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TheMegaprocessorLaughsatYourPunyIntegratedCircuitsIEEESpectrum

The Megaprocessor Laughs at Your Puny Integrated Circuits

The wondrous insanity of a 42,300-transistor CPU the size of a room
By Stephen Cass (/author/cass-stephen)
Posted 23 Sep 2016 | 19:00 GMT

InJamesNewmanslivingroomisamonumenttoourkindofcrazy.Seven2metertallpanelsarecoveredwithcircuitboardsfestoonedwithblinking
lights.ItisacompleteworkingCPU,plus256bytesofRAMandaninput/outputinterface,allbuiltoutof42,300handsoldereddiscretetransistors.
IttookNewmansomefouryearsandroughly40,000sterling(aboutUS$52,500)tobuildanddesignthesocalledMegaprocessor
(http://www.megaprocessor.com/)inhishomeinCambridge,England.Insomeabsinthetingedsense,theprojectisthelogicalendpointofhissoftware
writingcareer.Newmanexplainsthat,overtheyears,hefoundhimselfdoingincreasinglylowlevelprogramming,andsobecamemoreandmoreinterestedin
theunderlyinghardware.HesayshebeganworkingontheMegaprocessorbecausehewantedtobuildaprocessortoseehowarealoneworked.
Theendresultisasurprisinglyfullfeaturedmachine.Its16bit,with8bitopcodes,andbasicpipelining
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instruction_pipelining),wherethenextinstructionisfetchedasthefirstisexecuted.All256possibleinstructions
(http://www.megaprocessor.com/instruction_set.pdf)areimplemented,includingonesforrelativelyadvancedmathfunctions.Therearefourgeneralpurpose
registersinadditiontoaprogramcounter,stackpointer,andstatusregister.Icouldhavebuiltaminimalprocessor,butIdontknowwhatthatwouldhave
showed,saysNewman.Headmitsthoughthathedidgetcarriedawayalittlebit.Iquitelikedinvestigatinghowtodomultiply,divide,andsquareroot.
Subsectionsoftheprocessorsuchasbinaryaddersarebuiltfromcustommadeprintedcircuitboards.Eachlogicgateindicatesthestateofitsinputsand
outputswithredLEDs,andeverymemorycellsimilarlyusesanLEDtoindicateitscontents(drivingtheLEDsisactuallyresponsibleformostofthe
approximately500wattstheMegaprocessorconsumes).Theboardsarewiredtogetheronframes,witheachframemakingupamajorsystem,suchasthe
arithmeticlogicunitortheinstructiondecoder.TheCPUclockcanbehaltedatanypointorvariedbetweenabout1hertzand8kilohertz(fastenoughtoplay
Tetris),andanoptional32kilobytesofexternalmemory(implementedusingboringoldintegratedcircuits)isaccessibleviatheinput/outputinterface.
Inpart,therelativecomplexityoftheprocessorwasatradeoffintendedtoreducetheamountofeffortrequiredfortheconstructionoftheinternalmemory.You
donthavethewholepictureunlessyoushowwhatisgoingoninthememory,saysNewman,butIquicklyrealizedthatbuildingthememorywasgoingtobe
aspainfulasbuildingtheprocessor.Thatkindofpushedtowardincreasingthecapabilityoftheprocessor,soIdidntneedasmuchprogramdata.(The
memoryaccountsfor64percentoftheMegaprocessorstransistorcount.)

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TheMegaprocessorLaughsatYourPunyIntegratedCircuitsIEEESpectrum

Photo:JamesNewman

ThebiggestsetbackinbuildingtheMegaprocessorcamerightattheendoftheassembly.Newmanorderedalastbatchofabout4,000transistors.Iorderedthe
rightones,andthepackinglistsaidtheyweretheonesIwanted,andtheylookedliketheonesIwanted.SoIusedthemall.ButwhenNewmanbegantesting
thecompletedboards,nothingworked.IttookawhilebeforeIrealizedthefullhorrorofwhathadhappened,hesays:Thefinalbatchhadbeenthewrongkind
oftransistor.Iwastedaboutamonthoftedioussoldering.Itwasbadenoughhavingtodothatagain,butitwasworsebecauseIfeltIdfinishedthesoldering,
saysNewman.Yes,wecanlaughnow,butitwasabadday.
NewmaniscurrentlyindiscussionsaboutfindingapermanenthomefortheMegaprocessor,wherethegeneralpublicwillbeabletoviewitwithoutrequiringan
invitationtohishouse.Inthemeantime,ifyouwanttotryyourhandatprogrammingthismasterpieceoftransistorizedglory,youcandownloadasimulator

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TheMegaprocessorLaughsatYourPunyIntegratedCircuitsIEEESpectrum

(/image/MjgxMDkzMQ.jpeg)
Photo:JamesNewman

FullFrame: TheMegaprocessorisbuiltonsevenframes.

(http://www.megaprocessor.com/programming.html)fortheWindowsoperatingsystemfromhttp://www.megaprocessor.com
(http://www.megaprocessor.com).
ThisarticleappearsintheOctober2016printissueasTheMegaprocessor.

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TheMegaprocessorLaughsatYourPunyIntegratedCircuitsIEEESpectrum

Photos:JamesNewman

Eachframeholdsamajorsubsystem[top]suchasthe
arithmeticlogicunitortheinstructiondecoder.Subsystemsare
builtfromcustomprintedcircuitboardswiredtogether.
TransistorsandLEDsaresolderedintoeachboardsothatthe
inputsandoutputsofeachlogicgateareindicated[bottom].

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