18 Jan
2004
18 Jan
'04
6:10 a.m.
Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
Somewhere I have a Radio Shack book, a simple
introduction to computing.
All I can remember about it is that it's landscape format, has a green
cover, and is spiral-bound along the top edge.
Anyway, it contains a schematic for a very simple processor built from
TTL (IIRC). Simple, in that it has 16 locations of 8 bits for the program
memory, each 8 bit word is a 4 bit opcode and a 4 bit data memory address
IIRC.
I ought to find said book and spend an enjoyable afternoon soldering it
up...
I have that book -- it's "Understanding Digital Computers" by Forrest
M.
Mims, III, from 1978. Unfortunately, he describes a "hypothetical"
computer, the PIP-1, in chapter 8. There are diagrams throughout the book,
but none for this computer. He claims to have built a "similar" computer
himself using a dozen low-cost IC's, but this one was based on the book
"Digital Computer Electronics" by Albert Paul Malvino, 1977.
It might be possible to build a PIP-1 from the logical description in
the book. Be sure and post a schematic if you do!
Paul Pennington
Augusta, Georgia