Gigatron Hackers

If you want to eliminate the diodes, options include high-speed transistors if you can find them, or PAL/GAL chips. But if you want just a little faster, use Toshiba SMD diodes. You can get them individually and in multi-diode packages. One alternative could be to use an ALU chip. I don't mean the '...

I looked at the schematics and have some questions. * Could the upper multiplexers driving the memory be replaced by a buffer? I notice that the multiplexers are not wired as I'd expect. The 2nd set of inputs are all tied high. I'd think they'd be tied low to mute the Y register and allow Page 0 ins...

I'd rather use the Propeller 2 as an emulator. It is an 8-core, 32-bit MCU. But if I combine it with a Gigasimilar machine, it would be the complete I/O controller. The approach I'd use is mostly snooping through a fixed window. So maybe have up to 3 bytes as an indirection for the indirection table...

On multiplication and division, my Gigasimilar idea was to have that in an external ROM. But there are other ways to do that in a homebrew design. In the 74xx family, there used to be "Wallace Tree Adders." I don't remember if Radio Shack used to sell them, but I had seen them before somew...

Thx. Interesting. But one would still need a licensed eagle version, because of the board size. I would not change the board dimensions and would keep exactly the same position of connectors and Rom/Ram socket. Just change 74 DIL to SMD parts, as well as all Rs and Cs and diodes. Only because then ...

Hey! I will try to answer some of the questions. The assembly part is done on a PC and is burned into a ROM. The ROM in this case, while it is used for storage for a few user applications, is not what is exposed to the user. The machine is a Harvard-based machine as opposed to the more common Von Ne...

I had to try to make a DIY kit from budgetronics. Lack of skills probably didn't get it all working so ended up using it as spare. I ordered second one "Fully Assembled Gigatron TTL" from ebay and got it at reasonable price. When it arrived it was missing U39 serial input IC and another m...

Something else to consider would be if one wants to move beyond the Gigatron and still have compatibility with the Gigatron are alternatives to the GT1 format with new extensions. For instance, if one wants to use word RAM and move to a true 16-bit machine, one could use mostly the same format as th...

I think I know mods to do to a near-stock Gigatron. The more I've thought about it, what would happen if we could get rid of the control unit and also combine that with the carry-skip adder, and all the performance mods that have already been done? The control unit outputs 19 signals. Now, what if y...

I wish this project can continue. It sounds like an awesome ROM.