processors also using Chip8/Chipos..... brings back memories, especially when you mention 'Little Endian'.... I was hooked!.....;-)
In the 1970s people would have loved to get their hands on this computer. It still sounds like fun in the 2020s too. Do you have a Forth interpreter for it yet?
Hi Martin, there is a FORTH for it by fellow Minimalist slowcorners. Unfortunately, the project is only half finished with probably not much progress to be expected in the near future. slowcorners has documented it within the Minimal Discussion Board (link is in the description). Feel free to join!
Yeah, today I finished building your design and it works like a charm. Again great work man! The only thing I struggled with, was that in Terra term I had to configure Terminal Setup -> New-line Receive: LF & Transmit CR+LF to be able to use the ROM - Maybe I have overlooked smth. Uh and one last thing: Are you aware, that at least 2 Mnemonics changed between the Asm inside the Emulator and this (DEA vs DEB, INA vs INB)?
Hey, Inxrox, that's awesome news! I am very glad that it worked on your side. Congrats, you are now officially owning the serial number #2 of this design :-). And yes, I am aware that the Emulator (the one with the fancy console) uses a slightly older version of the instruction set. I'd love to hear about your further experiences with this CPU. Cheers.
Look mate, I'm in AWE of this project! That PCB looks BEAUTIFUL!! Where did you learn to draw PCBs with efficiency and with very high-density layouts? I'd love to learn more
Very well-done! I thought the comparison to the historical computers was interesting. I was curious how you assessed the Mips rate. It seems your instruction set has an average of ~8.8 micro-instruction steps per instructions, which would give more like 0.21 Mips. Did you try to use some typical instruction mix to define a weighted average? Or use a larger program like the Tetris gave to give a practical instruction throughput? On a separate matter, did you define graphical characters in your character set, like Commodore did with their PET and later computers? It seems Tetris could be dressed up a bit with a few graphic characters!
Hi Michael, thanks al lot! I've used some typical code (can't remember what it was - Tetris or math) to estimate the MIPS number. Of course it depends on the type of problem the CPU needs to solve. Concerning the graphics: This CPU actually does not care about it's charset. It has none :-) it just spits out ASCII values through the UART. It is up to a terminal to display characters on the screen. So in principle some custom terminal charset can of cause contain custom characters.
Great work. You must be happy with your PCB. I would build your computer I'm but still working on my CSCvon8 + VGA. Any plans to add VGA and/or keyboard later?
Hi David, thanks a lot! Actually I'm quite happy with how everything fits together now. I have no plans to adding anything really, since the design is deliberately making use of solely the UART for all it's I/O. For me, that's the main point of this design. Cheers!
Hey, really great video series. I would like to attempt this when I am done with Ben Eaters 8-Bit breadboard CPU which I am having a go at designing PCB's for with SMD components. If I create an SMD PCB design for this, would you be open to a pull request on your github repo? For the community, have you considered a simple sub reddit to begin with?
Hi Daniel, a forum will be one of my next steps on my list ;-) I am very open to you attempting a SMD version. Just let me know when you have something! Cheers.
I would be interested in taking a look at your instruction set spread sheet. I really like the format. I was able to down load the instruction set, however it does not appear to be a complete set.
Take a look at my video "Building the Minimal UART CPU". You can download the instruction set overview from it's repo (link in the description there). It is complete. Cheers!
Hi, pls use the GitHub link given in the video description. There is a link to the latest release. The BOM is inside the KiCAD schematics folder. Cheers!
@@slu467very much so! I've got x5 PCBS coming from JLC PCB. If you hear of anyone else my way who needs one, please give me a bell and I'll unhappily send one their way.
I love how you and James Sharman have taken Ben Eater's work in further and different directions.... some of the best electronics content I've ever seen on UA-cam. We did all this on the chalkboard at college years and years ago... so much better to work with real hardware.
Thanks, it's friendly comments like yours that keep me motivated :-) It was a bit quiet on this channel during the last month but I have *a lot* in the pipeline. Stay tuned!
Insane design
Thats Incredible! I was in the lookout for something like this ever since i learned "from nand to tetris". This is wayyyy cooler than a 6502 vor z80 Mini Computer. I might just Jump into this.
Hey Inxrox, glad you like my stuff :-) I too find it way cooler to build a CPU from scratch... as long as it can run TETRIS...
@@slu467 I shure do. As usual, the lowest quantity of Boards to order is 5 Boards. I recon you are also from Germany? If you like I can send the 4 leftovers after I am done to you or somebody else that may approach you. I realy realy appreciate what you have done here, this is realy the full package for people like me who are interrested but lack the skills in the hardware department. Also under www.reichelt.de/my/1796674 i made your BOM easily accessible (+ 2 74hc595 for EEPROM Burning, sockets for all chips, I hope the SRAM equivalent works, no affiliate) - shure most people have some chips, or the resistors/ caps on hand but you can order the list in parts also.
Thanks, this is much appreciated! I've also ordered my stuff at Reichelt. Maybe someone from Europe who is interested can approach you for a PCB. Cheers!
I had some "spare" PCBs for a well known project... I just put them on E. Bay at a very low price.... that redistributed them nicely.
Oh yeah good idea! Will do that
Hi Slu4, Thanks for this great project. I'm impatiently waiting for PCBs and parts. I'm an old mainframe application guy, but have coded a few games on micros. Looking forward to seeing what develops!
Hi Bruce, that's great news! Let me know how things go during assembly. Mainframes and mini computers - that was REAL hardware :-) My little machine tries to capture that spirit a bit. Any new tool or game would be highly appreciated :-)
BTW I have published a "Flash Edition" for this design offering SSD storage capability and a simple file system. I'll soon publish a 512KB SSD hack for it ;-) So there will be potential for larger applications (native assembler, text editor, etc.). Also with FLASH memory (cheaper than EEPROMs) the system is in principle capable of running at 3.6MHz rather than at 1.84MHz. We'll see...
@@slu467 Thanks, the Flash Edition is the repo I'm working from. Haven't been able to get the emulator working on my older hardware, (32bit winXP & win7) so I'm really looking forward to the build.
@@goosebeg jep, the emulator is compiled for 64-bit architecture...
@@slu467 It's weird, I was able to re-compile with a 32-bit version of g++, and the emulator displays the splash screen with esc characters visible. From there, responses to keypresses are painfully slow, 10+seconds. Programs run very slowly with esc sequences visible. Pre Windows 10, the cmd prompt doesn't deal with ANSI control sequences, so I'm thinking that's my problem.
Wow... most impressive!!
I know im a little late to this video, but man this is awesome!
I hope your having a great 2021!
Thanks, you too! And you are not late in any way, since my videos usually don't get that much attention :-)
hey SLU4 Super!
I must admit dough, your very first one that you showed us with the tape reader, VGA and keyboard was something different from the many of B. Eater's inspired CPU. It looked like a standalone PC, a revival of the 8 bit era (c64, atari,...) for the newer gen. I am sure, with that one many kids and adults would have been interested in playing and learning together, without the distraction and need of powerful modern PC etc.
Great job on the PCB.
cheers, have fun!
Hi Alessio,
glad, you like the new design, too. And you are right, I loved the paper tape stuff, too. But the Minimal UART offers an ultra-clean interface and it does not "cheat". It does not have any Arduinos on board :-) In fact, it is much more stand-alone that my first humble design. You could hook it straight up to an old DEC VT-220 terminal. Cheers!
@@slu467 yes I know it is a much improved v. don't get me wrong, but some how is missing some of those fun to play with pieces of the 1st v. also not found in many other 8-bit proj...
Maybe you could add them in a kit and make it available, what you say?. Me , I would buy it (for a reasonable price that is haha)
...hope to watch other new vids of yours.
cheers.
Thanks, Alessio! Since you are officially the second person on this planet showing interest in my paper tape reader build, I might reconsider doing a video about it in the future :-) Producing kits like Ben Eater does is a bit out of scope for me since my channel generates way less traffic. The stuff I have done so far did already eat up waaaay too much time :-) Cheers!
@@slu467 Nice!! . ..proof that the good stuff is understood only by few ;-) , but if you really wanted to have millions of views perhaps in your next vid you should use a catchy title like certain people are doing ;-) e.g: "built a simplest C64 look alike TTL 8 bit computer from scratch with paper tape, VGA and UART/keyboard" , definitely originals stuff yours, slu4!.
.. differentiating from the remix of "inspired by..." titles , admittingly very well presented step-by-step work, maybe inspired by 10+ years old vids. ( "sap 1 computer" yt. search)
with sap-1 clearly stated on their titles. ---give to caesar what it is to caesar---
BR.
Cheers!!
Thanks again! I definitely do these vids just for my own amusement and for the few who find and appreciate them :-) Nice though, when it happens from time to time. And you are right of cause, all this stuff is no new computer science :-) SAP-1 is from the early 70's, too, isn't it? All the best!
Great video.. beautiful PCB and with Gerbers and everything else, wow!!...Many thanks Slu4, have already ordered my parts...;-) I remember using machine code/Op codes, assemblers etc. on 6800, CDP1802 processors also using Chip8/Chipos..... brings back memories, especially when you mention 'Little Endian'.... I was hooked!.....;-)
In the 1970s people would have loved to get their hands on this computer. It still sounds like fun in the 2020s too. Do you have a Forth interpreter for it yet?
Hi Martin, there is a FORTH for it by fellow Minimalist slowcorners. Unfortunately, the project is only half finished with probably not much progress to be expected in the near future. slowcorners has documented it within the Minimal Discussion Board (link is in the description). Feel free to join!
Awesome !!! I am looking forward to working on some of the projects that you are providing.
Awesome, thank you!
This is amazing!
This is excellent! Thanks for sharing your hard work slu4!!
Which company did you use for PCB fabrication? How many boards did you get manufactured?
Thanks, John. Glad you like the design. I've tried a small PCB fab based in Germany (Aisler) and was able to only purchase 3 boards. Cheers!
Yeah, today I finished building your design and it works like a charm. Again great work man! The only thing I struggled with, was that in Terra term I had to configure Terminal Setup -> New-line Receive: LF & Transmit CR+LF to be able to use the ROM - Maybe I have overlooked smth. Uh and one last thing: Are you aware, that at least 2 Mnemonics changed between the Asm inside the Emulator and this (DEA vs DEB, INA vs INB)?
Hey, Inxrox, that's awesome news! I am very glad that it worked on your side. Congrats, you are now officially owning the serial number #2 of this design :-). And yes, I am aware that the Emulator (the one with the fancy console) uses a slightly older version of the instruction set. I'd love to hear about your further experiences with this CPU. Cheers.
Look mate, I'm in AWE of this project! That PCB looks BEAUTIFUL!! Where did you learn to draw PCBs with efficiency and with very high-density layouts? I'd love to learn more
Glad you like it! I actually just grouped the components to my liking and clicked on autoroute :-) (well, almost...)
@@slu467 Ahh yes! I forgot KiCad had an autoroute function lol
@@fabian999ification Not within KiCAD itself, but there's an open source addon available called FreeRouter, that is working quite nicely.
@@slu467 Ah ok
Very well-done! I thought the comparison to the historical computers was interesting. I was curious how you assessed the Mips rate. It seems your instruction set has an average of ~8.8 micro-instruction steps per instructions, which would give more like 0.21 Mips. Did you try to use some typical instruction mix to define a weighted average? Or use a larger program like the Tetris gave to give a practical instruction throughput?
On a separate matter, did you define graphical characters in your character set, like Commodore did with their PET and later computers? It seems Tetris could be dressed up a bit with a few graphic characters!
Hi Michael, thanks al lot! I've used some typical code (can't remember what it was - Tetris or math) to estimate the MIPS number. Of course it depends on the type of problem the CPU needs to solve. Concerning the graphics: This CPU actually does not care about it's charset. It has none :-) it just spits out ASCII values through the UART. It is up to a terminal to display characters on the screen. So in principle some custom terminal charset can of cause contain custom characters.
Great work. You must be happy with your PCB. I would build your computer I'm but still working on my CSCvon8 + VGA. Any plans to add VGA and/or keyboard later?
Hi David, thanks a lot! Actually I'm quite happy with how everything fits together now. I have no plans to adding anything really, since the design is deliberately making use of solely the UART for all it's I/O. For me, that's the main point of this design. Cheers!
Cool!
Thank you! Glad you like it :-)
Hey, really great video series. I would like to attempt this when I am done with Ben Eaters 8-Bit breadboard CPU which I am having a go at designing PCB's for with SMD components. If I create an SMD PCB design for this, would you be open to a pull request on your github repo? For the community, have you considered a simple sub reddit to begin with?
Hi Daniel, a forum will be one of my next steps on my list ;-) I am very open to you attempting a SMD version. Just let me know when you have something! Cheers.
I would be interested in taking a look at your instruction set spread sheet. I really like the format. I was able to down load the instruction set, however it does not appear to be a complete set.
Take a look at my video "Building the Minimal UART CPU". You can download the instruction set overview from it's repo (link in the description there). It is complete. Cheers!
Where do you get the bill of materials? I checked in the links but it's nowhere to be found. Do you mind sending the link?
Hi, pls use the GitHub link given in the video description. There is a link to the latest release. The BOM is inside the KiCAD schematics folder.
Cheers!
Well colour me excited!
Hey Aaron, I am glad you still like this topic :-) Cheers!
@@slu467very much so! I've got x5 PCBS coming from JLC PCB. If you hear of anyone else my way who needs one, please give me a bell and I'll unhappily send one their way.
Wow, great! Let me know how things turn out. It's an afternoon of soldering but otherwise the build should be very straight forward. Good luck!
@@colonelbarker I wouldn't mind having a PCB to build a CPU in the future. Where in Australia are you?
@@djc1402 I'm in the ACT, happy to give you shout when they arrive!
Can we run BASIC on it?
I am more aiming for a Python thing. Have you seen my latest videos about that :-)
I wonder if people in 100 years will make "primitive DIY computers" out of i7 processors ...
"using nothing but TTL chips" .... and two huge ROMs for microcode.
Any idea of how to get rid of 'em in this design ;-)
@@slu467 multiplex mutually exclusive control lines to get rid of 1 rom or go all out with direct decode.
might be interesting but you are blocked. it will try. latter.
I'm Alone 😍😥