Front-Panel Booting an ATmega88 Microcontroller

Support my work: https://lft.fan/ Schematics and more: https://linusakesson.net/hardware/frontpanel/index.php This video starts with a brief tour of minicomputers and front panels in general, and goes on to explain how I constructed my own front panel for the ATmega88. It culminates with me using it to enter a small program to blink some LEDs: Computer hardware, delivered without software, and brought to life for the first time by hand. The historical narrative is simplified for brevity. For a more thorough account, I can highly recommend the Wikipedia article on Booting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting Images, in order of appearance: “ESO Hewlett Packard 2116 minicomputer” ESO (via Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 “Three different (coloured) minicomputers from DEC (late 1960s to early 1970s) in a museum - a PDP-11, a PDP-8e, and a PDP-12” Wolfgang Stief (via Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 “PDP 11-40, by the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center, July 13, 1976, from the Digital Commonwealth” Public Domain “DEC PDP-1 Minicomputer (1959) in Computer History Museum (edited, with white background)” Marcin Wichary from San Francisco, Calif. (via Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 “DEC PDP-15 front panel” Wolfgang Stief from Tittmoning, Germany (via Wikimedia Commons) Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication “First Computer Bug, 1945” Courtesy of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, VA., 1988. Public Domain “PDP-8/I Panel” Jörg Hoppe From Project BlinkenBone: https://www.retrocmp.com/projects/blinkenbone/simulated-panels/248-blinkenbone-simulated-pdp8i-panel Used with permission “OKITAC 4300 mini computer displayed at the KCG Museum in Kyoto, Japan” Darklanlan (via Wikimedia Commons) Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication “Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4 (rev. 3.3)” Soeb (via Wikimedia Commons) Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication “Vintage computer ad” Digital Equipment Corporation Fair Use “Scientific Data Systems (SDS) Sigma 5 computer front panel at the Computer History Museum, 2009” Marcin Wichary (via Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 “Altair PC” tomislav medak (via Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 “Blue-punch-card-front-horiz” Gwern and agr (via Wikimedia Commons) Public Domain “PaperTapes-5and8Hole” TedColes (via Wikimedia Commons) Public Domain “Computer-tape-3m hg” Hannes Grobe/AW (via Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 “Removable Disk Pack with transparent transportation cylinder in background” Steve Parker (via Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 “Paper Tape Drive” Billie Grace Ward from New York, USA (via Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 “Boot, riding (AM 1982.127-2)” Uncredited, Wikimedia Commons Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 “Ácido desoxirribonucleico (DNA)” Kadumago (via Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 “'Adam's Creation Sistine Chapel ceiling' by Michelangelo JBU33” Michelangelo (via Wikimedia Commons) Public Domain “Toggle Switch - 3PDT” SparkFun Electronics from Boulder, USA (via Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 “AVR ATmega88 Datasheet”, Excerpts, Slightly edited Atmel Fair Use “8-bit AVR Instruction Set”, Excerpt Atmel Fair Use Music, in order of appearance: “Aurea Carmina” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 “Quintessence” “A Mind Is Born” “Trinket” “Craft” “Sommargubbe” “Device Not Present” “Euclid Was Here” Linus Åkesson (linusakesson.net) Used with permission =)