Microprocessors are everywhere, from phones to pacemakers, but very few of us truly understand how they work. In an attempt to fill these knowledge gaps, researchers have created a so-called The Megaprocessor - a giant replica of a microprocessing unit - to reveal some of the chip's secrets.
Exhibited at the Centre for Computer History, The Megaprocessor consists of seven panels, is two metres high and almost 10 metres end-to-end. It’s a completely unique project; there is nothing else like it in the world, as it’s not based on any single computer chip architecture.
Perhaps the most impressive part of this venture was that it was built as a hobby project. Engineer James Newman created the machine in order to learn more about transistors, the mechanisms that switch or amplify electrical power and are a key component in the production of electrical circuits.
In the 1950's, when microprocessors were still at the height of ingenuity, you could learn more about them through a crackling public service announcement, over the dulcet tones of old-time bugles and string instruments.
They have given us television, radio and radar - leaps of technological engineering that have shaped our modern world. But if you ask what Newman's beast of a Megaprocessor is capable of, the answer is: it can play games. Most importantly - giant TETRIS.
On his website, Newman answered the question of why he created the megaprocessor with the simple response: “Because I want to.”
It took him five years and £40,000, and The Megaprocessor was completed in June 2016.
The finished product is comprised of 10,500 LED lights, with 40,000 individual transistors in the system. An in-built panel demonstrates the functions of 256 bytes of RAM, the machine's primary system of data storage.
On a standard-sized microchip, these transistors would be hard to distinguish, as millions of them would be placed directly into the chip. However, Newman’s model allows for the use of individual components – discrete transistors.
The transistors in Newman’s Megaprocessor can fit in the palm of your hand, adding a tactile layer to the experience of learning about electrical systems (without the need for an electrical charge).
In a statement from the Centre for Computer History, Newman said: “Looking at [microprocessors], it’s impossible to see how they work. What I wanted to do was get inside and see what’s going on. Trouble is we can’t shrink down small enough to walk inside a silicon chip. But we can go the other way; we can build the thing big enough that we can walk inside it. Not only that we can also put LEDs on everything so we can actually see the data moving and the logic happening.”
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
