9 Nov
1997
9 Nov
'97
10:15 a.m.
At 01:54 AM 97/11/09 -0500, you wrote:
> > Ehehe... We should build a computer from
discrete components, just to
> > operate one. And connect it to the Internet. Of course, we'd never
> > finish in out lifetimes, and it would fill a room, but it would be awful
> > cool!
I still have a copy of Popular Electronics from September 1972, where the
cover mentions a device built from a 4 bit ALU (TTL series, I forget the
exact number). "Build a digital logic computer" is the title of the
article, and it's described as a "logic trainer" within.
It had no RAM, clock, or anything, it was simply an ALU wired to 2 banks of
4 switches, and a rotary switch configured to select one of the 8 or 16
operations supported by the ALU. If I'd built it I'm sure I would've tired
of 4 bit boolean operations pretty quickly.
Kevin
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Kevin McQuiggin VE7ZD
mcquiggi(a)sfu.ca