I have been thinking about doing an Instrucables article on my computer project for a while now as the goal of this project being on the internet in the first place is to help people with a similar goal. For those of you who are not familiar with Instructables, it is a comprehensive DIY website written by makers from [...]

For the control matrix of my computer I am using some NVRAM chips to store a 16-bit control word for the various registers and control wires of my CPU. I decided not to use EEPROM as the chips that I bought were all faulty and wouldn’t write (I consulted many people and they agreed). I [...]

I finished the microinstructions for the control matrix of my computer. The block diagram on the upper left is the architecture of the computer itself. The chart below it is a list of OP codes for different macroinstructions. The chart on the right is the list of each individual microinstruction that makes up each macroinstruction.

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After a month I finally received my breadboards from China and can start finishing the breadboard work on my computer. I now have all of the registers constructed as well as the ALU. Everything is connected to a data bus (bottom) that allows for the transfer of data from one register on the computer to [...]

A CPU consists mainly of registers (places to store values) that have to be controlled by, you guessed it, a control matrix. The control matrix outputs a control word, CON, whose bits activate the needed registers on a computer for input and output. For my computer I am using 3 NVRAM chips to store all [...]

Without the textbook Digital Computer Electronics by Albert Malvino I wouldn’t have been able to even start this project. If you are considering building, or even learning about a computer using TTL this book is extremely worth the small amount of money you have to pay for it on Amazon. The TTL Cookbook by [...]