4 ms·
If you really want to learn digital electronics you should learn how to design a very simple CPU from scratch. If you can do that then you can build virtually a
by felipemnoa 8y ago
If you really want to learn digital electronics you should learn how to design a very simple CPU from scratch. If you can do that then you can build virtually any digital circuit you can think of. And it is not that hard (although it will take some dedication, months of reading and experimenting) Plenty of resources out there that teach you how to do it from scratch.
When I was a kid I tried to learn electronics by buying these types of kits. They were totally useless, complete waste of money and they only accomplished in making me feel that electronics was way too hard for me. All I could do was assemble the circuits in the diagrams but there was no understanding involved.
The worst part was that they all used some computers chips, like the 555 timer, to do some special effects, etc. When you are starting out any chip is kind of useless in your goal to understanding digital electronics.
- throway88989898 8y agohttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypGqImE405J2565dvjafglHU https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypGqImE405J2...
- zakki 8y agoDo you have any link on how to design a simple cpu from scratch? Or a search keyword for it!
- copperx 8y agoNand2tetris will teach you.
- felipemnoa 8y agoYes, this is what I was thinking about.
- myself248 8y ago"homebrew CPU" is a good start. You'll find numerous projects, many of whom list the resources they used.
- harywilke 8y agoA bit more pop-sci, but i found this book a great read about how we went from simple on/off relays to full blown microprocessors. Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold
- felipemnoa 8y agoApparently somebody even built a CPU in minecraft. I've never read it so I cannot really vouch for it. https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Redstone_computers https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Redstone_computers
- leoc 8y agoIn Ben Eater's breadboard-computer videos https://eater.net/8bit https://eater.net/8bit he recommends Digital Computer Electronics by Malvino and Brown. (I haven't read it yet myself.) https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Computer-Electronics-Jerald-Malvino/dp/0074622358 https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Computer-Electronics-Jerald-M...
- pjc50 8y agoThis seems the wrong way up to me, in that a CPU from scratch seems like a much harder thing to achieve and learn from. But I'll agree that the "analogue" build a circuit stuff is very different to the digital stuff. > 555 timer Very much an all-analogue part; possibly easier to understand in its non-integrated version: https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/tinykitlist/652 https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/tinykitlist/6...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- tlrobinson 8y agoOut of curiosity, what is the minimum age you'd expect someone to be able to learn to design a simple CPU?
- felipemnoa 8y agoI don't know. But digital design concepts are not that difficult. I don't think there really is a minimum age. Digital design can be taught as a game of building puzzles. Almost like legos. A young kid should be able to pick the basic concepts, I think. You could treat each of the gates as a lego block and go from there. I think that if you can teach a young kid programming concepts then you should definitely be able to teach them digital design concepts.