[Chris] sent us this project, where he built a tiny supercomputer called the Non-von1. Wanting a supercomputer, but lacking space and funds, he opted to go after the supercomputers of the 80s. His system was patterned after the “Von Neumann” systems developed at Columbia university. His system has 31 8 bit processors to crunch numbers for him. The whole unit communicates with the computer using a19.2 kbps serial link. He does talk about its limited capabilities, stating that he could use it as a way to store roughly half of his cell phone’s phonebook. This reminds us of the Basic stamp supercomputer we covered back in November.
this is actually a *non*-von neumann machine, meaning it does not store program and data in the same memory space. the decidedly non-supercomputeriffic intel 8048 and 8051 are also non-von designs.
I’m sure there’s still some bottleneck in there. Perhaps that slow serial link to get data in and out.
localroger, yes that is what tfa said.
Interesting, yet utterly useless.
Look guys, reposting stories that you found on *smaller* websites is fine. But reposting stories you find on Slashdot is just silly.
To be fair to hackaday, I did submit it here first, they were just a bit slow to post stories today =) On that note:
1. Yes, it is non-von neumann. That’s why it’s called the “Non-Von.”
2. The I/O Bottleneck is a problem, but I set it at 19.2 kbd so I could talk to it using my Kaypro 2 computer (which is from 1983, and maxes out at 19.2 kbd). My FPGA board actually had a USB connection, although the drivers are for Windows only so I couldn’t really use it. I think that can go up to 35 megabytes/s pretty easily though.
3. Yes, it’s useless, but I needed an interesting way to teach myself Verilog =)
All the websites don’t work. The pic here shows a book with a plug on the side. I don’t see any movie of it working, or wiring schematics, or photos of the components. It appears fake. If you’re going to do a project, at least show it working on youtube.
Fake. The page is a dead link. The project is a hoax.
Works for me. You’re trolling.