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A project log for The Turing Computer plays Busy Beaver III

Now we are pushing the boundaries of computing down. Busy Beaver? Refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busy_beaver

agpcooperagp.cooper 10/12/2017 at 09:090 Comments

Almost Ready

Have PCB and the main components, forgot to order the 74HC194s.

So a couple of days to wait. I suppose I should look at the code for the FSM in the mean time. Here are the Busy Beaver FSMs:


For my machine, the BB IV will require four state pairs. The first sub-state will read/write the LED, the second sub-state will shift (left, hold or right) the LEDs. The tape is 16 LEDs that should be enough the contain the output.

Actually looking at the output there is an unlined "1" that may be the first state, if so then will not fit as the first state is not offset enough! I can patch the board but not a good start. Yes, it will run, it will just push 5 of the bits off the right edge of the tape. As only I will know, no problems!

Finished Assembly

The assembly is done, just need to code the Flash ROM:

The clock has been slowed down to about 1 Hz.

Mildly Annoyed

I coded four state Busy Beaver, flashed the ROM:

Tested the board and fail?

Check the clock, no clock? Checked the schematic and the pin numbers look wrong? They are wrong! This has happened a few times now. It is quite annoying that chips are uploaded with errors:

If you check the datasheet the pin numbers are wrong above.

I can cut the chip out and make up a jump board to try and get it going.


AlanX

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