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Life & fun · June 15, 2026

We built an 8-bit CPU as 2nd year EE students

Hi! me and my friends together built an 8 bit CPU implemented in Logisim purely from scratch. The control unit of this system does not implement the generic microcode ROM or any kind of RAM. This was made purely from discrete logic gates and coded the system to run different programs. key features: Custom 16-instruction Harvard ISA, 8-bit fixed format, 4 general purpose registers Hardwired control unit built entirely from AND/OR gate logic matrix Dual-phase clocking to eliminate race conditions Bootstrap Control Unit that cold-boots via ROM-to-RAM transfer Early-exit conditional…

We built an 8-bit CPU as 2nd year EE students launched on June 15, 2026 with 108 votes, #350 of 22,647 launches that month and more than 95% of that year's launches.

Visit github.com ↗Alternativestop 2% of June 2026

In plain words

A team of second-year electrical engineering students designed and built an 8-bit CPU from scratch using Logisim, simulating the hardware entirely with discrete logic gates. The system features a custom 16-instruction Harvard architecture with four general-purpose registers and a hardwired control unit built from AND/OR gates rather than microcode ROM. It uses dual-phase clocking to prevent race conditions and includes a bootstrap control unit for cold-booting. The full design specification and code are available on GitHub.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

8-bit Harvard CPU built from individual logic gates in Logisim-Evolution. - c0rRupT9/STEPLA-1

A complete 8-bit Harvard architecture CPU designed and simulated in Logisim-Evolution, built entirely from individual logic gates down to the gate level. STEPLA-1 is a fully functional 8-bit CPU where every component; registers, decoders, ALU, control unit is built from individual 74-series logic gates. No black box components. Every signal path is visible, traceable, and documented. Unlike EEPROM-based designs, STEPLA-1 uses a fully hardwired control unit a gate-level AND/OR matrix where every control signal is a physical gate whose inputs you can probe with a multimeter. This makes the machine transparent in a way that microcode-based designs cannot be. STEPLA-1 takes a third path:…from github.com

In the maker’s words, at launch

Hi! me and my friends together built an 8 bit CPU implemented in Logisim purely from scratch. The control unit of this system does not implement the generic microcode ROM or any kind of RAM. This was made purely from discrete logic gates and coded the system to run different programs. key features: Custom…

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