my 01 bit

After soldering Pedro Oliveira’s 1 Bit Computer together, where computer’s three most basic elements are present, but working independently, I was feeling the need to combine them.

The Arduino class gave me the tools to merge all three elements in an environment I feel more comfortable than electronics: code. You can see the result here: https://github.com/gonzam88/SFPC-One-Bit-Computer

Potentiometer on the right controls the clock speed.. in a fake way. CPU clocks are made of a mineral that kind of shakes and returns impulses. On every tick a series of procedures and stored in RAM are done or calculated. Here’s Syd’s comic depicting Ed’s & Taeyoon’s explanation.

In my program, the clock speed is just a delay imposed on Arduino’s natural clock speed. The program is halted so less operations are done per second. This is totally impractical, but slowing down is the only way understand what’s really going on.

Then, there’s two buttons, which are inputs for two 1 bit numbers. Each number can only be 0 or 1. Leds display the addition of both inputs. Instead of going through actual NAND gates, the calculation is done via code logic in Arduino (which finally runs on real transistor logic).

The other two buttons act for RAM storage and erasing. When pressing the rightmost button the addition result is saved. When neither of inputs are activated, the RAM stored value is displayed. I’m kind of satisfied with the result but I also know that is just inputs and outputs hooked to an Arduino, and everything is done via code. I would like in the future to build a less programmed approach, even though I would end up in a similar result.

What else besides simple math can a small computer make? I attended Tristan Perich’s 1 bit Symphony at Bitforms, and, though I can’t say I enjoyed every moment of it, it’s extremely interesting the rich vocabulary he was able to articulate with as little as two words. I think my road towards the final showcase -and to any future construction- is similar, to minimize my ideas into the smallest form factor, and work towards compelling arguments.