Vacuum Tube Computer P.22 - Processor Finished! 

Thank you so much!

I know. it was almost like a fyi if you really need it.. I have been blown away! I even had to start from the beginning and can't stop watching!

Same! Amazing channel

Likewise, this is fine work

Thank you so much! Once we get some memory and program control I think it'll get really exciting to watch it churn out the Fibonacci sequence or something!

@@UsagiElectric Mine some BTC with it 😂

Thank you so much! I'm super happy with how the remote control turned out! Unfortunately, as the computer grows I'll have to build new remote controls, and I can't find any more of those switches. They're by far my favorite toggle switches, I kind of want about 100 of them for various projects.

knitting cores and tube computing! perfect for winter hobbying.

@@thedogwooddandy no, please, buy a second hand memory!

Thanks for checking the videos out! I'm gonna go into this in a lot more detail in the memory videos, but unfortunately, I'm most likely just going to brute force some memory with vacuum tubes. There's a ton of reasons I'm doing it this particular way, but the big one is addressing. Since I'm only working with a 1-bit data bus, that means I need to address a single bit at a time. In comparison to addressing and read/write control for each bit, the physical size of the bit, even if brute force built from tubes, is relatively small. Core memory is fantastic for larger memory sizes, where the amount of control circuitry is balanced by the amount of memory you have, but for the limited physical space I have here, I just can't make it work. Now, having said that, I have two more homebrew computers I really want to build. I want to make an 8-bit machine using core memory from discrete transistors, and I want to build another tube computer that's much more capable using Williams tube memory, so I will definitely be diving into special memory types in the future!

@@UsagiElectric maybe throw in a wire delay line? Or if that's too fast, just a tape loop? You can hack a reel to reel, swap the record and play heads and loop the tape around.

@@senilyDeluxe Using reel-to-reel is actually how I'm planning to implement reading programs in on program control, so lots to come on that!

Thank you so much for sticking with me from the beginning! I also am super happy to see the processor finally finished!

You and me both! I fully expected to plug everything in and for none of it to work, haha. As it sits, I have one bad VFD and need to change the resistor on the soft start and that's it!

Thank you so much! I think I'm going to take a short break from the tube computer and tackle some other projects that have been stacking up, but I can't help but be excited about the next stages of the project!

Thank you so much! And thank you for checking the videos out, hope to see you next year!

Thank you so much! And thank you so much for checking out the videos!

Thank you so much! It was so surreal to see the entire thing working as expected! The whole processor came together better than I could have hoped!

Thank you so much! I'm super happy with how the processor turned out! Memory is up next and while it may not be quite as interesting to watch being built, there's a lot of really great stories about memory and how I came to the decisions I did!

Thank you so much! I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I'm looking forward to getting some more functionality built into it!

Welcome and thanks for checking the video out! That's awesome that you got to see and work on some of the real deal! One of my bucket list goals is to see an IBM 604 in person someday as it's been a massive inspiration. Thank you for the kind words on the project, I'm really liking how it's shaping up!

Thank you! It's really wild to see it all working and working well on top of that! I think I'm going to take the month of January to catch up on some other projects, so it'll be a few episodes before we're back onto tube computer stuff, but I've got some designs for memory already and I'm getting ready to start testing and building!

Thank you so much! A big project like this is as much art as it is educational for me. I really wanted to learn the very basic fundamentals of computing, but if I was going to build something, I wanted it to look cool too, haha. I'm so happy with the way it came together!

Thank you so much! And it's good to hear that The Algorithm is trying to get the thumbnail out there!

Thank you so much! I'm so happy with how the processor turned out. I've got some designs for memory already and am ready to start cutting and testing boards! Though, I think I'm going to take a few week break from the tube computer to catch up on some other projects that have been piling up, so it'll be a few episodes before back into the tube computer, but I'm quite excited about the upcoming parts!

Thank you so much! It wasn't too incredibly well planned, I just kind of started designing PCBs at the top and worked my way down, totally making it up as I went, haha. I'm really happy with how it came together though! However, the overall size is really arbitrary, which is meaning that I have to put a lot more planning into the next parts of the build because I want all four parts to fit on the same size of backboard (1,000 x 700). I think I've just barely got memory fitting in my early designs though, so I'm hopeful the whole thing will come together smoothly!

Thank you so much! It really came together better than I was expecting, and I'm just blown away that it all seems to work together really well. I just looked up the Minivac 601, that's a really cool kit! I love the idea of building logic elements out of relays, and one of my all time favorite computers is the FACOM relay computer built by Fujitsu. There's just something so satisfying about hearing the relays click away while computing.

Power consumption?

Thank you so much! It is really surreal to think that it was just a logic diagram we came up with inspired by an IC. To see it come to life and actually operate is just kind of overwhelming in the good way!

Thank you so much! That night shot really turned out excellent didn't it! It was a 20-second exposure, but it was the closest representation to how it actually looks in person.

Thank you so much, and thanks for watching the whole build!

@@UsagiElectric Truly my pleasure

Thank you so much! I'm quite excited for the next parts of the computer too! Happy holidays to you and yours!

Thank you so much! And thank you for tagging along on the build!

Thank you so much! It came together much better than I was expecting, considering I was totally making it up as I went along, haha!

Thank you! And I'm glad the algorithm decided to throw a little favor my way!

Thank you so much! It's so hard to convey just how amped up I was inside, I was losing sleep for like 5 days straight while I was finishing up the final touches. I was both excited and terrified, haha.

Thank you so much! It came together way better than I could have ever hoped for! I'm really excited about the next parts as well, program control in particular!

Thank you so much! Only for the time being, the next three parts are going to be equally as big and then she'll be getting pretty large and in charge, though not quite Colossus size. Still, my electric bill will probably disagree, haha.

Thank you so much! It came together way better than I ever imagined it would, and honestly, I'm still totally blown away that it actually works, haha.

Thank you so much! And thank you for checking out the videos!

I agree 100%, it's the best Christmas tree lighting I could have ever asked for!

Thank you so much! I'll admit, there were several times during the series where I was certain I wouldn't be able to get the entire thing working, but surprisingly, it all came together really smoothly!

Thank you so much! It's really wild to see a project that you've been working on for nearly a year breath into life!

Thank you so much!

Thank you so much! You're too kind though, I still have a long ways to go in figuring out a good way to tell the stories of the builds, but I like to think the videos are definitely improving. A 12-bit bus is a really interesting bus width to choose! Then again, here I am with a 1-bit bus, so interesting bus widths are right up my alley, haha.

Thank you very much!

Thank you!

Thank you so much!

Thank you so much!

Thank you! Happy holidays to you and yours too!

Thank you so much! I'm so happy with how the remote turned out, that's probably the coolest looking piece of equipment I've ever built. Happy Holidays to your and yours as well!

Thank you! I'm really happy with how it all came together! And still blown away that it actually works, haha.

Thank you so much! And I totally forgot to mention that the entire thing is running at super low voltages. I've been working with them at just 24V for so long now, a part of my brain has just normalized it. I often forget that these little 6AU6s are usually meant to have four times as much B+ voltage!

Thanks for checking the videos out! I love relay based computers as well and really want to build one some day in the future. Then again, I also want to build a discrete transistor CPU, and a high voltage tube CPU, and a pure hardware cellular automata, and man the list is getting long, haha.

Thank you so much!

Thank you so much! Honestly, I'm just blown away it actually works, I was totally just making things up as I went, haha.

Really close! It actually uses 188 tubes not including the soft start thyratrons or VFDs. With the soft start, it makes it a nice round 190 tubes (by pure coincidence). It's crazy how much more compact this could have been made even with just discrete transistors. I've done a bit of fiddling around with discrete stuff, and using the exact same construction techniques as the tube computer, I can stuff a NOR gate in an 18mm x 15mm space, whereas with the 6AU6, that same NOR gate takes 40mm x 20mm. That's 270 mm^2 vs. 800 mm^2. That means that I could realize about a 67% reduction in size just by going to discrete transistors and not changing anything else. With dual sided pcbs and thinner traces, that could easily be made even smaller!

Thank you so much!

Thank you so much! I don't know if I would call myself clever, but I would call myself stubborn, haha. Happy holidays to you and yours too!

Thank you! That night shot really turned out excellent! It was a 20-second exposure, but it was the closest representation to how it actually looked in person!

Thank you so much for the sub! Memory and program control should be quite fun, and then the computer will get really exciting because it'll be able to execute full programs!

Thank you!

Thank you! I think the biggest limitation on speed isn't going to be the processor itself, but rather the program control. I'm going for a rather unconventional build style of reading the program directly from the storage media (1/4" audio tape). That means I'm limited by how fast the tape can be fed through and how many bits of information I can stuff in a single inch. My first goal is to fit one full instruction per one inch of tape, which at reel-to-reel speeds should be around 7 inches per second, or 7Hz operating speed. If I can get that working reliably, I'll work towards fitting a full instruction in 1/2" of tape, and then maybe push for an instruction per 1/4" of tape, which would be 28 instructions per second. Now, I also plan to add an external audio jack so programs can be read in directly from another computer or even my phone (they'll just be audio files), which means I can play with how fast I can push it before my read amplifiers on program control start having problems. Either way, if I can get it above 10Hz, that'll be a total win in my book!

Thank you!

Thank you so much! It's so surreal to finally see it all working!

Thank you so much!

Thank you very much!

Thank you so much! The harness and remote (as much as it pains me to say it) are really just temporary pieces to demonstrate the processor itself. Once I get the other portions of the processor built, I'll have to rebuild the harnesses that connect them, as well as way to switch between external control and program control for executing programs. Ultimately, the I/O board should have some pretty cool VFDs on it though showing us human readable output!

Thank you so much! Up next is memory, which the building portion of may be a little boring (there will be a lot of repetition), but there's a lot of really interesting stories about how I ended up with the design I did and the various different things I tried along the way, so hopefully it'll be a fun series too!

Thank you so much!

Thank you so much!