Logisim

[rudolf97]

Hi!

I am a noob in electronics and I want to get into it. I found some nice german tutorials (of course my language) about making a 4-Bit cpu with Logisim. So now I want to know if its a good idea to learn in Logisim and if it is good to engineer things in there?

The software can be found here: http://www.cburch.com/logisim/


Regards
Rudolf

[zerorisers]

Hi!

From the link the first pages image looks like it can be very helpful. I might actually install it myself. I believe it would be worth learning logisim personally. Nice way to simulate these logistic circuits.

Best of luck,
zerorisers

[bwat]

Tutorials are OK if it's a niche area which doesn't have any good textbooks covering it and the tutor is an expert. However, there are a handful of good digital design books which will teach you how to design and build your own CPU. I would get my hands on a good book and work through it.

As for multisim, well if it works then why not learn it and use it for simulation. If, on the other hand you want to realise your CPU in FPGA or silicon, then you might want to learn something like Verilog or VHDL (*). If you want to see CPU designs in Verilog then have a look at some of the links here. All of the code was written whilst going through the book

Mano, M. Morris, and Kime, Charles R. Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals. 2nd Edition. Prentice Hall, 2000.


*) Note that you can still simulate designs written with Verilog or VHDL.

[NRoach44]

The Digital design unit I did last semester in Uni was building parts of a processor in logisim. We followed the book "Digital design and Architecture" (David and Sarah Harris). While we didn't actually build a CPU in it, it required understanding the 8-bit MIPS CPU the lecturer built in it.

I'd say as long as you are following a book or working towards some goal it should be fairly good as a learning experience.