Friday, June 8, 2012

I'm back!

I haven't posted for a while, but I actually have gotten a lot of the computer done.  However, new changes in the project will force me to start over on some of the pieces:

  1. I had been wiring the Hack Minimax by grouping each register together.  However, this will be a nightmare to wire, so I am deciding to rather create miniature 4-bit "slices" of  the computer.  Not only will this simplify the wiring, it will grant a degree of extensibility to the computer.  I can run programs with only 8 bits done, and if I ever need to, I can always extend the computer to 24 bits or beyond.
  2. I had been using the 74181 as my ALU, but the 181 doesn't support some of the operations the Hack Minimax needs.  Most importantly, it only allows some operations on some registers.  I will rather be constructing the ALU out of lower-level gates.
I will post some pictures up soon, but I will not post them for the next 2 weeks while I am at summer camp.