Modern 8bit Computer as an Art

[jfoutz]

I got my Ben Eater kit a few weeks ago, and completed the clock with my partner. It's a fun project, sort of like a super jigsaw puzzle.

It is also a nice refresher for my dim memories of digital electronics. I had put together a Minecraft computer back when red stone was added. But that's been quite a while ago now. It's also kinda neat to have a physical artifact.

We'll probably expand the ram and perhaps add a few instructions, but I have the same goal. Tidy wiring, lots of leds, then frame it and hang it on the wall.

There are schematics, and they're pretty robust for the analog components, the digital parts are a bit more sparse, just chip and pin labels. more than enough if you know what you're doing. The videos are a bit like lecture. My partner gets a little bored, but they're pretty short and plenty of detail for the "lab". Which is kinda the whole point.

If you've been thinking about firing up factorio, consider this. Watch a few of the videos. It's obviously more expensive than a jigsaw puzzle, you could also source the parts yourself if that's part of what you find fun. Jameco shipped my kit in about 4 days. I think it has been worth it.

[johndoe0815]

David May and his students had a similar idea - the result is the "Big Hex Machine", a 16-bit machine built from discrete logic gates which is on display at the University of Bristol's Merchant Venturers building:

https://bighexmachine.github.io

https://www.i-programmer.info/news/82-heritage/10283-big-hex...