PCB Assembly

I have started assembly of the PCBs but I am waiting on a part.

Instruction Set

I have had time to think about improving the instruction set.

The idea came from the number of steps required to swap out the accumulator to memory. Better if I have a register and a swap opcode.

The idea actually frees up the opcode space as I can use the opcode "data" to specify the  register and the registers can serve other purposes (e.g. the page register).

I need to look at how the memory data flow works as well.

Rebuilding the Micro-Architecture

I took the well published academic RISC micro-architecture:

And derived the CHUMP micro-architecture:

But along the way I saw an alternative memory arrangement:

This configuration has three benefits:

• The SRAM write logic is simplified (perhaps I over designed the write logic in the first place).
• The opcode logic is unchanged.
• The accumulator data can be written to SRAM in the same instruction cycle (CHUMP does it on the next instruction cycle).

I have tested the new micro-architecture in Logic-Sim (and it works fine. 

Adding Registers to the CPU

This allows the inclusion of register read/write logic:

In the above drawing I will probably keep the old PC and JNC logic.

Now I can replace the Page opcode with a register(s) read/write opcode.

Working LogiSim Version 7

Have been working on the Version 7, it now has register read/write opcodes. Added four registers of the eight available slots:

• Write Page/(no page read)
• Write Output/Read Input
• Write Reg A/Read Reg A
• Write Reg B/Read Reg B

Swapped the Page opcodes (Ex/Fx) with JNC opcodes (8x/9x).

Replaced the new 8x/9x opcodes with 8r/9r were r is a register constant or memory reference:

• Page:  W/X = 0/4
• I/O:      W/R = 1/5
• Reg A: W/R = 2/6
• Page:  W/R = 3/7

Here is the Top Level:

The Control Unit:

The ALU:

And the PC:

Overall a pretty significant improvements on CHUMP V5 and the 4 Bit CPU V6.

Here is the test code (the multiply algorithm):

This algorithm uses the new JNC and REGs opcodes, and multiplies F x E (13 x 14), the result is D2 (210).

Parts have Arrived

The parts have arrived. Finished off one of the Diode ROM boards, next is the CPU board:

TBC ...

AlanX