High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch • Hacker News Board

Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch

#41

Post by hristov » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 10:13 AM UTC

zeteo wrote: post #2

By some definition of "scratch", we've also built 8-bit computers from scratch in my Electronics class. My respect for this student's accomplishment is proportional to how much of the processor he has designed and built himself; opcode design and management is a highly nontrivial task. On the other hand, if he has built the processor from pre-existing schematics, the accomplishment simply shows a steady soldering han…

You make a good point. I looked at his website, and it does not seem he designed it himself. If he did I would expect to see some gate level or even block level diagrams of the actual processor. Designing a processor from scratch is pretty challenging, if you do it you would want to show your work.

He only has TTL chip diagrams which do not show the internal architecture.

Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch

#42

Post by tmesis » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 10:45 AM UTC

tytso wrote: post #28

zeteo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are thousands, probably tens of thousands of people out there who have built a 8-bit computer (usually Z80 based), according to schematics, from a microprocessor, memory chips, and a bunch of TTL chips. (I know there were at least twenty at my old school, and it was a small college.) It's one college class out of more than thirty, and by no means a replacement for college as a whole.

It used to be the case that MIT required their CS undergraduate students build an 8-bit computer from TTL (mostly 74XX) chips on breadboard in their Freshman on Sophomore year. (And no, we didn't even get a Z80; the most complex parts we got was an ALU unit and a 8250 UART so you could communicate with the computer over an RS-232 port.) It's really too bad that this isn't something which is required any more. Instead…

What course number was that? Is it on OCW?

Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch

#43

Post by derrida » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 11:33 AM UTC

To choose to go to this level of depth shows remarkable curiosity in a highschool student.

Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch

#44

Post by derrida » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 11:33 AM UTC

yoyoyogi wrote: post #34

I thought we all did this?

Where is your computer?

Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch

#45

Post by Stiffy » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 11:34 AM UTC

zeteo wrote: post #2

By some definition of "scratch", we've also built 8-bit computers from scratch in my Electronics class. My respect for this student's accomplishment is proportional to how much of the processor he has designed and built himself; opcode design and management is a highly nontrivial task. On the other hand, if he has built the processor from pre-existing schematics, the accomplishment simply shows a steady soldering han…

Regardless of how much he actually did, this is quite an accomplishment in modern-day America. Even the most basic attempts at some task slightly related to engineering should be lauded. They are very rare these days.

Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch

#46

Post by nazar » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 11:50 AM UTC

systemizer wrote: post #20

palish wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you watch the video? This is inspiring to me on many levels. This probably earned him a salaried job at essentially any place he wants to work. Or at the very least an internship. I hope he considers skipping college. There's no reason for him to be driven into ~$50k worth of debt, and I've certainly been happy with my decision not to go.

I'm guessing that he built this computer based on some DIY project, which means he followed directions. In college, the most important things you learn involve not following directions. Instead its about teaching you how to "think" and following directions doesn't involve "thinking" at the level that it is taught at college.

From my own experience, collage only teaches you to follow directions. You get punished if you actually think and use some other "direction" than that you've been told to follow.

Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch

#47

Post by Will_Price » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 12:22 PM UTC

tmesis wrote: post #42

tytso wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It used to be the case that MIT required their CS undergraduate students build an 8-bit computer from TTL (mostly 74XX) chips on breadboard in their Freshman on Sophomore year. (And no, we didn't even get a Z80; the most complex parts we got was an ALU unit and a 8250 UART so you could communicate with the computer over an RS-232 port.) It's really too bad that this isn't something which is required any more. Instead…

What course number was that? Is it on OCW?

I'd also like to know if it's on OCW, would be very interesting.

Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch

#48

Post by encoderer » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 12:30 PM UTC

palish wrote: post #36

SwellJoe wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I think the kid is awesome, I don't think it follows that skipping college is the best choice. If he's as brilliant as he seems, he ought to be able to get scholarships to some pretty good schools...where he can learn to go well beyond this, probably faster than he could on his own; even if it's just for the resources a good technical university (like MIT, Caltech, Stanford, etc.) provides. He could be working…

This is an excellent and important point. If your ambitions lie along the lines of "supercomputing, nanotech, quantum computing, Internet-scale problems," etc, then skipping college is a terrible mistake, obviously. It comes down to what he wants. Personally, I wanted freedom from debt, freedom from high school, and the freedom to work with creative people. Those factors made me decide to drop out of high school ( af…

I think it's important to not seem like you're looking down on people who DO chose to go to college. Because surely you wouldn't like it if they looked down upon you?

Truth is you do get a lot more from college for your debt load than just job training.

(And just so you know, I went, but didn't finish, largely because I found myself making a very good living developing software and also because my personality has never accommodated being part of the student-underclass.)

Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch

#49

Post by losvedir » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 12:34 PM UTC

tytso wrote: post #28

zeteo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are thousands, probably tens of thousands of people out there who have built a 8-bit computer (usually Z80 based), according to schematics, from a microprocessor, memory chips, and a bunch of TTL chips. (I know there were at least twenty at my old school, and it was a small college.) It's one college class out of more than thirty, and by no means a replacement for college as a whole.

It used to be the case that MIT required their CS undergraduate students build an 8-bit computer from TTL (mostly 74XX) chips on breadboard in their Freshman on Sophomore year. (And no, we didn't even get a Z80; the most complex parts we got was an ALU unit and a 8250 UART so you could communicate with the computer over an RS-232 port.) It's really too bad that this isn't something which is required any more. Instead…

Do you mean 6.004[1]? I took that a few years ago and we virtually "built" a computer from scratch - laying down the wires with a hardware description language, writing a simple OS, etc. Unfortunately, it was all inside a simulator, so connecting the wires wasn't as tangible and satisfying as I would have liked. In the class, we heard that in the past students actually worked with physical components. Was still really fun and rewarding, though.

[1] http://6004.csail.mit.edu/

Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch

#50

Post by slunk » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 1:11 PM UTC

tetrarchy wrote: post #35

Wow, tough crowd here. When I was in high school, the extent of my computer knowledge was a little visual basic. After watching all of his videos, I'm extremely impressed - it looks like he designed (or at least integrated) a lot of the hardware, operating systems, and applications himself. After a BS and now almost a MS in computer engineering I think I could (...eventually) pull something like this off, but this gu…

"Wow, tough crowd here."

Yeah, no kidding. I just graduated from a computer engineering program and I still find this impressive, especially for a high school student. What could I do with a computer right out of high school? Code some java or c++ (poorly) and install linux on it? That's about it.