James Newman, a software engineer based in Cambridge, UK, has recently finished his Megaprocessor project after about four years of work.
The entire project cost him about £40,000 or $52,000, as well as the entire lounge room in his house, since the whole system measures up to 10 meters long, or about 33 feet, is 2 meters tall, or about 6.6 feet, and weighs about half a ton or an estimated 1,000 pounds.
So what is it, exactly?
Simply put, it is and isn't a microprocessor.
Even though the Megaprocessor functions very similar to a microprocessor, it is not a "micro" chip, but an enormous version of the latter built to human scale, literally.
You can basically walk up to it and watch how a tiny microprocessor performs, which is the main reason why Newman built it in the first place. He also plans to ship it to a new home where it could be used for academic purposes.
"Computers are quite opaque, looking at them it's impossible to see how they work," Newman says, adding that while "we can't shrink down small enough to walk inside a silicon chip," we have the option to "build the thing big enough that we can walk inside it."
Newman also had the ingenuity of adding LEDs to the system so that the human eye can actually follow the signals passing through each and every relay of the processor. The display gives a better and visual understanding of how data and logic are handled by the Megaprocessor and to some extent, microprocessors.
The system is perfectly capable of processing arithmetic problems, though, Newman was more interested in programming it to execute simple games like Tetris and Tic-Tac-Toe. Newman also reportedly plans to add another well-loved game to it, the Nokia 3310 version of Snake, in the coming days.
Those interested in checking out various details about the Megaprocessor should follow Newman's YouTube channel where he walks audiences through the system and his current updates on the processor, as well as providing tutorials for other engineers who wish to build their own systems.
Newman is also opening his home to interested viewers who wish to play the aforementioned games or simply want to catch a glimpse of the Megaprocessor in action. Its first publicly "Open Day" event is scheduled this coming Saturday, July 9, at 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time. Reserving a slot can be accessed through its Facebook event page.
Meanwhile, his first walkthrough of the Megaprocessor may be viewed below:
