FPGA VAX update, now DIY TTL computers

[Jos Dreesen]

>
> Consider the very old Packard Bell PB250--22 bit words, fewer than 400
> transistors and 2500 diodes, 63 instructions.  Power consumption about 
> 40
> watts, exclusive of I/O:

So that is 3000 separate components that need to be handled.
A  100 TTL packages is probably easier to handle.
But yes, a  computer without IC's has the higher geek factor.

> The trick, of course, is to use bit-serial methods.  It seems to me 
> that
> one could greatly simplify construction of a homebrew machine that way.
> We're not doing this for speed, right?

No, but I suspect that for most classes of DIY TTL computers it is
actually more complex to make a bitserial machine than a 8 or 12 bit 
parallel machine.
None of the publicised DIY  machines is bitserial...

I still have a couple of 74hc181. One of these days....

							Jos