I can't believe it took KZread this long to recommend me this channel. Beautiful work, I love your attention to the aesthetics of the processor in addition to the functionality. Gotta watch all the previous episodes now

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

@OZtwo

2 жыл бұрын

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!

@Luijingofficial

Жыл бұрын

Same! Amazing channel

@bepsibeverage4231

Жыл бұрын

Likewise, this is fine work

Man, this is amazing. The fact that you've build a processor (even if it's just 1 bit) out of freaking vacuum tubes is simply incredible. Congratulations.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

@georg2010cz

2 жыл бұрын

@@UsagiElectric Mine some BTC with it 😂

I hope you are going to use something like "core memory" along with tubes. That would be so nice!

@thedogwooddandy

2 жыл бұрын

knitting cores and tube computing! perfect for winter hobbying.

@ArneChristianRosenfeldt

2 жыл бұрын

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

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

@senilyDeluxe

2 жыл бұрын

@@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.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

@@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!

This is so incredible. I should have gone to bed like 5 episodes ago but I just had to see the CPU finished! Even the remote control alone is a work of art. I can almost feel the switches clicking! This whole project is a flawless synthesis of art and science.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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.

Amazing! I just wish you had used filament bulbs as limiting resistors on the valve-boards so we could see the states of every logic gate as it worked.

CONGRATULATIONS! I've been here from the start and I'm so happy seeing the processor finally finished! :D

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

ohohohohoh this turned out a lot better than I expected.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

All your component choices are spot-on. That remote control alone is just beautiful.

Thank you for making these videos. It was a blast to see your progress. Good luck in the next year!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

Absolutely phenomenal job. Your engineering prowess is humbling, your enthusiasm is infectious. I'm very much looking forward to getting back into some analog amp design and builds based upon your efforts here. Thanks, and please continue to do your good work. We very much appreciate it!

This is rad as hell. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the rest of the project

This is so cool to finally see it finished Nice work can't wait for the rest

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Magnificent build! Everything is so clean and structured! I understand your jubilation, because when I finished building and testing my MINIVAC 601 and saw the correct output on the lights it justified all the hours spent in it’s construction. CONGRATULATIONS!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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.

@gort59

2 жыл бұрын

Power consumption?

What an awesome journey, thank you for all the work you put into making these videos! I'm so excited to see it working!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

That is amazing! Seeing this tube processor gives you a glimpse on how incredible complex microprocessors really are.

Congrats on getting this far. Now go out and celebrate, you deserve it! This has been so much fun to watch, looking forward to the next stage.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Well congratulations! And a Happy New Year too! I'm one of those people that missed the first 21 episodes and just watched this one out of curiosity, but I have to say that I'm impressed. I spend a few years working on some actual vacuum tube computers back when I was young, so I'm really impressed at seeing something vaguely along the same lines recreated.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Omedetou gozaimasu! This is a labor of love, dude. Now I've gotta go back and start this series from the beginning. So very well done!

I followed your videos about this project, and i must say this is really impressive. Your work - this 1 bit processor - is not only functioning, but looks amazing. Nice and clean job, really a masterpiece! Big thumbs up!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Nice cable management with the power supply, great solder joints on the boards and it's aesthetically pleasing looking at all those vacuum tubes. Great job overall!

Fantastic project. Really like the build quality. Please keep this up! I love watching your videos.

Congrats! the processor turned out a piece of art. Thank you for sharing this experience. Can´t wait to see how you will tackle the other sides of this puzzle.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Wow, i am sitting here on the edge of my chair. Love to see you explode of joy with achieving this great milestone right on time to find a good ending for this year.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

She's smaller than a colossus. Very cool build dude. mad respect.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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.

Holy crap... this was just loaded into my YT suggestions. Holy Crap! Now I have to start at the beginning. So many questions.... That's a work of art.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

Amazing journey man. Be proud of your work is phenomenal. I look forward to what the future holds.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Amazing work! Thank you again for sharing this with us... I think the most understated aspect of this is how well this was planned ahead... knowing it would all fit within the mechanical layout (and it actually doing so) and confidently knowing exactly what signals would be required where.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

What a ride! Super stoked that it's working and I can't wait to see the fun stuff in store for next year!!!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Congratulations! Seeing something one day was just in the mind working after too many efforts building it is amazing.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Just watched the entire build to this point. Just awesome! So inspiring! Going to work my way through the rest of your back catalog while i am snowed in. Keep up the great work!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

@farmerdiy9024

2 жыл бұрын

@@UsagiElectric Truly my pleasure

Excellent work! Really appreciated the walkthrough of this amazing project.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

Another youtuber putting out amazing stuff. This is awesome dude. Looking forward to getting caught up on the series! Subbed for sure.

Amazing !!! Congratulations.

Congratulations, this is huge! That picture with the lights out... chef's kiss! Looks like a city

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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.

Congratulations on completing this phase of your project!!!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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.

Clearly demonstrates your knowledge, very impressive!

This is an amazing accomplishment! Congratulations!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

Brilliant and very Impressive!!! I cannot wait to see the complete computer! I Love the wood finish.Thank You and Merry Xmas to you too.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

Awesome! Congratulations and Merry Christmas!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Happy holidays to you and yours too!

Awesome!! That’s amazing!

This is an outrageously awesome accomplishment! I bow deeply to you, sensei.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

If I counted right, this CPU uses 182 tubes, not including thyratons in soft start and VFD-s. Pretty mindblowing, and great demonstration of how much compactness semiconductors offer

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Incredible work.

I appreciate how you take us through the entire journey - including errors and tweaks. Every video I watch besides yours, makes it seem so easy. Seemless - painless, no issues. Thats never the case in real life with computers haha! The battle of man vs computer and debugging, troubleshooting to me is 90% of the fun is. Its what makes it interesting. Thanks for these awesome videos. I would love to get some more information on how I can do this myself - maybe you could sell a kit or provide links and instructions. I would love to do this at a school for a yearlong hands on project or etc. Thanks again for the great content and good luck in your endeavors!

You are so excited that I know you go to reach all objectives what you are thinking!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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.

What you have done is admirable. This is the first video of yours I have known, and looking into all you have done... from Diode.. triode.. very impressive work.... amazing. Thanks for sharing.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

Well, I'm glad the algorithm showed me your channel, this stuff is awesome!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

I love the remote for it, it looks perfect. I can't imagine how you feel, but as soon as you turned it on, I was grinning like an idiot for the rest of the video. Mega congratulations. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. P.S. That picture of it in the dark all lit up should be on a T-Shirt. :)

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Pretty awesome work, can't wait to see more. I wish KZread had recommended this to me sooner.

Lovely to watch !

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

Congrats man ! I love to se a project like this giving its first results :D

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Congrats dude !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

Congratulations! Can not wait to see what's next :)

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

That is amazing! Great job!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

This stuff is way over my head, but it for sure makes me appriciate the folk who pioneered computing technology because I certainly couldn't design and build this, not in a billion lifetimes.

Really Cool, loved it!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much!

Totally awesome 😎 a real cpu built by hand. Insane!

Man! I always knew you were doing it sooner or later; It's beautiful, it's awesome! Just WOW 🤘🏻🤖⚡ Cheers!!! ⚡

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

As you said, an insane endeavour. In the dark it is by far the most beautiful Christmas lights I have seen!!!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

At this point, congratulations are in order. Well done! 🙂👍

Wonderful to see it finally happen! :)

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

Pretty shocked you only have 20k subs with this incredible work.

Just came across this, and so glad! this is very inspiring :)

Man this is so impressive ! ❤️

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Everything is very beautiful! :)

Your videos are FAR more entertaining than Avengers End Game. Congrats on a fine job. That power supply case you made is the prettiest I've ever seen. Your troubleshooting skills are impressive. Good for you because I have designed an instruction set and architecture but not had the time or nerve to build it. MIne is a 12-bit bus with 16 instructions in the set. All good wishes!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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.

Very cool. Looking forward to the memory. Subscribed.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

dude you are super cool. keep up the good work !

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

It is done. Congratulations 🙂

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

Very impressed with your work sir, the algorithm has been kind to me today.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Legend. Great songs!

Fantastic! Wow!

Congratulations, you did a heck of a job building that and it works! As a person who is not an electronics expert, I'm completely lost on how it works, but I still think it's cool! Good job! 😂👍

Happy finished project 🎉🎊🎉🎊

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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

The money shot for me was with the lights out ! well done.....cheers.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

New viewer here.... I watch a lot of "build a CPU from TTL" videos.... and I loved an old channel that never finished a relay based CPU... I'm going to love this.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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.

Very cool project!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much!

congrats!!!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I was thinking about the "it freaking works!" Quote from Adrians Digital Basement, and so happy to see the tag at 24:54 haha.

Hi I'm a 100% Layman on this topic but I wanted to comment on your video skills and bringing the audience in I found it hard to understand however you made it feel like everyone was welcome and that you were talking directly to your audience. Thank you.

there is so much i need to learn here on you chanel

This is really quite awesome. And in the video, you never even mentioned the main cool thing about this - that you're operating way outside the spec of these tubes on these low voltages, and you got them to work so reliably that you can demonstrably build a functioning processor out of them. That is quite a cool feat!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Fantastic achievement there a great build also very clever fellow ,Enjoyed watching and have a Merry xmas.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Fantastic!

What a thing of retro beauty!

My Analog (main)❤ is saluting you with great respect. Fantastic work!

those new relays look SO cool

Amazing, the remote is a nice touch. Maybe a "overlay" PCB that masks the VFD dots and adds a label would be a good addition, however it would obstruct the view of the beautiful tubes. It seems like a great thing for christmas, it lights up nicely and heats your room. I'm really looking forward to where your journey brings you in the next year. Until then, Michael

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

This is so hot💡it's cool, and I'd think it likely that once you have hit the frequency max of this configuration, you will be able to bump it up even more by cutting the delay capacitor values and attaching more filter capacitors on the power rails close to the circuitry. If you scope those power rails before doing that you'll probably see lotsa noise. You ought to get it at least well into the sonic range, fast enough that most things controlled by it wouldn't care. But getting it to work right at all is a huuuuuge milestone. Congratulations.

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

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!

Super look !

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Happy New Year to you and yours as well!

holy fuck dude, this is great beyond all recognition

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

amazing achievement !

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

Unbelievable !!!

Loved the video, dude. You look like James Franco's brother who's really into computers. And for that, I thank you.

wow, amazing

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, I'm really happy with how it turned out!

this is amazing

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

wow that thing is beautiful in the dark

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Right! That night shot was a 20-second exposure, but it was the best representation of how it really looks at night with all the lights off.

SO COOL!

My Goodness its a thing of beauty !!!!! Can you do a video on your board manufacture process ? thats one serious milling machine !!!!! how did you convert it to CNC ? what program are you using to design those beautiful boards ? Thank you for sharing your fantastic work !!!!!! look forward to each of your videos !!!!!!

@UsagiElectric

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! I definitely plan to do a video in the future to fully outline the entire process of making a PCB from idea to finished product! To answer your questions though, it's a Bridgeport EZTrak, which I believe was sold by Bridgeport as a CNC machine. We got it used from a college that was shutting down for... not cheap, but not too expensive either. I design all my PCBs in DesignSparkPCB, but really, any of the modern EDA software should work. I have set a custom design rule (grid spacing of 2.54mm and 1mm trace widths) just to make it a little more forgiving for unevenness or lack of precision on the oversized mill. Once I have the board designed, I export it to gerber, then load it up in FlatCAM to convert it to G Code that can be read by the mill. Then, it's just getting the machine setup and cutting!

@sonnymoorehouse1941

2 жыл бұрын

@@UsagiElectric Thank You for taking the time to respond !!!! I just learning CAD and I have a small cnc router im learning to use. unlike your bridgport its just got the stones to do PCB and not much more !!!! Man the things you could make with that Bridgeprt are amazing and in steel !!!! but it sure does a nice job on those PCB's Happy New Year to you and yours !!!!!