The sequencer card is effectively a Finite State Machine (FSM) and makes up the broader ‘control unit’ within the computer. This card’s role is to produce a series of pulses at specified times that the controller card can then use to operate the various control lines of the computer at the right time.
Below is a list of the blog articles relating to this card (in reverse date order):
20 Nov 2019 - 2 min read
In my last couple of posts I covered off the full design for the sequencer unit. With PCBs now safely arrived in the post I can get on with soldering up the cards and giving …
11 Nov 2019 - 5 min read
Sequencer Design: Schematic & PCBs
I’ve got the designs for the 24-cycle FSM and pulse distribution in place so all that’s left for the sequencer is to bring the schematics together and then design …
02 Nov 2019 - 2 min read
Sequencer Design: Pulse Distribution
In my last post I extended the 8-cycle FSM (finite state machine) design all the way up to 24-cycles so that we can run longer and more complicated instructions. In this case …
01 Nov 2019 - 3 min read
Sequencer Design: 24-cycle FSM
Recently I’ve been looking at what’s needed to implement branching in my computer (the upcoming GOTO class of instructions). In my last post I covered the timing …
23 Sep 2019 - 7 min read
There’s been a common theme recently in the comments on my YouTube videos … people are ready to see my relay computer gain the power of branching and become a …
24 May 2016 - 2 min read
It’s finally time to give all the cards created so far a test so I can check everything works together as expected. This represents quite a bit of a milestone as the …
08 Jul 2015 - 6 min read
Sequencer Construction: 8-cycle FSM
I’m just about at the half way mark now for getting the computer to operate the MOV8, ALU and SETAB instructions. The easier cards are out of the way now … time …
22 Mar 2015 - 6 min read
Pulse Distribution Design: Pulses C,D and E
In my last post I covered the design of the 8-cycle finite state machine (FSM). In this post I’ll now take the outputs from that FSM and combine them to produce the …
26 Jan 2015 - 6 min read
So far I’ve got the design complete for the instruction register along with the initial design for the decoder and so I’m well on the way to having the computer …
19 Sep 2014 - 11 min read
Sequencing & Control Design: Overview
I’ve now got my computer to a state where I can perform ALU operations and push values around the four registers by manually operating the various control lines. …
