TIS-100 PoC

So not sure if I’ve mentioned TIS-100 on the blog before or not (update: I have). But it’s this neat computer game where you need to program a network of devices (the “Tessellated Information System”) in a pseudo assembly language in order to make a broader information system work. Anyway I was thinking about doing a hardware implementation of the system and using either some type of ATtiny (probably an ATtiny85, maybe an ATtiny45) or maybe an Arduino Nano. I did a mockup with an OLED display using a nano:

SparkFun Tiny AVR Programmer PGM-11801

I have one of these: SparkFun Tiny AVR Programmer PGM-11801. I was thinking of getting another one or two for backup, but there’s probably no need at the moment.

Also I figured out how to put a programmer on my Pluggable ATTINY Development Board For ATtiny13A/ATtiny25/ATtiny45/ATtiny85 Programming Editor Micro Usb Power Connector (see that link for details).

Apollo Guidance Computer

Reading about the Apollo Guidance Computer. Compare that to the US$3.23 ATtiny85.

Spec AGC ATtiny85
Word size 16-bit 8-bit
Clock 2 MHz 20 MHz
ROM 72 KiB 8 KiB
RAM 4,096 B 512 B

The values in the above table are approximate, see the sources listed above for actual figures. Basically the $3 chip is ten times faster than the AGC but with less storage. Call it a draw?