Build an 8-bit computer from scratch • Hacker News Board

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#31

Post by opnitro » Sun, Dec 29, 2019, 4:47 AM UTC

barefoot wrote: post #16

Another great resource is NAND to Tetris (currently auditable on Coursera for free): https://www.coursera.org/learn/nand2tetris2

NAND 2 Tetris is great, I don't want to knock it at all, just want to emphasize a difference between it and Ben Eater's content. NAND 2 Tetris explicitly considers most electrical concepts out of scope, and abstracts them away. Eater on the other hand, dives right into them. This isn't a complaint, and it allows NAND 2 Tetris to focus on higher level concerns (such as writing a compiler), but I thought it should be brought up.

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#32

Post by sitkack » Sun, Dec 29, 2019, 6:22 AM UTC

ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #12

mrspeaker wrote: post #5

This series is truly excellent. Ben Eater is a brilliant teacher, and I wish I have has this series growing up - I think I'd be in hardware/electronics now... at the very least, I would have wasted a lot of time tinkering with making my own stuff! I followed along with the clock module and when I was done I had a Matrix style "I know kungfu" moment - it all was crystal clear. And the series doesn't brush over importa…

It’s channels like Ben Eater, Great Scott, Bitluni, and Andreas Spiess that have gotten me into tinkering more with physical electronics lately. It’s such an accessible hobby thanks to the abundance of online information/ideas, cheap components, and simple tools. Plus you learn so much even with the most basic of projects, and considering how much our world now depends on electronics and technology, I think it’s prac…

Ben Eater, https://www.youtube.com/user/eaterbc

Great Scott, https://www.youtube.com/user/greatscottlab

Bitluni, https://www.youtube.com/user/bitlunislab

Andreas Spiess, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7_D0o48KbfhpEohoP7YSQ

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#33

Post by userbinator » Sun, Dec 29, 2019, 6:32 AM UTC

madez wrote: post #24

schwartzworld wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Indeed, for me "modern" has become an overused buzzword with a negative connotation --- well-deserved too, I think. What's really sad is that this is an article about low-level stuff, and not some more "typical" topic like web applications; I'd be far less surprised, though no less annoyed, if it was the latter.

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#34

Post by dinofacedude » Sun, Dec 29, 2019, 7:29 AM UTC

opnitro wrote: post #31

barefoot wrote: post #16

Another great resource is NAND to Tetris (currently auditable on Coursera for free): https://www.coursera.org/learn/nand2tetris2

NAND 2 Tetris is great, I don't want to knock it at all, just want to emphasize a difference between it and Ben Eater's content. NAND 2 Tetris explicitly considers most electrical concepts out of scope, and abstracts them away. Eater on the other hand, dives right into them. This isn't a complaint, and it allows NAND 2 Tetris to focus on higher level concerns (such as writing a compiler), but I thought it should be b…

I did Nand2Tetris for my computer architecture class. Learned a lot! Definitely recommended. It actually got me into assembly programming as a hobby

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#35

Post by cellularmitosis » Sun, Dec 29, 2019, 9:06 AM UTC

madez wrote: post #24

schwartzworld wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

“JS is not(not(controversial))”

Maybe start with making your grammar accessible?

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#36

Post by sircastor » Sun, Dec 29, 2019, 9:13 AM UTC

I just recently found his videos for the 6502. I really wish I'd seen these when I was going through my computing logic class. The text for that was terrible, but these videos explain tremendously well for computers work.

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#37

Post by m0xte » Sun, Dec 29, 2019, 11:31 AM UTC

I am continually impressed that that number of breadboard connections actually works for a lot of people. I never had such luck even with 3M boards.

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#38

Post by unixhero » Sun, Dec 29, 2019, 1:51 PM UTC

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

Eevblog

Smarter every day

LEMMINO

Socratica

Captain disillusion

Ahoy

Khan Academy

Moshix

Historia civilis

Computerphile

jpkiwigeek

Ippsec

Pydata

Deviantollam

Lockpickinglawyer

Numberphile

Strafefox

Company Man

Accursed Farms

Civvie11

... In no particular order. YouTube is great.

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#39

Post by eaguyhn » Sun, Dec 29, 2019, 2:00 PM UTC

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 love this type of material - I was exposed to some of it in college and found it to be extremely valuable to me during my software career. It completely changed my approach to troubleshooting.

Re: Build an 8-bit computer from scratch

#40

Post by Waterluvian » Sun, Dec 29, 2019, 2:11 PM UTC

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.

What a wonderful time for democratized independent media when one of your top ten YouTubers isn't even in my list of 30 subscriptions.

YouTube has been my _sole_ video source for years and I'm still discovering incredibly high quality creators for very specific topics.