Bit-slice microprocessor design

What Hacker News says

1. monocasaMar 2021
   If you don't know of it already, you might like the book Bit-Slice Microprocessor Design written by Mick and Brick. It's written to be very AM2900 specific, but a lot of the techniques would apply to microcoded TTL processors with just a little more work on your end. And it really does a good job of exploring the space of microcoded minicomputer design in an interesting way.
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2. pkayeApr 2020
   Here are some old books on bit-slice processors. Very interesting reading.

   Bit-Slice Design: Controllers and ALUs by Donnamaie E. White

   Bit-Slice Microprocessor Design by John Mick and James Brick

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3. pkayeJun 2017
   Anyone wanting to learn more about Microcode in general, I found two old books that has some information:

   * Bit-Slice Design: Controllers and ALUs, Donnamaie White

   * Bit-Slice Microprocessor Design, Mick and Brick

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4. joe_bleauMay 2009
   You may be right about the 2900, but I think that one of the 2900 books ("Bit-slice Microprocessor Design" by Mick and Brick) could be considered very influential to a certain generation of older digital designer.

   Thanks for bringing this up--I'll need to add a copy to my library now!

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5. B1FF_PSUVMDec 2025
   AMD was already in the CPU market with bit-slice LSI chips, the Am2900 set of chips: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Am2900

   Those worked in 4-bit slices, and you could use them as LEGO blocks to build your own design (e.g. 8, 12 ou 16 bits) with much fewer parts than using standard TTL gates (or ECL NANDs, if you were Seymour Cray).

   The 1980 Mick & Brick book Bit-slice Microprocessor Design later gathered together some "application notes" - the cookbooks/crib sheets that semiconductor companies wrote and provided to get buyers/engineers started after the spec sheets.

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6. ablealSep 2021
   Outstanding piece. Towards the end, Ken Shirrif has a good discussion around this: "[...] Still others would allow these functions to be packaged in a few chips, which would collectively make up the microprocessor.[...]"

   Along those lines, there was also a set of "bit-sliced" chips from AMD, which looked very interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Am2900

   P.S. The "Mick & Brick" book: https://www.amazon.com/Bit-slice-microprocessor-design-John-...

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