Whereas the world has been racing for increased and better bit counts for CPUs, there are at all times people who buck the development. Take into account the venerable Motorola MC14500B, a 1-bit CPU, no kidding. [Usagi Electric] constructed up a pc primarily based on one among these chips utilizing a breadboard however has since pulled it aside to make use of the breadboard for different issues. So this time, he’s made a everlasting model on a PCB and created a easy sport to indicate it off. You possibly can see the consequence within the video under.

Effectively, the chip had one bit within the datapath. It didn’t have any reminiscence, nevertheless it did have a approach to feed it 4-bit directions, and, as you may guess, there have been 16 potentialities for directions. The chip was meant to switch industrial controllers the place even a PLC is likely to be overkill, and apparently, it did see some use in the actual world.

The board was made to appear like a period-appropriate board. There are thick and curvy traces, extensively separated, and there’s no solder masks, both. The completed board appears nice and will simply cross for a Nineteen Seventies-era growth board. There have been a couple of issues with the unique board, nevertheless it all labored out in the long run.

We all know the little CPU confirmed up on no less than one academic board. When you may suppose having a small CPU is a drawback, it isn’t if you’re making an attempt to construct it utilizing tubes.