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Whats the smallest computer you could make?

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typematrix:
Hi

I was watching one of those "I built a 8-bit computer videos".
I just had a Thought.
Whats the smallest computer you could make at home as a hobbyist,
I mean in terms of components counts not physical size.
No microcontrollers.

First of all define a "computer". There are a lot of different definitions, for example .
merriam-webster : a programmable usually electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data.



xrunner:

--- Quote from: typematrix on May 30, 2019, 12:47:54 am ---Hi

I was watching one of those "I built a 8-bit computer videos".
I just had a Thought.
Whats the smallest computer you could make at home as a hobbyist,
I mean in terms of components counts not physical size.
No microcontrollers.

First of all define a "computer". There are a lot of different definitions, for example .
merriam-webster : a programmable usually electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data.

--- End quote ---

You mean like a trivial super-basic "computer" that technically meets the definition? I guess the processing is the question You could make a simple thing that would store a one or a zero by a simple input button, that's the simplest memory you could do and simplest data. But what are you going to "process" with the simplest memory? Do you need two memory locations to be able to claim it could process data - like add?

I don't think you could claim it was much of a computer, but perhaps by the rules it might be. See what other people say.  :-//

T3sl4co1l:
What's wrong with a microcontroller?  They're single chip solutions.  You've been long beaten to it by the manufacturers!

As a microcontroller more than adequately meets your criteria other than the direct prohibition, I wonder if you simply don't know what a microcontroller can offer, or what differentiates computers by application, or if you're fishing for a much narrower definition than the dictionary's most general definition.

In any case, it would seem much more interesting discussions would be had in these directions?

Examples:

If you're thinking of something much more familiar, e.g., something with human-scale peripherals or at least ports compatible with such -- then, you'll have a hard time reducing it below the size of those connectors.  But the connectors themselves are arbitrary, if one does not insist on forcing a requirement of standard peripherals.

Plenty of SBCs approach this, from rPi's (studded with connectors, more or less setting the outline of the board), to say, CF or SD card computers (which don't have much connectivity by themselves, and need some kind of bus interface and IO expansion to connect to offer the usual ports).

Even the relatively sizable "laptop" has some relevance here.  Consider its absolutely minimal case: the docking port.  This is usually a small high-speed connector, with a few hundred pins total.  A very compact (and probably much less powerful) computer could be plugged into such a connector, and the laptop dock itself meets a criteria of "standard peripheral".  This would allow something smaller than a credit card to operate all the standard devices we expect with a personal computer.

Tim

MarkF:

DaJMasta:
I think you're going to have to be more specific about your restrictions, because a single micro on a battery can be a full fledged computer minus peripherals.  Stuff is very integrated, and even full ARM based linux machines can be run on a chip, some nonvolatile storage, some bypass caps, and whatever interface connectors/bits you need.

Now maybe if you restrict the architecture to something that doesn't have a full system on a chip design available (though you could always make a soft core in an FPGA), or you restrict it to TTL parts or something then your answer isn't just "a single chip", probably not even requiring bypass caps at slower speeds.

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