4 ms·
Yes, this is great fun. I have a few paper designs of my own in a similar spirit and if you look around you'll find many existing projects. However the "Min-T
by FullyFunctional 10y ago
Yes, this is great fun. I have a few paper designs of my own in a similar spirit and if you look around you'll find many existing projects.
However the "Min-T" name to me implies a higher ambition than "just" implementing a transistor computer. True minimalism requires exacting definitions and metrics. That could be pretty interesting, but keeping memory outside the definition is in a sense cheating as [the size and speed of] random access memory was a key differentiators between early computers (ENIAC era).
Essentially, this design would be facing the same constraints as _early_ computers, so I would expect the solution to look similar: micro-coded bit-serial design, Rope memory for ROM, and core memory for "ram". I'd look to the HP-1900A for inspiration.
- tonyRobinson 10y agoI'm experimenting with names. You'll see a write up where I minimise the number of legs, i.e. solder joints you have to make. That seemed like a very good metric. But then I found myself discussing everything in terms of the transistor count, so I'm favouring min-T right now. Passive components like resistors and didoes you can see what they do from looking at them. Transistors are much harder to work out what they are going to do. Other name suggestions are welcome.