Vortrag: How to Build a Computer …

… from scratch

... how two young men set out to build a small SoC based computer from scratch, detailing technical decisions made along the way, elaborating how you can do the same, providing insight into designing and programming embedded system and sharing humorous and nostalgic anecdotes ...

One might assume that it’s quite a challenge to design and build a computer from the circuit board level up. Yet two idiots managed to do so with little formal experience, no resources and in a trivial amount of time. In this talk, said idiots will present the Anykey0x.de, a tiny (2.4 X 2.4 cm) yet powerful embedded system that was the result of their effort. The short version is: it’s a bit like arduino, only smaller and more powerful. Or, to expand, it’s an ARM Cortex-M3 based development board that’s cheap and small enough to be used as a part in other hardware designs, can be used to upgrade existing legacy peripherals to USB, or as a stand alone platform to experiment with it’s many peripherals (USB, an LED, a button and configurable pins). Both design and software are open source and we’d like to share some of our design decisions and experiences we’ve made so far. We’ll also be available to do workshops in which you can learn to solder SMD (easy!) and build your very own computer from scratch!