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by gravypod
3463 days ago
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I'm worried that it may just be my love for microcomputers, old mainframes, and just computers in general that is clouding my judgement but I think this would really improve the understanding of computational systems for anyone who was so inclined to participate in the course(s) required to teach this material. Much like the steriotipical sex-ed course where students are made to carry a baby I think college CS students should be made to "carry"* their example computer that they have worked so hare to maintain and program. I feel that something like this would be rather easy to do, cost wise, as many fanatics (in an endering sense of the word) have constructed kits that replecate the functionality of these machiens. One such example is the PDP-8 kit. This would make it extremely affordable to build systems like these for may students to come. [0] I'm not saying that this exact system should be used, I'm just a fan of DIGITAL and wish I could play with more of their gear (anyone in NJ with a PDP or other microcomputers my email is in my profile), but the stands. - It's cheap to make
- They understand the "GOOD OLD DAYS" to better understand design choices made on old software they will be maintaining
- Due to the tough constraints of these machines they will likely cut corners. Corners we all have cut before. They will see the pain of doing that in a safe enviroment where millions of dollars or lives aren't on the line (like in the real world).
- They will know every portion of the computer inside and out.
- They'll get to friggen build things! Make things work! Really Program! (We all know the feeling of getting shit done and how addictive that is)
* Not carry everywhere, just to class and home.[0] - http://www.sparetimegizmos.com/Hardware/SBC6120-2.htm |
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Now build a Z80 or 6502-based computer (at the very least) and implement stuff on the bare metal so that you understand how the machine works, at least on a basic level.
But if you can't be bothered to actually build a computer yourself (which is completely understandable), and still want to get a feel for hardware, write some games for an old game console. I recommend the Gameboy: it's dirt cheap (~$20 for a GBA), you can buy a flashcart + reader/writer and/or SD cart from BennVenn for ~$80-$100 (although you may have to wait a bit until he restocks), it's well documented (the PanDoc and numerous tutorials can help you out), and the toolchain is widely available (actually, several toolchains are widely available: various forks of the now-dead RGBDS, and WLA-DX, which seems to be more lively, so it's what I'd reccomend).