In an era of Raspberry Pi 5s running at 2.4GHz with 8GB of RAM, why learn how to design a machine with 16KB and a glue logic chip?
Part of the charm (and frustration) of the Spectrum comes from the ULA's design shortcuts: Attribute Clash In an era of Raspberry Pi 5s running at 2
The book provides a deep dive into the reverse-engineered design of the Ferranti ULA, stripping it down to transistor-level schematics to explain how it integrated various computer functions into a single cost-effective chip. In an era of Raspberry Pi 5s running at 2
Why? Because one engineer, armed with a logic analyzer and a Ferranti databook, looked at the problem of building a color computer for the working class and said: "I don't need a million transistors. I need 1,000 gates, configured perfectly." In an era of Raspberry Pi 5s running at 2