
Homebrew CPU (2004) - akandiah
http://www.homebrewcpu.com/
======
MCRed
I love stuff like this. One thing I've wanted for awhile, but not been able to
find is off the shelf ASIC making. For instance, you could take a design like
this, or something built for FPGAs, and then turn that into a contract
manufacturer who would produce screens and then custom ASICs in low volume.

You can do this with PCBs and just about every other part of the hardware
stack, but not ASICs.

Part of the reason, of course, is that laying out an ASIC is a time consuming
and expensive proposition-- but I wonder if there isn't a huge opportunity to
write software to take a FPGA configuration and algorithmically turn it into
the screens to do lithography, which could then be sent to a fab. Of course
you'd have to require specific processes and pre-defined submodules that
represent the various gates.

Back when there was no ASICs for the scrypt hash I wanted to make one.

Anyway, I think there might be a huge opportunity there for someone with the
skills.

~~~
teraflop
MOSIS ([https://www.mosis.com/](https://www.mosis.com/)) will do runs of
20-100 ASICs. I've never used them but I just requested a couple of quotes,
and it looks like their prices range from a few thousand dollars to a few tens
of thousands, depending on process and size.

~~~
chrisBob
In the MEMS world we have something similar to this where you don't get a full
wafer you just pay for copies of the device you design to be put on the next
run. In this case it makes even more sense because the processes are much more
standardized for IC work.

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chubot
If you like this, check out
[http://www.bigmessowires.com/bmow1/](http://www.bigmessowires.com/bmow1/) by
my former boss. Very nice pictures and docs.

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Aardwolf
Do you think [http://www.magic-1.org/](http://www.magic-1.org/) is down
because the CPU is overloaded from hacker news reader requests, or because
it's no longer running? (sob). At least whois of the domain is still the
maker.

~~~
saganus
My exact same thoughts. I wonder how much traffic can a custom CPU like that
can handle before crashing.

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godojo
A webring! (but seriously, it actually has a ton of other similar projects)

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jamespitts
This is important work, essentially proving that our world isn't just running
on magic!

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quux
I love this video of him getting it working for the first time. Must have felt
so good :)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEYaCAQLy4s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEYaCAQLy4s)

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adunk
The web site hosted by a web server running on the Homebrew CPU seems to be
offline. Here is a cached version:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20051103083029/http://magic-1.or...](https://web.archive.org/web/20051103083029/http://magic-1.org/)

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segmondy
Pretty cool, I think the most amazing thing I read was that he's married with
kids while building this. A little bit there, a little bit here and it all
really does add up. Pretty neat.

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TheLoneWolfling
One of the things that has long been on my bucket list is to do something
along these lines.

Unfortunately, wire wrapping equipment is too expensive for me to justify to
myself currently.

~~~
ChuckMcM

       > Unfortunately, wire wrapping equipment is too 
       > expensive for me to justify to myself currently.
    

$30.50 from Mouser [1] :-) I've got a couple of these and the OK power wrap
which takes impossible to find NiCd batteries. The point I'm trying to make is
that wire wrapping, as a prototyping scheme, is _inexpensive_ , although it is
very time consuming. I used to build Z80 systems with wirewrap all the time,
and it is both quieter (from an electronic noise perspective) and more durable
than solderless breadboards.

Of course with places like OSHPark you can make PCBs pretty cheaply so that is
a consideration as well.

[1] [http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/OK-
Industries/WSU-30M/?q...](http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/OK-
Industries/WSU-30M/?qs=ZAOMJWF7Iq%2FJ6X%252by%2Fzsyzg%3D%3D&kpid=2013947&gclid=COrEwafkrMECFUKCMgodeVEALw)

~~~
monstermonster
Ugh that brings back bad memories of my first ever proper job which was
wirewrapping prototypes for a couple of design engineers. Was ok for the first
couple of hours, then you realised why they didn't do it themselves.

I built a simple Z80 system in 1997 and refused to do that again so I used
strip board. Worked fine. Wouldn't use it for analogue/RF though.

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webjprgm
Awesome! (I've long had a secret wish to get stranded on a deserted alien
planet and have to build my own computer.)

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roghummal
Connected to magic-1.org.

Escape character is '^]'.

I am sorry, but there is no free PTY left!

Connection closed by foreign host.

Guys, make room! I wanna play! :D

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dang
We put 2002 on this because that's what
[https://web.archive.org/web/20020601000000*/http://www.homeb...](https://web.archive.org/web/20020601000000*/http://www.homebrewcpu.com/)
suggests, but if there's a more accurate date we can change it.

~~~
vonmoltke
_In the summer of 1980 I celebrated my freshly minted B.S. in Journalism by
blowing most of the cash I collected in graduation gifts on a TRS-80 Model 1
computer.

...

More than 20 years later, I found myself with an urge to touch that magic
again by building my own computer from scratch._

From the text, it sounds like 2002 is accurate.

~~~
dang
Nice scholarly catch!

