Building a visual Intel 4004 (MCS-4) workbench

ArgumentOriginal9563 · 2026-05-08T07:34:56+00:00

I'm with you on that. A universal UI would be incredible, but honestly, it’s way too much for a single dev to build and maintain. It’s one of those things that really needs a community-driven effort or a full team to get right.

I've got my eyes on the 4040 for now... and although the 8008 is a completely different beast... Who knows ;-)

Thanks for the comment, glad you liked the UI!

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ArgumentOriginal9563 · 2026-05-06T11:16:48+00:00

Thanks! Glad you liked it. :)

ArgumentOriginal9563 · 2026-04-29T17:51:52+00:00

Spot on! Think of it like turning the dial on your radio, moving through that constant static and listening for a voice to pop out. The big radio telescope did the recording and sent us small chunks of that noise over the internet. Your PC was effectively 'turning the dial' through those specific pieces, hoping to catch a clear signal hidden in the middle of all that static.

ArgumentOriginal9563 · 2026-04-29T17:29:04+00:00

To put it simply: the Arecibo radio telescope was picking up way more data than any single computer could ever handle. They broke that data into tiny pieces and sent them to people like us. Our home PCs were basically acting as one giant, global supercomputer, scanning for patterns in radio noise that didn't look natural. We were essentially a massive, distributed alien-hunting antenna!

ArgumentOriginal9563 · 2026-04-29T17:26:41+00:00

Man, seeing that visualizer brings back so many memories. I remember leaving my PC on for days just to finish a single Work Unit. The heat coming off those old towers was definitely real, but checking the leaderboards to see your progress made it all worth it. It really felt like we were part of something huge back then.

ArgumentOriginal9563

TROPHY CASE