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NandGame – Build a Computer from Scratch

nandgame.com

21–30 of 141 posts

Re: NandGame – Build a Computer from Scratch

#21
post #9

There was this ancient Flash game called "Engineer of the People" that was all about designing IC circuits (NPN and PNP junctions) in the Soviet Union for some secretive reason. I never beat the game and got to the reveal. IIRC it was by Zachtronics, the same guy that did Shenzhen I/O and infiniminer (the inspiration for Minecraft).

Any links as to where one can play this game?

Re: NandGame – Build a Computer from Scratch

#22
post #9

There was this ancient Flash game called "Engineer of the People" that was all about designing IC circuits (NPN and PNP junctions) in the Soviet Union for some secretive reason. I never beat the game and got to the reveal. IIRC it was by Zachtronics, the same guy that did Shenzhen I/O and infiniminer (the inspiration for Minecraft).

Any links as to where one can play this game?

It's on http://www.zachtronics.com/kohctpyktop-engineer-of-the-peopl...

Also available to play using Flashpoint (https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/) if you don't want to try to install flash on your regular browser.

Re: NandGame – Build a Computer from Scratch

#23
post #9

There was this ancient Flash game called "Engineer of the People" that was all about designing IC circuits (NPN and PNP junctions) in the Soviet Union for some secretive reason. I never beat the game and got to the reveal. IIRC it was by Zachtronics, the same guy that did Shenzhen I/O and infiniminer (the inspiration for Minecraft).

Any links as to where one can play this game?

http://www.zachtronics.com/kohctpyktop-engineer-of-the-peopl...

It’s also part of the “ZACH-LIKE” anthology on Steam.

Re: NandGame – Build a Computer from Scratch

#25
I got excited when I saw the title, then checked the URL and it is a software simulation / game of building a computer. I'm not denying this can be interesting, but I've been thinking for a while to get my hands dirty with hardware as a side project. (I'm a software eng by profession). I haven't really done a lot of research on this yet, but does anyone have any recommended guides/books/tutorials on how to get started designing and building my own computer? (extra points it it's a mobile/embedded computer)

Re: NandGame – Build a Computer from Scratch

#26
post #2

I've done the Coursera course, Nand2Tetris, that inspired this website [1] and found it deeply intellectually satisfying and engaging. If anyone is interested in learning about the logical primitives that build up to a computer, and how they're implemented using logic gates, I would deeply recommend the course! ----------- [1] https://www.nand2tetris.org/

Seconded a second time. Very hard, and very worthwhile.

Re: NandGame – Build a Computer from Scratch

#28

I got excited when I saw the title, then checked the URL and it is a software simulation / game of building a computer. I'm not denying this can be interesting, but I've been thinking for a while to get my hands dirty with hardware as a side project. (I'm a software eng by profession). I haven't really done a lot of research on this yet, but does anyone have any recommended guides/books/tutorials on how to get starte…

Check out Ben Eater on YT. He has a series where he builds an 8 bit CPU from components. And another where he builds a 6502 based computer from scratch. He sells kits to follow along, and explains everything along the way

Re: NandGame – Build a Computer from Scratch

#30

I got excited when I saw the title, then checked the URL and it is a software simulation / game of building a computer. I'm not denying this can be interesting, but I've been thinking for a while to get my hands dirty with hardware as a side project. (I'm a software eng by profession). I haven't really done a lot of research on this yet, but does anyone have any recommended guides/books/tutorials on how to get starte…

If you're a visual learner, check out Ben Eater's channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/eaterbc

He has a really great video series where he builds a small computer from scratch on breadboards. Also some other highlights:

Reliable data transmission, more educational: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq5YpKHXJDM DIY VGA "video card": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqY3FMuMuRo

Super educational, but if you want to get into more embedded hardware hacking, I would say that building a homemade computer like he does is probably not a super exciting place to start. I'd recommend picking up some Teensy 4.0 microcontrollers and build some small hardware projects with the microcontroller before diving into lower-level circuitry.

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