A Simple CPU on the Game of Life (2021)
18 days ago
- #Computer Architecture
- #Digital Logic
- #Game of Life
- Introduction to building a digital logic gates-based computer in Conway's Game of Life.
- Construction of a 2-stage pipelined unlimited register machine (URM) with 16 registers, each holding 4 bits.
- Explanation of URM operations: increment, decrement, and conditional jumps.
- Design considerations unique to Game of Life circuits, focusing on minimizing footprint rather than gate count.
- Description of the CPU layout including clock, register file, ALU, program counter, and ROM.
- Special logic gates designed for efficient circuit layout in the Game of Life.
- ROM implementation using a grid of AND gates for bit storage and retrieval.
- Instruction set architecture details and execution pipeline explanation.
- Performance optimization through 2-stage pipelining and handling of jump instructions.
- Future plans to redesign the computer for greater efficiency.