The museum
Famous computers, rebuilt from NAND gates
Short histories and architecture notes for the machines that shaped computing and the ones used to teach it. NANDSIM’s museum rebuilds them out of NAND gates, so you can run their programs and open up the insides.
Pioneers
- 1948 · University of ManchesterManchester BabyHow the Manchester Baby (SSEM), the first stored-program computer, worked: 32 words of Williams-tube memory, seven instructions and a 52-minute first program.
- 1965 · Digital Equipment CorporationDEC PDP-8How the DEC PDP-8 worked: 12-bit words, 4K of core memory, eight instructions and one accumulator. The small, cheap machine that started the minicomputer era.
Microprocessors and home computers
- 1971 · IntelIntel 4004How the Intel 4004 worked: a 4-bit CPU on one chip with about 2,300 transistors, 16 registers and a tiny stack, built for a Japanese desktop calculator.
- 1975 · MOS TechnologyMOS 6502How the MOS 6502 worked: an 8-bit CPU with about 3,500 transistors, three registers and a zero page, sold for $25, used in the Apple II, Commodore 64 and NES.
- 1976 · ZilogZilog Z80How the Zilog Z80 worked: an 8080-compatible 8-bit CPU with a second register set, index registers and built-in DRAM refresh, used for nearly fifty years.
Consoles
RISC
- 1985 · MIPS Computer SystemsMIPSHow the MIPS architecture works: 32 registers, three fixed 32-bit instruction formats, load/store design and a five-stage pipeline. The RISC CPU textbooks use.
- 2010 · UC BerkeleyRISC-VHow RISC-V works: an open, royalty-free instruction set. The RV32I base has 32 registers, about 40 instructions and six tidy formats, plus optional extensions.
Teaching machines
- 2005 · Noam Nisan and Shimon SchockenHack (nand2tetris)How the Hack computer from nand2tetris works: 16 bits, A and D registers, A- and C-instructions, ROM32K, a 512×256 screen and a memory-mapped keyboard.
- 2000s · Yale Patt and Sanjay PatelLC-3How the LC-3 works: a 16-bit teaching computer with eight registers, 15 opcodes, N/Z/P condition codes, TRAP routines and memory-mapped keyboard and display.
- 2003 · Linda Null and Julia LoburMARIEHow MARIE works: a 16-bit accumulator machine with 4K words of memory, a 4-bit opcode and about 15 instructions, built to teach the fetch-decode-execute cycle.