This is incredible! I would not take it on but I’ll follow his updates. There is not a lot of detail but he references a program counter register, adding a load immediate instruction and other interesting comments. This means that it really does load and execute instructions like all computers do.
Update: I had only seen the video when I made the above comments. Clicking the link shows that all info and kits are available. (Maybe I should have paid attention to @denzuko title.) If you build a kit, a lot of us will be tracking your progress. Would anyone be interested in doing a class on each of the modules? Students would learn a lot about digital logic design.
@Team_Electronics
Interesting… but you are looking at $300+ for a breadboard computer. If this challenge is too great there is another less expensive option… it is an Altair 8800 Emulator Kit. If you are over forty you will know what this is. The kit is basically a front panel with 36 toggle switches (for entering machine language code), and 36 LEDs displaying the content of various registers including address and data. The switches and LEDs are mounted on a single PCB. The front panel is an acrylic panel with switch/LED designators. It is all driven by an Arduino Due (included in the kit). The kit is $179 unassembled, or $250 assembled. If you long for a basic computer and desire to learn/use machine language programming, this is for you.
@miker First, thank you very much for representing DMS at Tanner Electronics yesterday afternoon!
Please do not tempt me too much with new projects. I’m not sure if my will power is improving or I just do not have room for another incomplete project in my room.
I followed the 8800 but did not get involved. On the other hand I used a similar front panel to enter a bootstrap into a Raytheon 703 hundreds of times during my time at Geotech Teledyne.
You’re welcome! Tell me again what module/board you had that was a WiFi sniffer???
The title on my Ebay purchase record was
Wifi Module ESP8266 18650 Batteries NODEMCU 0.96"OLED
Ebay does not still have a link to the original vendor but if you search for that description there are a bunch offered. Following is the program that I used. The first few lines look like I had tested it as two different Tools/Boards options. Let me know if you have problems.
// https://www.tindie.com/products/lspoplove/d-duino-esp8266-and-nodemcu-and-096-oled-display-/
// click examples
// Works on ESP8266/OLED/18650 board as board Wemos D1 Mini and NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP-12E Module) - bp
/*
- This sketch demonstrates how to scan WiFi networks.
- The API is almost the same as with the WiFi Shield library,
- the most obvious difference being the different file you need to include:
*/
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include “SSD1306.h”
//SSD1306 display(0x3c, D1, D2);
SSD1306 display(0x3c, 5, 4);
//SSD1306 display(0x7a, 5, 4); // Gorman
//SSD1306 display(0x78, D1, D2); // Gorman
void setup() {
Serial.begin(115200);
display.init();
display.flipScreenVertically();
display.setFont(ArialMT_Plain_10);
// Set WiFi to station mode and disconnect from an AP if it was previously connected
WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);
WiFi.disconnect();
delay(100);
}
void loop() {
display.clear();
Serial.println(“scan start”);
// WiFi.scanNetworks will return the number of networks found
int n = WiFi.scanNetworks();
Serial.println(“scan done”);
if (n == 0)
{
Serial.println(“no networks found”);
display.drawString(0, 0,“no networks found”);
}
else
{
Serial.print(n);
Serial.println(" networks found");
display.drawString(0, 0,String(n));
display.drawString(10, 0,“networks found”);
int k =0;
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
{
// Print SSID and RSSI for each network found
display.drawString(0,10+k,String(WiFi.SSID(i)));
display.drawString(90,10+k,String(WiFi.RSSI(i)));
display.drawString(110,10+k,“db”);
k=k+10;
delay(10);
}
display.display();
}
// Wait a bit before scanning again
delay(5000);
}
I’m actually contemplating getting a few of these kits for the committee to have and would love it if anyone would hold a few classes on these modules.
My personal goal is to learn these enough to translate it into an fpga style “system on chip” style system
but a few side projects include creating a few userport devices for VGA output.
His DIY SVGA card is really cool too and got me thinking that maybe one could use EEPROMS to shrink down the chip footprint needed and found out today that someone else did that too: