High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch
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High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch
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Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch
#2By 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 hand and good mental endurance.
Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch
#3By 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…
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.
Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch
#4This one is from 2007...
http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/DIY-CPU-demod-runnin...
Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch
#5By 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…
No, the processor appears to be constructed from 74LSxxx TTL logic chips. The memory is 2x32KB off-the-shelf SRAM units, but there comes a point where building things out of quad J-K flip-flops just becomes an exercise in patience and unnecessary spending. The registers are FFs, why make all of the memory that way? Just to say you did it? It doesn't add to the learning experience, just the drudgery.
Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch
#6Nothing new, but still pretty cool. Good for him.
Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch
#7By 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…
It's still pretty impressive for a high school grad. Not to mention that he was able to code an OS and a few games.
Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch
#8[deleted]
Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch
#9By 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…
It's still pretty impressive for a high school grad. Not to mention that he was able to code an OS and a few games.
Aren't most people that make computers high school graduates?
Re: High school grad builds 8-bit computer from scratch
#10By 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…
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 agree with you on everything except that he should skip college. This would land him a salaried job at a lot of places, but if he's truly interested in computer design he would probably want to work at IBM/Intel/AMD research departments and they certainly require a college education to just get through the interview filters.
Not to mention there is a lot of stuff he could learn at college that would actually be tremendously useful if he wants to continue in this path. Everything from the physics of conductors to more advanced electronics design are things that can be quite hard to pick up from tutorials online.