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Well, here it is, sorry for the long wait, guys.

Firstly, I would like to apologize for my crappy mic, it's been cutting out a lot lately. I'd also like to mention I know that around 2:47 there are two pieces of redstone dust missing. That ended up causing a lot of problems after writing the program in the end, which was not just 32 - 12. It's actually 16 + 16 - 12. I know it's the same result, but it's different to a computer. It displays the general indicator, reads ROM0, (16) Saves it to both ALU registers, then lets out the addition portion, saves 32 to RAM0, displays it. Reads from RAM0, writes to ALU register A, Reads from ROM1, (12) writes to input B. Subtraction function, (the line I had to fix) writes to RAM0 again, displays the general indicator and on the binary monitor, and the program is finished.

So, here it is... finally.

Quote from trencheel303

I'll start by saying that the video was very difficult to follow as your recorder did not turn down their volume or music, so all you can hear over your speaking for most of it is the sound of treading on grass. Amazing work though, absolutely incredible. You do realize that you have basically built a replica of the original Altair home computer, right? It's purpose to your computer was very similar, count up numbers and output them on a display of LEDs.

Pat on the back for you I think.

Yeah, the video kind of ended up sucking as far as sound goes. Especially when it was raining and you couldn't hear a thing I was saying, but that wasn't too important.

In a way it is, the original Altair was much more powerful though. I pretty much just built one of the most basic computers possible, just to get a feel for it. I doubt I'll be doing much with it, I'll probably build a new computer, 16 bit, with a much more powerful ALU before I start messing with fancier expansions. Maybe a GPU or some sort of simple game. It will definitely have more program memory, maybe 32 or 64 bits.

Quote from Scrote

Wow that is enormous! Well done. Clearing that area and flattening it all must have taken as much time as the machine itself.

Speaking of which, I give credit to MinecraftSkillsFTW for the flatland. Thanks for reminding me.

Quote from srghg

And for optimal commentary we should have skyped so it would be a separate audio track

Yeah, that would've been better, I didn't even think of it.

Quote from Cobra951

@OP, hey, your counter display looks a lot like mine, except my bits go right to left (LSB to MSB) and they're on the floor. Also, all I did to count was chain together some t flip flops, but you knew that. Nothing like this enormous thing you did there. Congratulations on getting it all to work.

If you look at my levers for the ROM and the lines on the reading bus it actually goes from MSB to LSB. But, since the display is on the opposite side of the UI, and I didn't feel like turning the lines around, over-complicating things and adding extra delay, so I ended up with the opposite setup. The ALU and writing bus are also backwards, (LSB to MSB) due to poor planning, but that actually makes no difference at all to the speed.

And the way my computer counts actually isn't like your counter at all. I could've hooked one up externally and it would be a LOT faster. I just wanted to show that the computer can do it by itself, which is much more intensive. It was basically just to show off my ALU lol. Which brings up something else, sorry to everyone for the video cutting out during the display of the counting program. You can see it working throughout the rest of the computer though, so I suppose that's good enough.




Another thing, everyone: You couldn't really hear it in the video, but I mentioned the program counter is now running on a 25-tick clock, or 400 millihertz. The reason it is so slow is not because that's the time it takes for the longest operation, it's just to help avoid redstone bugs. It can actually run at 625 millihertz, but the whole system crashes within 10 seconds due to bugs.

Quote from wolfeuk

couple of things

1 what does it do apart from count from 1 to a gazillion
2 was this done from drawings ?

reason for asking 2 was ages ago on youtube i watched a guy play lady gaga on the note blocks, i was like wooow that is really impressive, later on though i found out you DL a programme and it basically tells you where to place the note block and what tone to assign it ?

It can do anything I program it to do, within reason. There isn't much you can do without peripheral devices though. If you were to unplug your monitor from your computer, all the computer itself is doing is moving data around. That's what this is.

And no, the only thing copied are the designs of the components themselves. And the only reason for that was because they were faster and much more compact than the designs I came up with. The architecture and orientation of everything is all my own doing.

Quote from Cobra951

I had the same issue with my initial torch display. So my solution was to pull the lines out the other side of the gates, and send the signals up the wall to the floor of the room above, through vertical inverters. So the display ended up more compact, and in a much less cluttered room (not to mention the standard bit orientation).

Oh, I understand what you've accomplished, and I know it far supersedes my small efforts. Old programmer here. One EE project I improvised in college was designing a digital clock with NAND gates. So I get the totality of what you've done. Trust me. Very impressive, even if the video had issues.

Ahhh, I see. That would've been impossible with how my buses are set up. I would've had to turn them around horizontally and it would turn out a bit ugly. Mine is compact enough, though I don't like the orientation of the digits, it would make it confusing to a new user if I didn't put signs on the ROM levers. It's good enough though, and fast, only 3 ticks from the moment the RAM is read to the moment it displays since it's now directly connected to the computer and not an expansion.

I think, with the knowledge you already have that you could understand and build computers fairly quickly. You seem to already be ahead of a high percentage of Xbox redstoners. If you already understand basic logic gates and how they work together, that's half the battle to figuring out a computer. That and latches and how they're used in different flip flops, the main thing that separates a CPU from a full computer is memory.

Quote from wolfeuk

ok, now i understand it abit better great job, look forward to your future builds

625]

Thanks! I have a 16-bit planned, it will have twice the memory, double or triple current program memory. I might add conditonal and/or mathematical branching, the ALU will be 100% more powerful and have 3 - 4 times more functionality. The architecture will be completely re-designed for more efficiency, although it will still be slower since it'll be more powerful. The current computer is basically just a test model, or prototype.

It will be awhile before the next computer comes. I'm waiting for creative mode before I even start on it.:P

Quote from trencheel303

I wish you the best of luck but won't you run out of world space trying to design something complicated?

Quote from trencheel303

I wish you the best of luck but won't you run out of world space trying to design something complicated?

As big as this one is, it only takes up maybe 3% of the area on the surface. My next build will probably take more surface area, but not much. I'm going to design the architecture to be as vertical as possible.

Nobody ever has, and probably never will, build a computer big enough to fill up an area the size of MCXBLA's world. And if they did, it would still work, in theory. I performed an experiment recently and found that chunks do not completely unload in the Xbox version of Minecraft. This means there is basically no limit to the size of a redstone creation. Although, a computer of that size would most likely crash your Xbox when trying to use it.

Quote from Puma_SPNKr

You should remake that video with a catwalk so we may actually see it. Looks like your running through a maze lol.

There's another video showing an aerial view of it working at night. Who knows when he's going to upload it though, I'll try to talk to him tomorrow.

Quote from Bobadew

I hate to be a debbie downer and the fact that I don't understand it in the first place makes it worst. But what is the point? What does all that work really do in the end? Is it really that hard to do, or is it the fact that how big it is makes it feel more complex? Is it possible to make it smaller and just as productive? I'm not knocking it, I just am not following it. The fact that its not even legit ruins it all (JK lol). It looks really cool....but I believe a good majority don't know what the hell is going on. Maybe a For Dummies Guide. Thanks and good job.

I don't expect you to explain how a computer works, but your mic (which your aware about) had absolutely none of my attention. Do it again please Professor...!

Well, I've answered most of these questions 10+ times, but I guess one more time can't hurt.

It can do anything I program it to do, within reason. There isn't much you can do without peripheral devices though. If you were to unplug your monitor from your computer, all the computer itself is doing is moving data around. That's what this is. And it's not hard to do, just hard to understand, same thing with building a real PC. Anyone, and I mean anyone can build a computer, but, a small percentage actually know how each specific component does what it does.

I could tell you exactly how it works, and I've told people before. If you want to know the specifics, go to this thread: http://www.minecraft...r-built-on-360/ read the OP and my reply to EvenAsWeWept on the second page. That should give you a basic idea of how it works. Of course I didn't explain absolutely everything, most people learn the basics of computers over the course of a year, in a college. And it is possible to build it smaller, this was just my first redstone computer and I wanted to get a feel for building one. Spreading it out horizontally also makes it easier to see the different parts and explain to you guys which part is doing what. Not to mention, it would've been a supreme pain to build this more compact without being able to fly. My next computer will be much more compact and have a vertical base, it will be twice as powerful, have more functionality, and be much more efficient, specifics are in a previous post on this thread.

In all this, I forgot to answer the first question. There is no point, its sole purpose is to be a challenge. Sure, you can attach gizmos to it and make it run games or whatever you want, but it won't help you achieve anything in-game. Then again, there are no real goals in Minecraft, so building a computer is really just as pointless as mining or building a house.

Quote from Bobadew

I am going to check it out, it seems interesting. I seen some PC videos of guys displaying pixel images and awkward calculators, but nothing that has me going "DAMN I wish I had a minecraft computer." What is your main goal building this? Do you intend to do something that hasn't been done. Thanks for the information and sorry to have you repeat yourself which I am sure you get tons of questions. QA Keep it up and I hope to see something really cool some day.

Of course everything in the end has no purpose in minecraft, but I respect projects thats actually shows you can make something crazy and it not be a castle or mansion haha. Good luck bud.

Yeah, nobody is really going to want a redstone computer, unless they're actually into nerdy stuff such as logic, like I am. Honestly I probably won't do anything with this computer. I know it seems like a lot of work to put this together just to play with it a couple times, but I pretty much built it just to build it. My next computer will have a few fancy add-ons, a GPU to make pretty pictures with, a printer to immortalize those pictures, it might even have internet.

At this point there isn't much that hasn't been done with redstone. There are things that have been done that are even far beyond my comprehension. I just learn a little more each day and hope to eventually be like the redstone veterans from VoxelBox or RDF. It's no problem repeating myself, I enjoy explaining it to someone that actually wants to educate themselves a bit. Thanks for the interest, though, and it may be awhile, but another redstone mega build is a'comin'!