In this project each team of two students build a simple programmable digital computer.
This project will help you to understand the inner workings of a computer in hardware level.
The project kit contains necessary components to build a computer. There is a manual, too.
The whole project consists of seven steps.
1. Timing Signal Generation
2. Program Counter and Arithmetic Unit
3. MAR, Data Register A and Data Register B
4. Random Access Memory and Instruction Decoder
5. Control Signal Generator
6. Interrupt Processing
7. Operating a Combinatorial Circuit ALU
You are required to implement up to step 5; steps 6 and 7 are optional.
Grant Nelson, your TA will supervise the progress of the project throughout the semester.
Here is the Lab schedule for the project.
Sep 16: Grant will distribute a kit to each team . Each team will build a circuit that generates
timing signal (Step 1).
Sep 23: Add the program counter and arithmetic unit on the board (Step 2).
The next three labs, Sep 30, Oct 7, and Oct 14, are open labs - you work on your own pace.
The due date of the project is October 21, but you can have extra two weeks to complete
the project without late penalty. When you finish the project, demonstrate the running of your
computer to Grant. As long as you finish the project in time, and your computer works correctly,
you will get the full credit. Good luck.
NOTE.
Check Grant’s website for the project:
www.cs.montana.edu/~grantn/main.php