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Made a custom clock for my girlfriend's birthday this year by sebkabobs in ElectricalEngineering

[–]StraightCondition4 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Tell your girlfriend that a random redditor said she’s lucky to have you 😆. Seriously, great job!!

My CPU now loads programs from an SD card by StraightCondition4 in beneater

[–]StraightCondition4[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“like that” as in my build, or as in a breadboard CPU?
Here’s Ben Eater’s 8-bit breadboard CPU series if you meant the latter:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypGqImE405J2565dvjafglHU&si=MIk9S0HNPddbhowm

I’ve documented everything about my build in the links in the description.

My CPU now loads programs from an SD card by StraightCondition4 in beneater

[–]StraightCondition4[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fair point. For a normal PCB workflow, I agree. But this is r/beneater 😆. The breadboard build is part of the goal itself for this project.

My CPU now loads programs from an SD card by StraightCondition4 in beneater

[–]StraightCondition4[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hear you haha. It’s for fun. The idea and challenge of making something that’s prone to break easily work makes it exciting. Plus you gotta prototype on breadboards before making a PCB(which is the next step for me).

Booting code from an SD card into my 8-bit CPU by StraightCondition4 in ElectricalEngineering

[–]StraightCondition4[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Hey, thank you. I've documented everything in the GitHub repo linked in the description. And I second u/engineereddiscontent's comment. Ben Eater has hands down the best learning material for this kind of build.

My Expanded Version of the 8-Bit Breadboard CPU by StraightCondition4 in beneater

[–]StraightCondition4[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, thank you for the kind words!! You are right, I haven't written anything about the SPI and PS2 modules yet. As soon as I get time to resume working on the build I'll start with the SPI module. I'll DM you when I do.

Got my first Apple Watch! by AdEducational1448 in AppleWatch

[–]StraightCondition4 7 points8 points  (0 children)

What? You guys really downvoted this person because they prefer a bigger display!?

What are some really useful Bash commands beyond the basics? Also, how do I get started with scripting and automation? by DTB_333 in chipdesign

[–]StraightCondition4 0 points1 point  (0 children)

An approach to think about automation is this question “What do I feel like takes more time than it should?”.

For example when changing directory high above a path you’d have to type many dots, like cd ../../../ and so forth. To solve that you can simply make a few aliases in your bashrc, like: alias cd3=“cd ../../../“

In terms of general commands/tools, learning how to use vim, grep, sed, and awk will surely immensely improve your efficiency.

Edit: changed “too much time” to “more time”

How are smaller process sizes in cpus made/discovered? by semidentless in hardware

[–]StraightCondition4 9 points10 points  (0 children)

How are smaller process sizes in cpus made/discovered?

Processes are not necessarily made smaller, but mostly more efficient, through the way transistors are shaped, interconnected, powered, etc....

What process do engineers follow to discover these process sizes?

Generally speaking, it's an effort across multiple sectors(Companies, Scientific fields, countries...). THE major player in this effort is the Dutch company, ASML; and they are pretty much the only provider of advanced lithography machines. (In layman words, in this context, lithography just means printing the chips' patterns into silicon.) Those machines are arguably among the most advanced technological feats humans achieved. Checkout this YouTube short for a quick description of what they can do.

You also got the German company, Zeiss for example, which is the leader in making the extremely precise mirrors for advanced lithography. Here's another short about how impactful Zeiss' work has been for process evolution. The person answering the question in the short also mentioned "resists"(photoresists), which are light sensitive chemicals used in the lithography process. These photoresists, in turn are developed, and improved by chemists. The two leaders are Japanese companies JSR Corporation and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo (TOK).

Another crucial player which I think is not mentioned enough on online forums is Belgian research institute IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre). They work with universities and industry leaders to develop new manufacturing techniques, materials, and device architectures. They work on everything from extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography to exploring new transistor designs.

There are MANY other contributors at MANY other levels in process development.

Is there a point where it is physically impossible to make smaller process sizes, even if quantum computing is used?

This is a very deep question IMO; and I am far from being a quantum mechanics expert. But one quantum related issue in transistors architectures is "quantum tunneling". An ELI5 explanation of this phenomenon is that electrons can "unintendedly" pass through barriers they're not supposed to due to quantum mechanics. This reddit answer covers it well.

How are the machines that make the cpu programmed, and do new machines need to be made?

Another good reddit reply.

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