[HN Gopher] MOnSter 6502
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       MOnSter 6502
        
       Author : replyifuagree
       Score  : 18 points
       Date   : 2021-03-18 21:02 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (monster6502.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (monster6502.com)
        
       | musicale wrote:
       | > Is there going to be a soldering kit version of this?
       | 
       | > No. (But on the other hand, "Anything is a soldering kit if
       | you're brave enough!")
       | 
       | No kidding - hand-soldering a few surface-mount components is
       | hard enough, let alone 10,000 of them! Though I suppose you'd get
       | very good at it by the time you were done. Maybe 20 components
       | per day for 500 days or something.
        
       | bogomipz wrote:
       | I was curious about this passage from the FAQ:
       | 
       | >"Is it truly a "discrete 6502?" Not in the strictest sense.
       | However, it really depends upon how picky you would like to be.
       | The MOnSter 6502 uses the original dynamic NMOS logic design,
       | implemented at the individual transistor level.
       | 
       | Dynamic NMOS requires a large number of "transmission gate"
       | transistors that are used to switch currents. For various
       | technical reasons, only a 4-terminal MOSFET can make an effective
       | NMOS transmission gate. Unfortunately, individually packaged
       | 4-terminal MOSFETs are no longer commercially available. However,
       | they do still make arrays of 2 or 4 MOSFETs on a single chip with
       | a separate substrate pin. We used the 4-pack version -- These are
       | the quad transistor array chips that we mentioned earlier.
       | 
       | Because these transistors do share a pin, there are (strictly
       | speaking) integrated circuits in the MOnSter 6502. However, one
       | might credibly argue that it is a discrete transistor design
       | since there are not (for example) any logic gate chips in the
       | circuit."
       | 
       | Is a shared pin really the big distinction? On a discreet circuit
       | surely multiple components still share the metal traces on a PCB
       | no? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the meaning of discreet CPU?
        
       | musicale wrote:
       | Fantastic project and highly educational.
       | 
       | Also one of my favorite projects from recent Maker Faires.
       | 
       | Some other CPU projects I really liked were the wire-wrapped and
       | breadboard TTL CPU implementations.
       | 
       | As an aside, I like the simplicity of NMOS design even if it
       | dissipates static power. Too bad that they don't seem to make
       | discrete NMOS pass gates (though I suppose you could, ah, use
       | CMOS....)
       | 
       | And another: it's always 6502 day on HN apparently; averaging
       | about 1 per day for the past week at least. Probably not a
       | coincidence, since the 6502 is easy to understand from silicon to
       | circuits to software and it was also wildly successful
       | commercially in real systems from the likes of Apple, Atari,
       | Commodore, and Nintendo.
        
       | vincent-manis wrote:
       | Thinking about doing this with a modern CPU reminds me of the
       | ancient claims that a computer powerful enough to do some task
       | would require Niagara Falls as a cooling unit.
       | 
       | Bravo to this project!
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-03-18 23:00 UTC)