https://github.com/slu4coder/Minimal-64x4-Home-Computer
I like this idea, if I understand it right. It seems to be a super-charged 8bit type machine. With a few improvements over what was possible or practical to have back then.
Hardware
● Only 61 74HCxx logic ICs, 2x 6C1008 SRAM, 4x 39SF0x0 FLASH, NO MICROCONTROLLER!
● Textbook 'Von-Neumann' architecture, 8-bit data bus, 16-bit address bus, 24 control signals
● 64KB RAM, 512KB FLASH SSD with file system (format, load, save, dir, delete)
● Monochrome VGA output 400 x 240 pixels, PS/2, expansion slot and serial UART port
● 8MHz CPU clockrate, 1.85Mips - that's 4x the processing power of a Commodore C64
● 256 instructions including conditional branching, subroutines, stack, word, long and zero-page operations
● 2 data registers A & B, ALU supporting ADD, SUBTRACT, AND, OR with 3 flags (negative, carry and zero)
This is definitely the kind of thing I like. A 'what if' we never got past logic gate based systems but everything else developed, what would a system look like?
From the 80s to the 2000s there were lots of cool computer concepts that probably never got their time to shine because they were replaced with something better a few months or years later. I love the idea of what if some of them niche ideas had time to develop and take advantage of better manufacturing or understanding of the science.