Design Goals v0.3 and Starting the Clock
Starting the Clock Build
Well, I decided that there’s no time like the present to start building the computer. It can’t be theory forever! Before building it, I did a bit of research, and found this on the subreddit. I’ve decided that it can’t hurt to implement this, it only costs me a couple more random components. I also want another switch to go towards a 1MHz crystal oscilliator(clocked down) using a 74hc161 or two. Of course, this’ll make the clock module huge, but that’s fine. It’ll have the features that I want, which is what matters I suppose.
Actually, on second thought, a 1MHz crystal, feeding to a 74HC4060 and then a 74HC161. U
Register chip design.
I spent quite some time figuring out how I want to do this, and making it look SOMEWHAT neat. That’s hard, sadly.
It seemed like the 74hc374 would have been a perfect solution, but upon looking into it, it doesn’t have a reset line, which honestly is mandatory. Otherwise I’d have to write a custom RESET program, which kinda defeats the fun in a reset button. Plus that’d be more complex and take time, compared to a simple button press.
From this reddit post, I came across a 377 chip and a 574 chip.
I think the final design will be a 74hc245 + a 74hc574. This other guy has a good article on it.