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#beneater#breadboardcomputer#8-bit

8-bit computer update

Ben Eater

1.4M subscribers • 29 videos on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 14 people: 14 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2018 to 2023.
  • Presented by Ben Eater

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

2.7M views10 years ago14 recommendations

HardwareSystems programmingCPUs and computer architectureElectronicsRetro computing

Ben Eater introduces his project to build an 8-bit breadboard computer from scratch, explaining the fundamentals of computer architecture.

An update on my plans to build another 8-bit computer from scratch and make videos of the whole process! Buy a kit and build your own! eater.net/8bit/kits Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/beneater

Why it's here

14 people recommend this

What people say. Highly recommended as the starting point for one of the best educational video series on hardware and computer architecture.

Moments people linked to

broxon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: Favorite teachers on YouTube?”

I find Ben Eater's 8-bit computer from scratch series really wonderful, mainly because of his skills as an educator and the effort he puts into the material: link to this video Check out his latest videos on low-level data transmission techniques as well.

gtsteveon Hacker News • Recommends

On ““Hello world” from scratch on a 6502 (2019) [video]”

I love this guy's videos, I've been watching them for a year or so now. He also made a series 0 where he built the CPU, microcode and all using logic gates and components. As a pure software guy I found it very enlightening. 0 link to this video

dnauticson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: Resources to encourage teen on becoming computer engineer?”

1) the video series on building an computer from scratch is fantastic. It's valuable information no matter where in the tech stack you wind up in (or even if you don't wind up in tech) but also having a deep knowledge of these systems will be of considerable value down the line, because we aren't training kids in hardware as much anymore. link to this video 2) If their interest is a bit higher in the stack (like robotics e.g.), and they don't mind getting in the weeds and asking for help in the community, I would target learning with a raspberry pi system. My preferred target is Nerves; it's a bit more bare-bones, and there aren't drivers for everything, but the community is fantastic (the elixir slack…

rtrunckon Hacker News • Recommends

On “How does USB device discovery work? [video]”

Ben Eater (Author of this Video) is fantastic. Learned so much on electronics and computers through this series link to this video

IanWard1on Hacker News • Recommends

On “Megaprocessor – A micro-processor built large (2016)”

Love this kind of build, so I'm working on a little breadboard one myself link similar to the Ben Eater 8-bit CPU videos link to this video (which are amazing and everyone should watch)

teerayon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: How to begin learning assembler for university course?”

I think I learned more from Ben Eater’s “Building an 8-bit breadboard computer” series 0 than my intro to computer architecture course at university. Highly recommended. 0 link to this video

Bilterson Hacker News • Recommends

On “How long would it take to create a Windows 1.0 capable machine from scratch?”

Don't really know. But if you decide to do so, please make a video series about it. I really enjoyed the series Ben Eater has produced making his 8 bit computer. 1 1 link to this video

djmipson Hacker News • Recommends

On “MegaProcessor (2017) [video]”

If this interests you, you'll probably really like or already have seen Ben Eater's great YouTube series on building an 8 bit computer. (2016 as well) link to this video

bloodorangeon Hacker News • Recommends

On “An Intro to Compilers (2017)”

I have a feeling you might like this: link It's a popular course about building a computer from nand gates and eventually building a Tetris like game on it. All of this is done on a hardware simulator of course. If you are keen on real hardware, you might find this interesting: link to this video It's a series of videos where Ben Eater explains how to build an 8-bit computer using breadboards and basic elements of circuits. I find that his explanations are quite good as well.

klelattion Hacker News • Recommends

On “Z80, the 8-bit Number Cruncher (2011)”

Not 100% sure this is precisely what you're looking for but Ben Eater's YouTube series on building an 8 bit computer is great to help build understanding how a microprocessor works. 1 link to this video

bishopdynamicson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Can You Build a CPU?”

If you're looking to get a much better understanding of /why/ things work, you should check out Ben Eater's videos on YT link to this video

mrspeakeron Hacker News • Recommends

On “Sir Clive Sinclair has died”

I recently had the feeling of those early home-computing days from the Ben Eater's "8-bit computer from scratch" videos/kits. Really fun project: link to this video

santadakotaon Hacker News • Recommends

On “What Happens When a CPU Starts”

Ben Eater's fantastic video series on building a breadboard 6502 based computer and an 8-bit breadboard computer from scratch might be appreciated in this thread. 6502 playlist: link 8-bit build playlist: link to this video He also sells kits if one is interested in playing along.

ruslanon Hacker News • Recommends

On “What Happens When a CPU Starts”

Starting procedure on MOS6502 is not that simple as it is told in the article. It spends some 7 clocks on doing internal initialization and only then fetches address of first jump from reset vector (0xFFFC/0xFFFD). I find Ben's Eater series on building simple 8-bit breadboard computer using 6502 CPU very educating and entertaining. link to this video

u/nhocxinh3006in r/compsci • Mentions

On “how does a clock make the cpu progress from one operation to the next?”

Clocks use crystals to generate pulses of electrical signals. These crystals changes create an infinite cycle. The faster the crystal generates pulses, the faster the clock. Now you have just a bitstream of '...0101010...'. Quite useless. Then you have a memory circuit that remembers its state and can also output its current state. These are called **"Flip Flop/Latch"**. Latches only change state when the clock go from '0' to '1'. **This is quite important**. Because now, if you chain up Latches, you created, memory block. **!! It increments up in binary !!**. Congrat, you created number! So from number, you can store 'instruction' of what to do when the memory state is '0000' or '0001'…

u/chmaruniin r/compsci • Mentions

On “Are there any good resources for learning how computers work? Stuff like registers in cpu, ram etc.?”

Ben Eater has a great playlist of 44 videos where he builds a whole breadboard computer. I love his series.