HS Compute

What you see above is a homemade 8-bit breadboard computer. It has been my brain child since 2016, and is based on Ben Eaters implementation of the SAP (Simple As Possible)
Its goal was simply to give me a platform to get to know software better and at a depth that is impossible to read in a book. I could move bits around, and understand how the computer itself thinks on the lowest of low levels. It's frankly scary how much of this knowledge is transferable to modern day computing, and just how transferable these skills are to industry.
Like most people, I started off my hardware programming with an Arduino Uno. This is a microcontroller that allows anyone to get going with making the lights flash, makes motors spin, and everything inbetween. An incredibly versatile and well put together learning tool. Using this tool, it is really easy to get going with hardware programming, and make super cool projects like an IoT (Internet of Things) kettle, so you can get a uppa on the boil without even leaving your sofa!
This common entry point is labelled in the handy little timeline below

Notice, it very much is not at the beginning of the computing journey. There has been a great deal of effort put into making the Arduino platform, what it is today. Everything from the flag to the kettle is incredibly well documented, matured, and fun!
HS Compute is a project that aims at focussing on everything from the start, at an electrical level, all the way up to the flag. It's all about filling in the blanks, and getting people excited about re-engineering the foundations of the technology that we cannot live without.

Follow along, build along, and learn along, as HS Compute takes shape and becomes a usable, customisable microcontroller that everyone can understand. Want to make your own:

  • Processor Archetecture?
  • Opcodes?
  • Machine Code/Instruction Set?
  • Assembly Language?
  • Compiler?
  • High-Level language - just the way you want it?
Or just what any of those words mean...
With no expectation of prior knowledge, join the HS Revolution and make computers great again!