It occurred to me (partly because they are both Harvard architecture processors) that the Apollo Guidance Computer used in the Apollo CM and LEM could be emulated using the Arduino.
A DSKY interface would have to be built (with EL seven segment displays activated by relays!), and the commands emulated, and an IMU attached.
Not the sort of thing I'd personally want to build, but it might inspire someone who is looking for a fairly beefy project with a lot of historical and cultural weight to it.
That project is seriously cool if you have the same attached peripherals.
Korman
Cool idea!
That project is seriously cool if you have the same attached peripherals.
You mean like a rocket booster, a command module and a Lunar lander right? 
You have maybe seen this thread? http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1290496849
sciguy links to a awesome lunar lander game: Lushprojects.com - Lunar Lander
It occurred to me (partly because they are both Harvard architecture processors) that the Apollo Guidance Computer used in the Apollo CM and LEM could be emulated using the Arduino.
Not with a standard Arduino (unless you stripped the emulation down); though you could probably get there with a Mega or a Sanguino.
The main issue would be the memory; the real AGC had (according to wikipedia and other sources) a 16-bit wordlength, 2048 words RAM and 36,864 words ROM. That would be the equivalent of 4096 bytes of RAM and 72K of ROM. IIRC, the ROM held both code and lookup tables for computations.
It would all depend on what you were going for; a nearly exact full re-implementation (not really an emulation) wouldn't be out of the question, if you wanted to be hardcore about it. A pared down, not-fully-implemented version (that may or may not be exact in operation) would probably be achievable with a standard 328-based Arduino...
Its a nice idea and probably worth trying by someone; it really shows how advanced that system was for the day (honestly, NASA - well, MIT - had basically invented the "personal computer" somewhat akin to an Altair - arguably better - almost 20 years ahead of time).
honestly, NASA - well, MIT - had basically invented the "personal computer" somewhat akin to an Altair - arguably better - almost 20 years ahead of time
Block 2 to Altair < 10 years.