TapeFoundry
The machine
What the five stages add up to, and how a card set becomes a computer.
A CPU is a small number of repeated ideas
A processor is arithmetic, storage, control, and a way to talk to the outside. Foundry One is organized around exactly those four, plus the assembly.
| Stage | Contributes | What it enables |
|---|---|---|
| Arithmetic | Add, subtract, multiply, divide, compare, shift | The ALU — every operation a program performs on data |
| Memory | Registers, counters, register files | Holding values between operations |
| Control | Decoders, state machines, timing | Deciding which operation runs next |
| I/O | Shifters, buffers, bus logic | Moving data in and out of the machine |
| The machine | All of the above, wired together | A CPU that executes a sequence of instructions |
Why sell the parts separately
A computer is not one object. It is a set of circuits that only mean something together. Selling them in stages makes the assembly visible: at the end of Series 01 you can hold every arithmetic block a CPU needs, and the later stages are the rest of the machine.
What exists today
| Component | State |
|---|---|
| Arithmetic drawings | 11 published, running in the browser, on chain when taped out |
| Memory drawings | In progress — released at 60% of Series 01 |
| Control, I/O | Planned after Series 02 |
| Assembly | The final stage |
What a card is not
A card is a circuit, not a share of a company and not a claim on a machine that does not exist yet. The drawing is real today and runs today. The assembly is the direction the series is built toward.
The honest version: Series 01 is a complete arithmetic unit. Whether it becomes a full CPU depends on the later stages shipping, which depends on this one selling. The conditions are published.