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Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

eater.net

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Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#21

Post by vikramkr »

fishingisfun wrote: post #14
ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #8

Ben Eater is without a doubt in my top 10 youtubers. His videos are so in-depth and explained in such a great way that I come away learning huge amounts every time he posts. I’m sure a lot of this stuff is basic to people here, but to a software guy, I’ve found his channel invaluable for understanding how computers work at an electronics level and also just wildly fascinating.

share some others like him. i would like to explore other youtubers

3blue1brown is an amazing intro to mathematics and does an amazing job explaining hairy math concepts with great visuals etc

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#22

Post by schwartzworld »

userbinator wrote: post #7

"You need to enable JavaScript to view this site." I was expecting an interactive 8-bit computer simulation webapp, but all I got was something that could've been several pages on a static site. More disappointingly, it apparently requires a very "modern" browser to view :-( In my experience, to see this sort of anti-accessibility from someone who knows the "low-level" enough to build CPUs successfully is unusual, bu…

imagine finding such amazing content and then being mad that it was built with modern tools.

what about the site violates accessibility? JS generated sites should be usable on screen readers. you can violate accessibility, but you can do that without js too

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#24

Post by madez »

schwartzworld wrote: post #22
userbinator wrote: post #7

"You need to enable JavaScript to view this site." I was expecting an interactive 8-bit computer simulation webapp, but all I got was something that could've been several pages on a static site. More disappointingly, it apparently requires a very "modern" browser to view :-( In my experience, to see this sort of anti-accessibility from someone who knows the "low-level" enough to build CPUs successfully is unusual, bu…

imagine finding such amazing content and then being mad that it was built with modern tools. what about the site violates accessibility? JS generated sites should be usable on screen readers. you can violate accessibility, but you can do that without js too

Not everything modern is good or positive or even acceptable. JS is not uncontroversial, for good reasons, both technical and political via its influence on society.

Lamenting that it is used when there is no need for it seems reasonable to me. The grandparent even made an effort to not just offer destructive criticism but also constructive alternative approaches.

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#25

Post by swiley »

laxd wrote: post #6

Just started on a fun educational project to emulate a Z80 processor in C. Trying not to look at any existing work, only documentation. Thinking I'll need to expand the project (emulating the rest of an actual, vintage computer) in order to run existing software and get the full kick out of it though. Suggestions? Looking for simplicity as I don't need another forever-project. Edit: asking because there's so many to…

Be careful, if you haven't done this before or done much network programming it's easy to get weird issues with endienness. Check out the ntohs etc. macros.

IMO you should try to find a really simple computer to do first. The advantage here is you have other people's software to run which makes for a nice integration test. My first time I did the original apple and had it run the monitor program (which is nice you can just keep adding opcodes going up from the beginning of the program until it works.) For the Z80 I think maybe the ZX80 is the one where it was pretty much just a Z80, a ROM and SDRAM chip and some glue logic?

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#26

Post by aswanson »

vikramkr wrote: post #21
fishingisfun wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

share some others like him. i would like to explore other youtubers

3blue1brown is an amazing intro to mathematics and does an amazing job explaining hairy math concepts with great visuals etc

Cosign. He's a fantastic explainer.

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#27

Post by octorian »

ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #8

Ben Eater is without a doubt in my top 10 youtubers. His videos are so in-depth and explained in such a great way that I come away learning huge amounts every time he posts. I’m sure a lot of this stuff is basic to people here, but to a software guy, I’ve found his channel invaluable for understanding how computers work at an electronics level and also just wildly fascinating.

I think a big part of it is that he goes out of his way to explain everything relevant, and to not gloss over any details. Most other people doing similar would gloss over those details without even realizing it.

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#28

Post by Accacin »

I've been meaning to do through his videos for a long while now and finally over christmas I've managed to binge watch nearly all this series.

As a software guy currently doing the Embedded Systems course on edX, Ben's videos have really helped solidify what I've read in the course.

Big example was tri-state drivers, after reading about them in the course they hadn't quite clicked, and I searched YouTube and came across Ben's video. He explained the concept so incredibly well, it clicked immediately and I've found it a good companion for the course.

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#29

Post by codetrotter »

swiley wrote: post #25
laxd wrote: post #6

Just started on a fun educational project to emulate a Z80 processor in C. Trying not to look at any existing work, only documentation. Thinking I'll need to expand the project (emulating the rest of an actual, vintage computer) in order to run existing software and get the full kick out of it though. Suggestions? Looking for simplicity as I don't need another forever-project. Edit: asking because there's so many to…

Be careful, if you haven't done this before or done much network programming it's easy to get weird issues with endienness. Check out the ntohs etc. macros. IMO you should try to find a really simple computer to do first. The advantage here is you have other people's software to run which makes for a nice integration test. My first time I did the original apple and had it run the monitor program (which is nice you ca…

Speaking of simple computers to emulate, Advent of Code 2019 featured an imaginary computer that you gradually implement. (But do note that not all of the days are about said imaginary computer.)

I am still catching up with it because I didn’t put so much time into it yet but so far I have completed up to and including day 5 of AoC 2019.

For me, this is the first time I have implemented an emulator, and what I like about this imaginary computer is that it is so simple that I was able to build what I have built so far without relying on any external resources.

The fun part of it is working through it yourself of course, so even though I am tempted to link to my implementation on my GitHub I will instead only leave a link for AoC 2019.

https://adventofcode.com/2019

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#30

Post by 333c »

I watched the whole video series in the last two weeks. I quite enjoyed it.

It suffered from my classes in that Eater actually deals with the minutiae of working with real electricity — debouncing, clock edge detection, and so forth — because he's building his CPU in the real world on breadboards. That was interesting for me to see.

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