That giant slider pot to adjust clock speed is awesome.
Megaprocessor – A micro-processor built large (2016)
11–20 of 96 posts
Re: Megaprocessor – A micro-processor built large (2016)
#12This is AWESOME
It is very, very cool :)
Re: Megaprocessor – A micro-processor built large (2016)
#13If the ISA is sufficiently efficient, 8kHz is fast enough to run interpreters. An 8kHz can be useful as a calculator, running thing similar to FORTRAN and, if is has suitable I/O, maybe run a BASIC or CHIP-8 interpreter.
Alternatively it works if you are sufficiently patient.
Re: Megaprocessor – A micro-processor built large (2016)
#14Wait - this thing runs Windows?! I figured it ran some kind of bytecode or toy OS. That's very neat that it runs a commercial operating system. I'd seen this post before but I'd never noticed the monitor with the Windows login screen.
It definitely does not run Windows. It has 32 kB of RAM, 16-bit registers and a custom instruction set. That will never run Windows 1, let alone Windows 7 :)
That's still more memory than my old Vic20 had. :)
Re: Megaprocessor – A micro-processor built large (2016)
#15I often wondered i could build some sort of general computing machine if we were pushed back to the dark ages or something. I guess you have to define exactly at what level of technological achievements we were pushed back to. But with the knowledge we have today, and without ICs (or advanced manufacturing facilities) and only "simple electronics" (whatever that would be) if this would be possible. Fun stuff to think…
Good point!
I used to play that same thought experiment with more basic utilities like my toaster with it's various settings and electronic controllers. Then I was given a Dualit. No more philosophical dilemmas!
Kidding aside, it's always staggering how far removed we really are from operating on (humanly) first principles. Humbling.
Re: Megaprocessor – A micro-processor built large (2016)
#16That is fantastically impressive and reminds me of something Sam Altman said once
"Alan Kay gave me an Alto. That’s not the very last computer that I think is within my capability to understand everything that’s happening in there, but it’s getting near the end." https://mastersofscale.com/sam-altman-why-customer-love-is-a...
This is a visual representation of about what I understand about a processor and still outside of what I could actually make without a lot of reference material.
Re: Megaprocessor – A micro-processor built large (2016)
#17Wait - this thing runs Windows?! I figured it ran some kind of bytecode or toy OS. That's very neat that it runs a commercial operating system. I'd seen this post before but I'd never noticed the monitor with the Windows login screen.
Hah, of course not. The PC acts as a terminal/controller for this machine. Running Windows 7 on a 8 KHz CPU is impossible, even on a x86-compatible one. WinXP has been shown to run on an extremely underclocked 8 MHz Pentium CPU, booting in half an hour: https://winhistory.de/more/386/xpmini_en.htm
If you have enough RAM and patience, you can emulate anything even on small CPU. eg. https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=07.%20Linux%20on%208bi...
Re: Megaprocessor – A micro-processor built large (2016)
#18I often wondered i could build some sort of general computing machine if we were pushed back to the dark ages or something. I guess you have to define exactly at what level of technological achievements we were pushed back to. But with the knowledge we have today, and without ICs (or advanced manufacturing facilities) and only "simple electronics" (whatever that would be) if this would be possible. Fun stuff to think…
I forgot which book it was (maybe "the three body problem"?) but there was a science fiction story where a Chinese king makes his soldier act as a logical gate and his army becomes a computer. I was like, wow, I didn't think about that, but it totally makes sense!!
Re: Megaprocessor – A micro-processor built large (2016)
#19I often wondered i could build some sort of general computing machine if we were pushed back to the dark ages or something. I guess you have to define exactly at what level of technological achievements we were pushed back to. But with the knowledge we have today, and without ICs (or advanced manufacturing facilities) and only "simple electronics" (whatever that would be) if this would be possible. Fun stuff to think…
Good point! I used to play that same thought experiment with more basic utilities like my toaster with it's various settings and electronic controllers. Then I was given a Dualit. No more philosophical dilemmas! Kidding aside, it's always staggering how far removed we really are from operating on (humanly) first principles. Humbling.
There are many people on the internet researching how basic things can be made in a low-tech fashion. I particularly enjoy https://simplifier.neocities.org/ for example.
But if you read those blogs you still notice the mind boggling height of the giants whose shoulders the bloggers stand on. Having access to simple chemicals like acids or various salts for example is huge. I wouldn't even know where to start if I had to bootstrap a highschool chemistry kit starting with nothing but my hands and my knowledge.
Re: Megaprocessor – A micro-processor built large (2016)
#20I often wondered i could build some sort of general computing machine if we were pushed back to the dark ages or something. I guess you have to define exactly at what level of technological achievements we were pushed back to. But with the knowledge we have today, and without ICs (or advanced manufacturing facilities) and only "simple electronics" (whatever that would be) if this would be possible. Fun stuff to think…
I forgot which book it was (maybe "the three body problem"?) but there was a science fiction story where a Chinese king makes his soldier act as a logical gate and his army becomes a computer. I was like, wow, I didn't think about that, but it totally makes sense!!
That is the three body problem, and while avoiding spoilers, not exactly a Chinese king.