Jonathan A. Titus

Microcomputer Pioneer

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Introduction Binary Numbers Boolean Logic Digital Circuits
CPU & Memory Instruction Set Addressing Assembly Lang
Bus & I/O Interfacing & Interrupts Advanced Topics Design Tools
 

This section was created to add an educational value to the project. It is structured in 3 parallel categories, which follow the same format of 12 sequential lessons to teach computer design:
  1. Mark-8 Design, based on the original material distributed by Radio-Electronics for hobbyists, and some of the articles retrieved from the Mark-8 User Group Newsletter, which was formed shortly after the Radio-Electronics article was published
  2. Microcomputer According to Titus, based on original writings of Jon Titus published in American Laboratory and Computer Design, which we reproduce here with permission of the publisher, and
  3. Microcontroller Project, which we did for the XGame Station Pico to learn about computer design; it was inspired by one of the experiments on computer games from the original extended article on Mark-8 and followed Dr. Titus' advice in his interview that a microcontroller would be easier to do for the beginners than a full microcomputer; a video documenting this project is included.
The lessons are broken up into 12 descriptive topics. Listed below is each of the lessons’ topics. You can mouse over each of the boxes to see a brief description of what the lesson is about. To go to the lesson to learn more, simply click on the box. You can also navigate to any of the lessons using the left side menu.

When going through the lessons, you will see each of the three categories along the top of the screen. Simply click on the category tab at the top to view more information in this category for any particular lesson.

Lesson 1: Intro to Micro-Computers. This lesson has three parts: the introduction to the Mark-8, an introduction to microprocessors, and finally an introduction to X-Game Station.

Lesson 2: Binary Numberation. This lesson has two parts: an introduction to the binary number system, which is covered in two of the three tabs, and the Pico Numberation System.

Lesson 3: Boolean Logic. This lesson will cover a basic understanding of Boolean logic, covered over three tabs.

Lesson 4: Digital Circuits. This lesson will cover a basic understanding of Digital Circuits, covered over three tabs.

Lesson 5: CPU and Memory. This lesson has three parts: two of which covers basic CPU and Memory information, and the last part covers Picu's version of CPU and Memory

Lesson 6: Instuction Set. This lesson will cover the basic understanding of Instruction Set.

Lesson 7: Addressing Modes. This lesson will cover how the Addressing Control Module works and how it interacts to computer memory.

Lesson 8: Assembly Language. This lesson will cover the basic understanding of the low level language that is Assembly.

Lesson 9: Input-Output. This lesson will cover how the Input and output works within computers and how they interact with the Bus of a computer. It will also cover Pico's version as well.

Lesson 10: Interfacing and Interrupts. This lesson will cover how interrupts work and how the computer can interface with different systems to provide different results.

Lesson 11: Advanced Topics. This lesson will cover advanced topics such as Radio-Electronics, Direct Access Memory, and the Pico Expansion Port.

Lesson 12: Design Tools. This lesson will cover sample error reports, Logic Probes, and programming Keys.



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