Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
I've done some videos lately on the 8008 CPU, widely regarded as the world's first 8-bit programmable microprocessor. Previously I built a nice little single board computer. In this video I connect eight of these 8008 microprocessors together, designate one as a controller, design a shared memory abstraction between then, and use them to solve a simple parallel computing program -- Conway's Game of Life. Using my simple straightforward assembly implementation of Conway's, I was about to show that the seven CPUs (one controller, 6 workers) worked together to solve the problem significantly faster than the single processor alone. The 8008 debuted commercially in the early 1970s. It's a physically small chip, only 18 pins, and requires a triplexed address and data bus. The clock rate is 500 KHz and the instruction set is fairly limited. Nevertheless, you can do a lot with this little CPU. For more vintage computer projects, see smbaker.com/.
I've done some videos lately on the 8008 CPU, widely regarded as the world's first 8-bit programmable microprocessor. Previously I built a nice little single board computer. In this video I connect eight of these 8008 microprocessors together, designate one as a controller, design a shared memory abstraction between then, and use them to solve a simple parallel computing program -- Conway's Game of Life. Using my simple straightforward assembly implementation of Conway's, I was about to show that the seven CPUs (one controller, 6 workers) worked together to solve the problem significantly faster than the single processor alone. The 8008 debuted commercially in the early 1970s. It's a physically small chip, only 18 pins, and requires a triplexed address and data bus. The clock rate is 500 KHz and the instruction set is fairly limited. Nevertheless, you can do a lot with this little CPU. For more vintage computer projects, see smbaker.com/.
