Intel released its 4004 schematic a long time ago:
http://www.4004.com/
Wikipedia page about that CPU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004
http://www.4004.com/
Wikipedia page about that CPU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004
This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z71h9XZbAWYSaw a video where a guy did this. Display was an array of red LEDs. Not very long ago.
Different parts of the CPU were refrigerator sized panels that basically covered a few sides of the room.
I want to try building my own CPU.
Chip-ee-uh.I'm not going to build a chip.
you can't have vertical redstone paths
Yes. The video I linked is from the megaprocessor.com guy.There are a lot of people in this thread who really don't know anything and are trying to put you down. Don't listen to them. As long as your goal is realistic (building a basic 8-bit cpu, not an Intel rival), and you have some amount of intelligence and sticktoitiveness, then it is definitely doable.
Yes, it will definitely be a waste of time in the sense that you won't build anything really useful. However, you will learn a lot from it and it will be something that you can show off to colleges/employers in future.
Start out by looking at other homebrew cpu projects, and reading about computer architecture. Then follow Cogman's suggestions and start modelling stuff in HDL. I'd start with just building an ALU, and once you've done that, build up from there. If you make it to having a working CPU designed in HDL, try running it on an FPGA. Then look at adding peripherals like keyboard and a simple display.
Again, I agree with Cogman, I'd probably stop at FPGA, but you could go further and build it physically using discrete logic chips. Someone has even built a computer using discrete transistors (http://www.megaprocessor.com/).
An alternate path that might be easier to start on is to get a CPU like the Z80 and try and build a working computer around that. There have been a few homebrew projects like that, and I'm sure you'll learn a lot from that as well. Again, search around for existing projects. Hackaday.com is a good source for some of these.
I want to try building my own CPU. Has anyone here done this?
The idea is to build something that can be programmed, with proper keyboard input and display output. I basically want to take this project from circuit to rudimentary OS that can execute simple programs. Instead of going nuts hooking wires to a breadboard I would like to make the design in software and transfer it to a printed circuit board (seems fairly cheap if you can make do with a simple PCB).
Anyhow, my first question is if you can recommend any good resources (sites/videos/books/etc) and if you know of any good designs that would be suitable for my purposes?
And second, can you recommend any good software for designing the CPU and transferring the circuitry to a PCB? I've looked at LogiSim which seems like just the kind of software I want, but I'm unsure as to how the designs can be converted to schematics for a PCB.
ISE® WebPACK™ design software is the industry´s only FREE, fully featured front-to-back FPGA design solution for Linux, Windows XP, and Windows 7. ISE WebPACK is the ideal downloadable solution for FPGA and CPLD design offering HDL synthesis and simulation, implementation, device fitting, and JTAG programming. ISE WebPACK delivers a complete, front-to-back design flow providing instant access to the ISE features and functionality at no cost. Xilinx has created a solution that allows convenient productivity by providing a design solution that is always up to date with error-free downloading and single file installation.
There are a lot of people in this thread who really don't know anything and are trying to put you down. Don't listen to them. As long as your goal is realistic (building a basic 8-bit cpu, not an Intel rival), and you have some amount of intelligence and sticktoitiveness, then it is definitely doable.
Yes, it will definitely be a waste of time in the sense that you won't build anything really useful. However, you will learn a lot from it and it will be something that you can show off to colleges/employers in future.
Start out by looking at other homebrew cpu projects, and reading about computer architecture. Then follow Cogman's suggestions and start modelling stuff in HDL. I'd start with just building an ALU, and once you've done that, build up from there. If you make it to having a working CPU designed in HDL, try running it on an FPGA. Then look at adding peripherals like keyboard and a simple display.
Again, I agree with Cogman, I'd probably stop at FPGA, but you could go further and build it physically using discrete logic chips. Someone has even built a computer using discrete transistors (http://www.megaprocessor.com/).
An alternate path that might be easier to start on is to get a CPU like the Z80 and try and build a working computer around that. There have been a few homebrew projects like that, and I'm sure you'll learn a lot from that as well. Again, search around for existing projects. Hackaday.com is a good source for some of these.
He's busy..... building his own CPU.Gregow was last seen: 31w 5d ago - We ran of another. /clap