What a great way to allow a student to go above and beyond by building an example 8 bit cpu from a bunch of arduinos and other Digital Electronics class parts! This was a project i first found on Hackaday, and posted it here so that I could have an independent study student complete it as a project. It is advanced, and not for all students, but I’m always about differentiation!

The Book:

But How Do It Know? the book is where it all began. A preview of the first three chapters can be found here, as well as an explanation for the title. What better way to learn how computers work, and control systems as well, than by building one? When I retire, this is the first project on my list of things to do for fun, or “because I can…”.

The Circuit

The hardware version is done by Patrick LeBoutillier and all downloads can be found at his GitHub page here. Built it in other software and would like to share? contact us, and we’ll post it as well.

The circuit was built using Fritzing, and can be downloaded at the GitHub link above as well!

The Videos: Arduino

Below is the playlist he posted on his channel that takes you through the build step by step with arduinos…

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But How Do It Know? Video #1 – Introduction

But How Do It Know? Video #2 – The NAND Gate

But How Do It Know? Video #3 – The NOT and AND Gates

But How Do It Know? Video #4 – 1-bit Memory

But How Do It Know? Video #5 – The Enabler

But How Do It Know? Video #6 – The Register

But How Do It Know? Video #7 – The Project

But How Do It Know? Video #8 – The Bus (part 1)

But How Do It Know? Video #9 – The Bus (part 2)

But How Do It Know? Video #10 – Programming the Arduinos

But How Do It Know? Video #11 – The RAM

But How Do It Know ? Video #12 – The OR and XOR Gates

But How Do It Know? Video #13 – The ALU (part 1)

But How Do it Know? Video #14 – The ALU (part 2)

But How Do It Know? Video #15 – The R0 and R1 Registers

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The Videos: FPGA

Below is the playlist he posted on his channel that takes you through the build step by step with an FPGA.

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Implementing the Scott CPU Video #1 – Introduction

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #2 – Board Intro

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #3 – Basic Demo

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #4 – Basic Code

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #5 – ALU Demo

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #6 – ALU Code

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #7 – Mem Demo

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #8 – Mem Code

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #9 – Clock & Stepper Demo

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #10 – Clock & Stepper Code

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #11 – Bus Demo

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #12 – Bus Code

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #13 – Full Demo: 20 + 22 = 42

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #14 – Full Demo: 5 * 5 = 25

Implementing the Scott CPU Video #15 – Full Demo: Fibonacci Numbers

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Special thanks to Hackaday, the blog author Anool Mahidharia, and Patrick LeBoutillier. for their hard work to put this together in such a way us high school humans can understand and possibly go beyond!

If you have a student that completes this project, please let me know, so we can post some cool pics or video!