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Where To Go From Here?

A project log for DDL4-CPU

A Modular 4-Bit CPU Design

daves-dev-labDave's Dev Lab 11/08/2018 at 02:486 Comments

So with the second revision of the DDL4-CPU complete and functional, all my personal objectives have been met with this project. Even thought I did get some coverage from Hackaday.com and Hackster.io , I got very little direct feedback or interaction for the project, so I am wondering where to go from here with the project... thoughts anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?.......

Discussions

Marcel van Kervinck wrote 02/28/2020 at 11:11 point

Don't worry about feedback, its the same for all projects. Homebrew computer design is a rather solitary thing. I believe the feedback I got while designing my TTL computer could be counted on the fingers of one hand. That doesn't mean a thing, because the proces of writing still helps you organise your thoughts. I get much more out of the TTL chat. Both are important in their own way.

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Marcel van Kervinck wrote 03/29/2019 at 21:43 point

Haha, you even got the same "AMD2901" suggestion from the exact same guy as I did.

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Marcel van Kervinck wrote 03/29/2019 at 21:36 point

64 logs on my TTL computer attracted maybe 3 comments total. But it was still worth doing, because for me, forcing myself to write things down helped me find flaws in my thinking.

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Ed S wrote 03/29/2019 at 18:46 point

Might be worth checking out the forums at anycpu: people there have an interest in novel CPUs, historical CPUs, and learning about CPU architectures.  https://anycpu.org/forum/search.php?search_id=newposts

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roelh wrote 11/08/2018 at 08:12 point

Hi Dave, I think this project can use a little bit more documentation, especially:

- A block diagram showing the data paths, names of the registers etc. It would preferably have the same layout as your colored pcb's, to make it immediately clear where everything is.

- A "details" section in the project could give a short explanation of the block diagram, and of the instruction set (that is now hiding in one of the logs). 

- A description about how you make a program (do you have an assembler or is it done by hand ?) and  how to put it in the cpu (you use an Eprom programmer I think ?).

- One or more examples of programs for the cpu. Would be nice to have a picture or video if the program has visible results.

I just realize that my own projects also could use more documentation...

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Dave's Dev Lab wrote 11/08/2018 at 20:44 point

thanks for the feedback! i have most of that already completed, but was waiting to see what kind of interest there was in the project before proceeding with posting it...

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