Zusie mounted in cabinet

This video displays Zusie the Relay Computer with all boards as well as the control panel mounted in its wodden cabinet. It also shows the machine from many angles while it's running an iterative program.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• zusie
• relay computer
• relays
• homebrew cpu

[PainGuy2]

Very impressive! I have a question about ur use of assembly. How does the relay computer understand the instruction? what did u do in ur design to make the chip understand the command MOVCA or even the semicolon for example. this is something that always puzzled me about low level languages. I know that assembly is simplified representation of the machine code, but how does the computer know that when u type 65 that its actually 1000001? i understand if u don't have the time or energy to explain

[nablaman]

@PainGuy2 Zusie doesn't read the assembly code directly (nor does any other computer). Instead you run it through a program called an assembler, which produces a binary version of the program that the computer can understand. So for instance, MOVCA is transformed into the value 81, which is called an opcode. It's the same way with literal values in the assembly code, like 65. It's also transformed by the assembler into a binary value. Don't know if this made any sense? :)

[PainGuy2]

@nablaman That makes alot of sense! Thank you very much :) Once last question (sry to be a bother) Where would this assembler be stored & how exactly is it made on something like a z80 for example. Do they store it in a ROM of some sort etc etc. once again sry to be a bother. I've been searching the web for these answers and have yet to find anything.

[nablaman]

@PainGuy2 No problem :) The assembler is typically a program that runs on another computer. The laptop you see in my videos is used for assembling programs. When the program is assembled, the final binary code can be uploaded to the machine's program RAM/ROM. It works the same way for Z80 and all other processors. You can find the source code of Zusie's assembler program on my home page, if you're interested.

[nablaman]

@PainGuy2 No problem! The assembler is typically a program that runs on another computer. The laptop you see in my videos is used for assembling programs. When the program is assembled, the final binary code can be uploaded to the machine's program RAM/ROM. It works the same way for Z80 and all other processors. You can find the source code of Zusie's assembler program on my home page, if you're interested.

[kiyotewolf]

I'M HAVING A NERDONER AND A NERDGASM, I'M NERDHOT AND NERDBOTHERED RIGHT NOW. :M

[nablaman]

@kiyotewolf That's what I was aiming for! :)

[nablaman]

@Minifig666 The tablet version should be out this fall :)

[Serostern]

Now... Make it able to play pong!

[blakegriplingph]

@Serostern - Or try Crysis on it.

[PainGuy2]

@nablaman OH I C! Yeah i will have a look at the source. Thank you soo much for ur help, and once again great job on ur work :)

[TheDJ3520]

Interesting build. Can it read a floppy disk?

[nablaman]

@kiyotewolf Sorry, no room for a flux capacitor on the front panel... :(