Some Hexadecimal Components I've been making for a word processor

[Apocryphan]

I couldn't think of 1 particular thing to focus on, so this will just be a mega post with all the pieces, eventually i'll put together my word processor but I keep jumping back and forth between pieces whenever i think of an improvement.

In this thread:
Hex Ascii keyboard
Hex Rom with Ascii input and 4 hex output
4 hex to 16 bit converter for the display
Stackable, 2-way shifting, hex memory cells
16 bit pipeline
4 hex to pipeline encoders/decoders

Hex Ascii keyboard




Top left will be a directional pad and some similiar functions.
Top right will be a numpad with a num lock option to change it to a 2nd D-pad, and red is Caps Lock, bottom buttons are Letters.

Hex Rom with Ascii input and 4 hex output



This Rom takes 2 hex values to read (8,0) to (15,15).
I have the first value adjusted to +8 so i can use the 4th bit as a constant to trigger. The rom can be arranged in a few different ways. I still haven't finished all the coding on the this, just upper and lower case letters, i just havent programmed the numbers, symbols and extras in yet, i may end up disconnecting the 0 rom from the output and using it to trigger the different shifts and functions.




Cheat Sheet



4 hex to 16 bit converter for the display



16 segment display was inspired by Koala_Steamed, i just studied his and made it 2 blocks shorter and added a cursor between each alphanumeric character.



I just use 4 of my stackable hex to binary converters to write to the 16 segment

Stackable, 2-way shifting, hex memory cells



1st version is on top, I actually messed up when counting spaces between inputs and its 1 too wide, the new version on bottom fixes that and i switched shift wires so the "space bar" shift is on the input side since it is triggered every input.



16 bit pipeline



Working on making a T-Pipe to split inputs/outputs, so i can use multiplie serial bussers on each pipe. Was also thinking about that dick thread, and how easy I could make a dick using ROM balls and the pipeline for a shaft, my dick could even have a hook on the end...

4 hex to pipeline encoders and decoders




since the decoder has a delay before the output is proper, i added a shutter to stop the signal until its ready to send.



Gold blocks are the outputs converted back to hexadecimal, emerald blocks are the "ground" so to speak. any value input into the emerald will be subtracted from the gold output, allowing for a cancel signal.

[Magic :^)]

my dick could even have a hook on the end...

+rep, very classy

[Legofreak]

ive wanted to do hex ascii for a long time but ive just been too lazy. neat stuff.

[Apocryphan]

Fyi, when i was making the keyboard at first i wanted to have the same layout as the standard but if you look closely there is a pattern, its' in alphabetic order a to z and the shift to uppercase just adjusts the first value by 2. This and a few other symbols only comprise the bottom half of the rom, and numbers only take up one of the top (i haven't done it yet, been lazy) so 3 of the top roms dont have to lead into the display and probably can be cut into 1/4th the size by having it output a single wire to the function rather than having 4 hex outputs, so then if your wondering why half the rom is empty, sorry, its only supposed to be 5/8th empty, ill program numbers and functions sooo. i will be changing the 6 tick throughput dropper/hopper design for my new 2 tick throughput design also.

[LordDecapo]

great progress for sure! And I like how you organize your posts, gives the full over view with out having to go in game.

[Apocryphan]

I got to a fork in the road on my calculator and needed some time to ponder it, so I went back to this and overhauled some pieces using my 2 tick shifter, I still have to apply this to a few other builds such as the hard drive.


Shortened the wires on my 16 segment display and removed the repeaters





I would like to make a 2 tall stackable hex to binary that is sync, it's not really pertinent for the word processor since the 4 hex are stored, but I have an idea for a scrolling text bar using a rom or 2 and one of my specialty clocks to unload it, was also looking to make a 4 frame animation for a loading symbol in the corner. but the current decoder takes a few ticks to convert so it wouldn't be a smooth transition between frames, but hey at least it looks cool when it's calculating the bits, so at least it has that going for it =/

2 tick throughput ROM for my Ascii rom





this ROM output isn't synced, i don't think my current vision of this Word requires it to be that fast unless I add a save/load function.



The synced version sticks out only 2 blocks further and outputs in the middle instead of the end.



And there is always a solid state option but I haven't condensed that yet, the outputs are staggered up and down to allow for hold wires and the selection range is adjusted to 3 instead of 1, so your desired output is the middle and the holds on each side are turned off, allowing the hopper value to output.

Faster Router and Different Serial bus decoding method



on the left is the same basic hex serial busser for sending 2 values, in the middle is a decoder that i originally used for my hard drive before I could send and recieve 0's, but for this the second digit can be 0, by sending a tracer to the 0 which will be triggered by the first digit. this basically chops off 1 wire after 2 ticks and opens the other after 2 ticks, so if you have a 3rd digit, you could split it again or just chop the 2nd wire off after 2 ticks also. This decoder keeps the signals staggered, whereas the trigger decoder pulls all the signals simultaneously.

on the right is the router, prior versions used my hopper/dropper selector which took 6 ticks and required you to delay the signal until the selector opened the gate. This takes 1 tick to balance to the proper output, along with the 2 tick stagger, there is very little delay needed before sending it through, damn near instant.



Ironically, this is not the first time i've used this trick, before my dropper/hopper hex to bin converter my first sync decoder used this rollback trick to loop in from the other end and turn off the other side. I've just come full circle making it faster.



with a 1-tick balancing memory on it you don't need the inversion comparator.



if you ever get bored just play with it, stretch it out maybe, she's flexible, just no slabs on output line because the signal must travel both ways. And if you're really bored, I bet pablodons dick could fit, mine wouldn't even touch the sides tho... #CompactProblems



Might as well throw this in too, on the left is yet another version of a balancing selector with the memory on it, I call it the slide-whistle model. The 7 segment i hope to somehow encode with it, I'm thinking maybe make the slide-whistle into a small 2 hex output rom and then convert and use 7 of the bits. just a thought.

[martinthewarrior]

ok wow i that i was doing so cool stuff but i guess not this is the most awesome thing ive seen so far but i did just start on this forum 20 mins ago. great job figuring this stuff out!!

[Apocryphan]

Thanks, I'm hoping to inspire others to use comparators.

Might as well post an update, pic since i'm bumping.



added 2 selectors for the 2nd digits 0 and 1, so it has 32 available commands and 96 characters, I couldn't use all keyboard characters so i made other symbols instead.

[Legofreak]

I just made a container ROM inspired by your design... now i just need to think of something fun to do with it...

[Apocryphan]

I bet it's gonna be sweet.

[Legofreak]

I just tried this for the first time... fast wires work really well to split the same signal to multiple places at the same time. but you probably already knew this.

[LordDecapo]

Nice nice. Now finish this xD and add your calculator to it, you have the display stuff done, almost it seems, so I wouldn't see it being TOO hard to modify and add maths to the word processor

[Apocryphan]

Lol if only it were that simple as plugging it together, im working on the shifter array for the pointer so i can connect the controller and program all the different jumps, and a calc on this wouldnt be too hard i think.

[LordDecapo]

Lol Ikr? If only stuff was that easy xD
I just would love this (I already love it but ya) more then ever if it not only was analog and 15 segment displays, but u could do maths too.

Btw... what would u think about hooking that up to my IizR13 CPU? I can send 16 bits of data per 8 ticks to it Via serial.. then it could be a massive and fast terminal

[Apocryphan]

I'd be honored. That may actually motivate me to apply to the build server.

[Apocryphan]

How big should i make my display? 16 x 16 is the largest with my current array.

[Apocryphan]

here is the shifters for the pointers and to track the end of each line so you can jump to the end or front or move forward or back in increments of any analog signal, the each line will have these 2 adjustable memory cells, here's the trick... the top memory adjusts the range of the bottom. and when you adjust the top it will adjust the bottom also, bottom one is your pointer, it will tell the signal where to shift the memory to make room for the incoming signal and will also lead the new signal to that cell, the top memory cell will trigger the proper shift depending on how it moves, I use a falling and rising signal strength detector to trigger them. the space trigger will move all the memory cells to the right of the pointer to shift 1 to the right, and delete will shift the memory cell that's 1 to the left of the pointer into a blocked cell and shift all cells to the right of it left 1. I may need to add another memory cell to hold the gate for the new signals but they are only 14 comparators per line and then i will use one to control which vertical line.







I may have used some instant wire for triggering the space and delete shifts, but the pointer still has a small delay spanning it, i think i may move it all to the middle and just make the shifters look like a spline, there is a 2 block gap between each line of memory for the wires to the pointer display to fit through and the delete shift wire too.

---

I just tried this for the first time... fast wires work really well to split the same signal to multiple places at the same time. but you probably already knew this.

only slightly? lol

[LordDecapo]

I'd be honored. That may actually motivate me to apply to the build server.

Why have you not? XD I pretty much garentee u are skilled enough.

[Apocryphan]

Semi Off Topic post: Something relevant and something that should be common knowledge.

Rising and Falling Signal Strength Detector
This will be used to trigger whether the memory gets bumped forward or back, yellow will pulse when the signal increases and orange will pulse when it decreases. hopper contains 1 stackable item.



Something to remember. You don't always need a container to hard code a SS value.



You can pull a signal from a container through a block that is powered as long as its' value isn't 15.





But you can run a power of 15 over a hopper without crossing.



locking a repeater with a comparator will not produce the normal Bar across a repeater but it will still lock it with a value as little as 1.



Using signal manipulation you can greatly reduce lag for piston trains by changing it from an on/off 1 tick pulse to an alternating 14/15 pulse, so only the end wires will flash, this also makes it easy to carry by inverting.





And just to jump back on topic, my favorite character on my rom is...

[Chibill]

Cool stuff. Might need to use this in my ACD system .

[Apocryphan]

some new and interesting things and ways of doing this, all those selectors that loop back are fast, 2 tick designs and i've found a setup that allows for a versatile varied output circuit, the input for 15 can use a less than 15 signal to input a user specified jump.



Not sure the addressing would matter without a load/save yet.



sorry if the pentadecimal confused some people, it was more for fun, and with it balanced, it uses the same values for left/right and up/down, the only change is whether its added or subtracted. or you can just input the corresponding values (0-15) into a single input.





I meant to say default output, not default hopper.



The most compact 2 tick loopback, only 16 wide for 16 outputs, just need to stagger where they meet to use it for a seamless trigger for the infinite wire trigger and range selector.

[Apocryphan]

I've made the circuit to complete this, I just need to get home and to my computer to get the rest and piece it together, it will be throughput parallel 6 wire analog, and with my new selector circuit I can select them in an all new badass way, that adds convenience as well function. Using my own version of a 1SS selector combined with the overlapping signal of an empty furnace and the input to trigger for 15 also. allowing us to select in 4 ways: Individually, single column, single row, or all of them at once, making it easy to clear all in a single trigger, make a header, or to write on every line at once.


^Orange is the new selector that will trigger individually for 1-14 or 15 will trigger all the selectors on that wire.


^I made a simpler memory for the display, i will reinstate the 2 way shifting when i get back to my pc and attach my keyboard and rom.







the button on the side clears all, and sets the cursor to 0,0


^2 SS, the 1-14 or 15 selector also stacks for 2 high outputs, hopper adjusts the individual SS decoder and the furnace you can see holds 1 item.


^15 SS, the furnace to the right is empty, only outputting when the signal between them hits 15, causing a secondary disconnect. This can be useful in eliminating extra wires to trigger all the latches. Thank you for your time, I hope to have a working version that uses all the elements shown, and sorry i've been away, I was making a survival useful computer basically to work as a vending machine, turned out great and upgradeable too.


http://imgur.com/a/au1Kh

[Legofreak]

Jumped on for the first time in a while. Tried my hand at a stackable hex to bin. I know you did this a while back but I wanted to try myself. I think it looks pretty nice. added some extra repeaters for buffering.

[Apocryphan]

i like it, it looks to be a bit more in sync

[Legofreak]

extra buffering... Best case for the ones is 7 ticks, worst is 10. But the 8s run at a constant 7 ticks(with the buffer)

mmmmm tasty GIF


edit: just realized this is my 420th post... I guess my work is done here. #420blazeit

i like smiley faces

[LordDecapo]

Grats on 420th post xD
I like the screens btw

[Chibill]

I like the compact converters. Going to be using them soon!

[Apocryphan]

I was gonna use part of mine, but remembered how yours is synced, you just inspired something...

[Apocryphan]

Hmm... reading through this post, I feel both familiar and confused, it's great and overcomplicated comparator tech. Are you still working on this?

I have it almost completed on the build server, only some wires to connect and then the tedious task of testing and timing it, here are some updated pics from the server.

The keyboard:
I went the easy way and kept it in the ascii order, shift just subtracts 2 SS from the 1st Rom address, switching from upper to lower case and such. keypad directions and shifting functions (delete, space and all the others) utilize the first 2 roms, letters and numbers use the last 6, I use 1-8 for rom labels to fix the 0-rom issue. 




The Rom:

It's been a while, cant remember all the specifics, but whenever you press a button, it will send the rom to the position of the cursor and add +1 to the cursor, which will shift any letters to the right of it over one also and delete will erase the spot before the cursor and shift any letters on the right side, to the left 1 spot. I haven't planned on making it pull from the 2nd line, back to the end of the 1st line, due to space and not wanting delays.

6 colors of wool above the 6 alphanumeric roms and black and white below for the 2 control roms.


Green is the input wire from keyboard, teal is the cursor wire and Yellow carries the 4 hex values to the RAM.



I stuck with my 2 way shifting RAM and my 16 segment display, but went with legofreak's acb since it was synced and ours are very similiar. 

All in all, just your average, everyday word processor. so simple a rocket surgeon could do it. But I can't wait to see what you come up with using some of these methods. I also saw you use bjomolf's queue, his was loosely based off of mine, which inspired my next one, which looks like yours (kinda funny how inspiration is given and gotten) if you wanna check it out.



and then came this: https://youtu.be/-sFAgGw8lDE

Stay Fancy, Mr. Pants.

~Apocryphan

[Apocryphan]

the compact queue (youtube vid) i made has some specific functions, such as a parallel load/serial unload. but the one in the pic can be made into 2-way shifting, and it shifts them all simultaneously, i use that one for my deck of cards and combination lock.

And feel free to use anything you like, any patents i once held have been traded for juiceboxes and cookies. so at least leave me a cookie in a chest.