Integrated Circuits

[Binary Ranger]

So I had an epiphany about this today. Why you ask? Well, if anyone here plays Minecraft, this is why:



Honestly it's taken me bits and pieces of clues to figure out what exactly makes integrated circuitry tick. Essentially it's just electrical currents activating different switches and creating different types of feedback based on the switches that are activated?

If not, the man/woman/whatever that created that working computer in Minecraft certainly helped to illustrate that point.

So is that how actual integrated circuits work? Or am I confusing the term "integrated circuitry" with that of another?

Also on a side note, that video I posted is probably the coolest thing I have ever seen, yet at the same time the biggest waste.

 

[carnageX]

IC's are basically a bunch of transistors and/or logic gates (AND, OR, XOR, XNOR, etc.). These are laid out together in a way to create a circuit. Nowadays, chips are programmable and don't have much for actual logic gates inside the chip.

Taking a class on basic digital systems at the moment .

 

[Veraster]

Wow I'm impressed.. I used to have a minecraft server. I saw a lot of epic builds but I've never seen anything like that. I didn't even think it was possible to make a computer out of minecraft blocks.
Building a computer by buying all the parts from newegg is easy. Building a basic computer by creating schematics with cad software and making it into a pcb, etching the pcb and soldering chips and connectors then writing bios software to make it usable is extremely complex and very few people know how to do it.
Making a computer completely from scratch without cad software and making transistors and ics BY HAND and getting it to actually do anything is almost impossible. This guy did it in minecraft.

 

[carnageX]

Making a computer completely from scratch without cad software and making transistors and ics BY HAND and getting it to actually do anything is almost impossible. This guy did it in minecraft.

Doing basic circuitry isn't all that difficult. A partner and I made theoretical circuitry for a vending machine that accepts quarters, dimes, and nickels and dispenses a product at 30 cents and gives correct change.

It takes a bit of work, but it was done through a state diagram, transition table, Karnough Maps, and Verilog HDL programming language.

At the end of the semester, we'll have to do a project of making a processor (not by use of transistors, but programmatically and flashing it to an FPGA chip, same as the vending machine we just did). It'll have to add/subtract/and multiply I believe.

I've seen people make the above processor in Minecraft as well. It's all just 1's and 0's in a particular order and with particular logic gates and such.

 

[Veraster]

Doing basic circuitry isn't all that difficult. A partner and I made theoretical circuitry for a vending machine that accepts quarters, dimes, and nickels and dispenses a product at 30 cents and gives correct change.

It takes a bit of work, but it was done through a state diagram, transition table, Karnough Maps, and Verilog HDL programming language.

At the end of the semester, we'll have to do a project of making a processor (not by use of transistors, but programmatically and flashing it to an FPGA chip, same as the vending machine we just did). It'll have to add/subtract/and multiply I believe.

I've seen people make the above processor in Minecraft as well. It's all just 1's and 0's in a particular order and with particular logic gates and such.

Everyone must of become 1000 times smarter than me overnight or something

You're saying you could do the same? Could you build a minecraft computer? Can you build me an intel socket 1155 smartphone? And a quad cpu socket hptx motherboard?

 

[carnageX]

Everyone must of become 1000 times smarter than me overnight or something

You're saying you could do the same? Could you build a minecraft computer? Can you build me an intel socket 1155 smartphone? And a quad cpu socket hptx motherboard?

Entirely different things mate . I said basic circuitry and gave examples as to what I meant. Starting out is easy. Going into complex stuff such as actual processors (with millions of transistors packed on a chip) is done by machines for the most part.

The Minecraft computer? I probably couldn't do it right now as I'm not that far into my class. Could I after my class? Maybe. It would be a lot of work as I only know basics of it.

 

[Binary Ranger]

Entirely different things mate . I said basic circuitry and gave examples as to what I meant. Starting out is easy. Going into complex stuff such as actual processors (with millions of transistors packed on a chip) is done by machines for the most part.

The Minecraft computer? I probably couldn't do it right now as I'm not that far into my class. Could I after my class? Maybe. It would be a lot of work as I only know basics of it.

If you do, I have two things to say:

1. That's freaking awesome!

2. Why did you waste your time?

I do have a question. It is possible to create these advanced components in minecraft If the basic circuits can be made? You say it's millions of transistors on one chip that needs a machine to do it, COULD it be done in minecraft? Or is there more to this than I am understanding?

 

[Veraster]

Well the circuits wouldn't be the exact same because minecraft blocks can interact with physics without "electricity". The server owner has to have physics enabled for it to work. So if you broke into Intel's laboratories and stole schematics for a motherboard and an Intel i7 uber extreme edition, you wouldn't be able to exactly copy everything into minecraft.

In theory, you COULD make all those billions of transistors in minecraft if your computer could handle it. There is a copy and paste command in minecraft. But you would need a very good processor and a very expensive Nvidia Tesla rendering card on your real life computer to be able to handle all those blocks.

If you actually knew how to create those components and make it into a decent computer, you shouldn't be wasting your time on minecraft.

 

[danhodge]

The thing about Minecraft is that one error isn't the end - you can just redo that block. It will take absolutely ages, probably longer than it would in real life, but if you knew what you were doing, it would be pretty easy, and i reckon easier than doing it in real life. And that's because in real life, you have to rely on a lack of human error, and soldering must be a bit of a pain...

On another note, i have seen a lot of creations with redstone, including calculators and stuff like that. Its insane how it works so similarly to normal circuits, despite the lack of actual physics being present in the game :S

 

[carnageX]

The only physics you really need for the basic circuits are Vcc (power) and Ground. Redstone blocks emulate this by giving electrical traces in the blocks (the blocks acting as PCB's and the redstone powder working as traces).