The 8-bit Computer That’s Built by Hand

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
Messages
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So some geek builds himself a computer….so what? you say. This is somewhat different than your standard build in that he really did build it himself, old school style, with individual chips, wires and solder. Jack Eisenmann is the geek in question who took about a year to pull it all together and write the software to run his creation. Did I mention Jack just graduated high school? :cool:
 
man, I feel old; building that stuff as a 11 year old back in the early 80's
 
I've been working on something similar, except for I don't want to use a single IC. I want to do it all with discrete components: diodes, resistors, capacitors, switches, etc...
 
Ur_Mom said:
I've been working on something similar, except for I don't want to use a single IC. I want to do it all with discrete components: diodes, resistors, capacitors, switches, etc...
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And you'll end up with something the size on Eniac....!!! :)
 
Coolest thing about that whole computer is the fact the case is one of those clear plastic storage bins you can get at any of the big box stores :D
 
Now that is awesome. He should make some kind of steampunk case to house all of those boards.
 
Ur_Mom said:
I've been working on something similar, except for I don't want to use a single IC. I want to do it all with discrete components: diodes, resistors, capacitors, switches, etc...
Click to expand...
Copycat!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xISG4nGTQYE&feature=player_embedded"]Making your own 4 bit computer from transistors[/ame]
 
Next step:

Build time machine to travel back to 1975, kill Steve Jobs and team up with Steve Wozniak to dominate the computer industry.
 
Spare-Flair said:
Next step:

Build time machine to travel back to 1975, kill Steve Jobs and team up with Steve Wozniak to dominate the computer industry.
Click to expand...

I don't think so. If it wasn't for Apple, Microsoft wouldn't have a reason to compete into the GUI OS-sphere. Steve Jobs may be a pain in the ass, but he gives Gate and Allen (at the time) a reason to push hard for consumer-friendly standards.
 
Nice job on his computer. Wonder if he gets into college? :) I bet that looks good on the admission forms.
 
That thing looks more responsive than my old trs-80's that i spent much of my youth working on. Amazing stuff!
 
Wonder how much space it would take to build a Core i7 980 with discrete transistors :p
 
Azhar said:
I don't think so. If it wasn't for Apple, Microsoft wouldn't have a reason to compete into the GUI OS-sphere. Steve Jobs may be a pain in the ass, but he gives Gate and Allen (at the time) a reason to push hard for consumer-friendly standards.
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Microsoft's domination has nothing to do with standards being created. It was due to IBM setting the PC standard and happening to contract out the operating system to Microsoft.

The graphical UI was in development from various sources besides Apple, most notably Jobs copied the damn idea from Xerox at Palo Altp in the first place didn't he?
 
duncansil said:
Meh, I did that in kindergarten :rolleyes:
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Reminds me of an episode from Look Who's Talking.

Sees computer in a corner of the school for gifted

Mom: "Ooh, so they're learning how to use a computer?"

Principal: "No, they're building it"
 
Hornet said:
Wonder how much space it would take to build a Core i7 980 with discrete transistors :p
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If you assume that 1 transistor takes up 1 square centimeter then the entire thing would take up about 0.117 square kilometers (1.17B transistors) aka the size of about 26.25 american football fields (no end zones or 22.86 with end zones).
 
I look at this and weep a little knowing that this poor kid was never enlightened about CPLD,FPGA, and uC systems as those are the very reason we don't have to go through that spaghetti wire hell anymore. I joke of course he probably did it for the learning experience but after doing smaller projects like this with basic chips I was more than happy to make the jump to more modern solutions.
 
I wanted to throw up after looking at the bread board and wiring, Some one needs to teach him cable management skills :D

On a side note, His GPU may be artifacting but it gets like 36 fps in pong. :D Could always try to bake it...
 
Spare-Flair said:
The graphical UI was in development from various sources besides Apple, most notably Jobs copied the damn idea from Xerox at Palo Altp in the first place didn't he?
Click to expand...
Yes, but Apple did give Xerox $1 million in pre-IPO stock options that shot up 17x. It was more of a deal (gotta love the pre-software patent world) than outright copying.

One funny note is that when Apple sued and lost over the claim that MS Windows "look and feel" copied Mac OS, is what the judge stated: that the Windows interface was based on ideas that pre-dated Mac OS. Major pwnage.
 
pxc said:
Yes, but Apple did give Xerox $1 million in pre-IPO stock options that shot up 17x. It was more of a deal (gotta love the pre-software patent world) than outright copying.

One funny note is that when Apple sued and lost over the claim that MS Windows "look and feel" copied Mac OS, is what the judge stated: that the Windows interface was based on ideas that pre-dated Mac OS. Major pwnage.
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Didn't they say the same thing to samsung?
 
Bravo!
he may be using antiquated technology to build this, but he built it, and that's far more impressive than anything I can pull off.
I wish I had that guy's skill and determination at 17, I'd be a hell of a log more successful now if I did.
I wish him good luck in the tech engineering industry. After a few years in college who know's what this guy will come up with.
 
Really not that hard to do. Using TTL, you completely miss out on the complications of building your own logic from transistors. I did the same thing in my second year of ECE, with barely any engineering-specific classes under my belt.

If you're not doing it from the analog ground-up, you're not really impressive. TTL Digital is many thousands of times easier than analog: they replace non-linear equations with simple logic and fanout rules.
 
Spare-Flair said:
Next step:

Build time machine to travel back to 1975, kill Steve Jobs and team up with Steve Wozniak to dominate the computer industry.
Click to expand...

Well it's good to see that we have some clever people in our time too. Most kids these days think their l33t h4x0rs just because they managed to root their phone using a 1-click program... :rolleyes:

It will be nice to have them around in 2012 when the world ends, so they can reinvent computers for us. I guess they'll be similar to the ones in Fallout 3 at first but eventually he'll be building i7's and Caymans for us :)
 
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