Wolfram Tones

[PHOBoS]

Blue Hell posted a link to Wolfram Tones in the chatroom which he turned into another module for WREN. It's probably not much
of a surprise that when I looked at it my first thought was that it might be possible to do it with some logic chips. So I did.

Make sure to check the link for Wolfram Tones to get an idea what it does.

The circuit might look complex but is actually rather simple at its core. Each cell just requires a single mux and a latch. The
(ABC) control inputs of the mux are used to 'read' the current state of a cell and its neighbours. The new state is then set
according to the rules and fed into the latch. On the following low to high CLK transition the current state becomes this
new state. Repeat,..

So what's the rest of the circuit for you might ask. Although the circuit works with just muxes and latches there is a slight
problem with the cells on the outer edges; they only have one neighbour. This is what the bounderies inputs are for which
gives four different options for how the non-existent neighbours are treated.
0. the cells are white (0)
1. the cells are black (1)
2. the cells wrap around at the edges.
3. the cells wrap around at the edges but get inverted. (this last option was added because of the /Q outputs of the latches)

Then there is another thing, to get patterns it needs a seed; a black cell (or a number of them). This is what the circuit with
U12, U13, U14 is for. The seed value is set with the seed inputs and/or switches but nothing will happen untill the "LOAD SEED"
input is triggered (by switch or a signal). When it gets triggered U12a is set and the Q output becomes high. Since this output
is connected to the INH pin of the muxes their 'outputs' will basically be floating. The Q output is also connected to the AND
gates which will now pass the seed values to the latches. So on the next low to high CLK transition this becomes the current
state of the cells. If left like this nothing much will happen after this which is what U12b is for. The Q output of U12a is also
connected to the D input of U12b. The Q output of U12b is connected to the reset input of U12a. So on the next low to high
CLK transition U12a is reset and everything functions as before. Although I haven't tested it I expect that the reset will happen
slightly after the latches have loaded the seed values into the cells.


There is another way to do it which would be a serial approach. This would only require 1 mux no matter how many cells there are.
But it will need a shiftregister (or a couple), an internal oscillator and a counter. For a large number of cells this would probably
have a lower chip count but I think for this size it probably isn't worth it.

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[blue hell]

you diddit

Ah, at least it got a bit late I see yesterday

[blue hell]

And yes, eight outputs is pretty nice already, I've implemented 15 in software ... but then again in my code it works a bit different .. guess I should try this bounded version as well (with the four bounds treatment options).

Rule 30

[JovianPyx]

I believe a pi-zero has enough pins to do this. Or Arduino.

[PHOBoS]

[AlanP]

I'm looking forward to seeing your pcb for this

I still think it's a problem best solved in digital-land.

[blue hell]

Oh .. an analog implementation would be cool too

[PHOBoS]

[PHOBoS]

I might test it with a PIC I actually have a nice extension with 32 inputs and 32 outputs that I can use for it.
heres a photo:



I have a small controller for it with a PIC but I'm not sure where that is at the moment. Actually a larger controller with
an LCD screen, a bunch of toggle switches and buttons and maybe pots could be usefull. I could add more in/outs to also
interface it with my lunetta stuff. I do have an Arduino which I haven't started with but that might be even more suitable
than a PIC for something like this as it would be easier to update the code.

[piedwagtail]

I've been using the small Altera MaxII CPLDs to build bigger things.
Using the block schematic design in Quartus; frowned on in the FPGA community.
The Chinese development boards are sub $10 on ebay.Search "CPLD EPM240 or EPM570"
Vidme took down the videos I posted in " A heretical approach to Lunetta design" but the block diagram file is still there at the end.
I've since dropped all the lines when I found they weren't necessary

R

[gabbagabi]

where ordinary people have a bloodstream - Mr. Phobos must have a bus-system installed
maybe from the god of binarys in order to cure us poor humans from the analog sickness

[PHOBoS]