Building some sort of hardware chip

M

mattireland

Geek Trainee
Hi,

I'm new on these forums so hi! I'm just a student but I'm really passionate about computers and enjoy building 'em, programming (C++, VB.NET), web design, networking and just about everything else to do with them as well.

Please tell me if this is totally unrealistic, but I was looking to try and build some sort of chip from scratch. I know I won't be able to create anything like what's in my computer because I don't have the right conditions in my house or the equipment to build them with but if I was able to build something from scratch it would be really cool. I once saw this guy who assembled stuff like that in his garage. I'm not really bothered about size, in fact the bigger the better. I've got a budget of around £50 (sort of around $100ish).

Upon googling, all I got was results about how to modify a phone e.t.c. and nothing that really helped. If you could recommend a book or a site or something which would get me started - I don't want to be guided all the way through or that would take the fun away - I'd be really, really grateful!

Thanks very, very much,

Matt. Ireland
 
Wow that would be the first time I've heard someone wanting to build their own chip, just curious to know if it is actually possible?? I personally am a bit skeptical and don't take this the wrong way but i don't think you will be able to achieve it, especially with £50, you would probably need a bigger budget. Anyways if you do achieve something or get more info can you please post it on the forums to keep us up to date with your adventure :P .

well at least your going to be busy this summer :)
 
You seem to be unsure of what you want, so there is no chance of you building anything unless you have something in mind.

First you'll need to know what function the chip will do, a microprocessor, signal analysis or transformation (amplifiers etc) or a specific chip to run an algorithm.

If you know exactly what you need, then create a specification and you might be able to build a computer simulation using the likes of VHDL. Assuming this works out, you then have to manufacture the hardware. I don't know how much of the manufacturing can be done with a £50 budget and home tools, I would strongly guess not much. In short, your ambitions are a bit unrealistic.
 
That's what i thought but he could give it a go and see where he gets at, then he would know if £50 is really enough and anyways he could always invest even more money in the project if he was getting somewhere with it and needed more money to take things further. As for making the chip at home using simple tools its not really viable in my opinion, but like i said give it ago and see what happens :)
 
Hay man we havnt heard from you, are you dead or something?? touch wood your not :chk:
 
also, i'm not sure what you wish to achieve, but, maybe this website may help you
Pimp said:
Hay man we havnt heard from you, are you dead or something?? touch wood your not
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it's only been 3 days since your reply, chill man!
 
donkey42 said:
also, i'm not sure what you wish to achieve, but, maybe this website may help youit's only been 3 days since your reply, chill man!
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Sorry for being impatient :(

btw good info from website even though i haven't a clue about most of the info on the link lol
 
Pimp said:
Sorry for being impatient
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don't appologize, nothing to be sorry for, other poeple do other stuff i their lives (unlike you & me)

BTW: jk
Pimp said:
btw good info from website even though i haven't a clue about most of the info on the link
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the link provides more indepth info than i personally would want today, however, one day i might want that info for something to do, dunno

Edit:

@mattireland: can you please elaborate on what you wish to achieve ?
 
Hi guys!

I'm really sorry for not having replied. I was doing some research about exactly what I wanted to do and was trying to learn a bit of VHDL. And then I didn't get an email notification of replies so anyway I'm really sorry and if you think that I am hopeless then you are quite right to think so.

I've decided to raise my budget to a maximum of £200. Would this be any more realistic? @Pimp: Thank you for your continued interest. I'm really glad to have the support.

A microprocessor might be a bit unrealistic in my home. Would signal transformation be too easy? I like the idea of a specific chip but need to do some sort of calculation.

Anyway thanks again very much guys. I'll post later when I've done a bit more research (or edit this one).

Thanks!

Matt. I
 
I think raising the budget to £200 is a very good idea.

also why don't you try and build your self a computer like those guys on the link Donkey gave. If you look on the website, others have made copies of the original Magic computer, you could go down that root. The guy who made magic has his details on the website so perhaps you can contact him.

Oh and btw why don't you build your self a quantum computer and see how that goes.
 
I've just been having a good read of the link Donkey gave.

Thanks very, very much for that Donkey! That seems so much easier than VDHL and the like. And also it looks really fun and as if I'd get a good understanding of how everything worked which is definitely what I'm looking for.

Anyway I quote:

Ken recalled an old series of magazine articles by Forrest Mims on building a very simple CPU from TTL parts
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Is this in one of his books or is there anywhere online I can get hold of it? I've had a look but can't seem to find anywhere by googling.

Thanks again very much!

Matt. I

P.S.
other poeple do other stuff i their lives (unlike you & me)
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and me!
 
Thanks again mate.

I found this......

Circuit Cellar - Digital Library

And the intro is very interesing and all but shame none of the other pages give anything but 404's.

Before I contacted them and said that I was quite willing to pay for the article I just checked on archive.org and fortunately found the atricle full intact:

http://web.archive.org/web/20060813203901/http://www.circuitcellar.com/library/print/0502/index.asp

I'm also going to have a look at this:

Homebuilt CPUs on the Net

and also read up any other background information that I can because I'm finding all this terribly fascinating.

Anyway I'm really sorry if I'm been a noob and boring you to death and taking up too much of your time but I thought you might like to be updated.
 
mattireland said:
Anyway I'm really sorry if I'm been a noob and boring you to death and taking up too much of your time but I thought you might like to be updated.
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[ot]donkey slaps the back of mattirelands legs, hoping he'll like it & also hopes mattireland will slap the back of donkeys legs too, cos donkey like, LOL, & donkey invites Pimp to join us :wink: :wink:[/ot]BTW: glad you updated us, may try a project like that one day
 
donkey42 said:
[ot]donkey slaps the back of mattirelands legs, hoping he'll like it & also hopes mattireland will slap the back of donkeys legs too, cos donkey like, LOL, & donkey invites Pimp to join us :wink: :wink:[/ot]BTW: glad you updated us, may try a project like that one day
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LOL

I will be doing the slapping B1tch :)

(btw b1tch is not a swear word or is it????)

And why are you too saying we are sad?? we are just indulging in one of life's great pleasures, the Computer Processing Unit :)

PS OK we are sad :doh:
 
Pimp said:
LOL

I will be doing the slapping B1tch
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thats what you may think now, but we'll see

BTW: who's holding the bullwhip at this particular moment ?
Pimp said:
[ot](btw b1tch is not a swear word or is it????)
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i think you mean "BE - ATCH"[/ot]
Pimp said:
And why are you too saying we are sad?? we are just indulging in one of life's great pleasures, the Computer Processing Unit
PS OK we are sad
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yep, sad
 
mattireland said:
Please could I reiterate the sad bit but I don't want to get tooo OT.
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yeah, we're sad sad people with sad sad (uninteresting) lives, but, don't worry you can never be too OTT for me as i've found i'm ... Erm ... Erm ... Unique with my so called sense of humour, & HWF is great :loveme: because i can get away with lots of sh1t that would have gained me an instant ban on most other forums, thankies everyone :beer:, :beer: Sniper
 
While you won't be able to build yourself anything like a Core 2 Duo immediately, working with some electronic basics and going from there would allow you to get the knowledge to pursue that direction. Especially if you're able to grasp the different gates and how they function, you'll be able to better direct the output. Starting out with a simple circuit and building on that is the essence of a CPU. It's a ton of circuits in one package.
 
If you sign up here: Microchip Technology Inc. is a Leading Provider of Microcontroller and Analog Semiconductors, providing low-risk product development, lower total system cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications worldwide.

You can get 4 free sample chips (i just grabbed a few for making YAOSIM's)

Just an FYI in a hope to saving you some money :D

Took about a month for my samples to arrive however but still for free you can't grumble.

btw, don't sign up with a free email address, gotta be looking official an all that :)
 
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