So i've been urging to really expand into the embedded field, I have a CS degree but sadly….I only had 2 EE Classes.
I have the books:
Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 4th Edition and
Computer Organization and Design, Fourth Edition: The Hardware/Software Interface
However My EE classes were…..lets say lacking, not to mention I never had time to attend the optional labs (because of other classes). But I REALLY really want to learn the low level in CPU design. Im talking low level TTL design, however I don't really know any of it from College, and honestly….I see alot of "Cool" homebrew CPU's people have built, but nothing on HOW it's done. Keep in mind my Electronics knowledge is limited.
So how would I go about doing this, would those 2 books above help? Any other book suggestions? Im talking about something really basic, like a 4 bit or something. I can add to it as time goes, but even something super basic would be great.
Thanks
Best Answer
What you're thinking of doing could be accomplished with 74xx series medium scale integration (MSI) chips, such as were available in the late 1970's, and more easily with some of the more recent 74xx's that were added in the early 1980's. If you can find a databook for this series, especially a later, mid-1980's one, that has pin-outs and logic diagrams, it will be invaluable for such an endeavor.
If you can look at the specs for the 74LS374 and understand how it might serve as an 8-bit register, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to see how you could connect these on buses so as to be able to move data around between them. Investigate the 74LS181 and you can basically get all the math capabilities of the venerable 8-bit 6502 CPU in one swoop. The trickiest part is the control circuitry to execute instructions by sequentially operating all the registers, buffers, and ALU in the right order. If you only took a couple of EE classes, this will probably be your major stumbling block.
To get oriented with this level of design, you might try something like "Microprogramming and Computer Architecture" by Bruce Segee and John Field. Used copies can be had for cheap at a certain on-line book seller.