” You may believe its really minimal because its just got 64 bytes of RAM, but its actually using a pipelined architecture to operate at 1 instruction per cycle, offering it rather great efficiency for a 4Mhz CPU,” discusses Foone in a fascinating Twitter thread.
With it open, weve got a single PCB here.Theres some kind of pill-looking thing to the left, a little LCD screen, and a I can see a battery on the other side. pic.twitter.com/WsuPI3pVsb— foone (@Foone) September 4, 2020
Each test, which costs less than $5, includes a processor, RAM, a button cell battery, and a small LCD screen to show the outcome. The processor is an 8-bit Holtek microcontroller with 64 bytes of RAM, capable of performing at either 4Mhz or 8Mhz depending upon the battery setup. That might sound extremely fundamental, but the chip is remarkably made complex.
Regrettably the chip within isnt programmable, so theres no feasible method individuals can get Doom to work on these digital pregnancy tests. I d advise reading foones full Twitter thread as its a remarkable teardown. While these digital pregnancy tests appear like an amazing waste of plastic and electronics, Im simply thankful humanity has actually moved on from injecting frogs with urine to validate pregnancies.
You might assume that the addition of an LCD screen and processor to digitize this pregnancy test improves the precision or improves how the test works, but thats certainly not the case. When urinating on the strip, this digital pregnancy test still includes a paper strip to measure the chemical reaction you create.
Foone hypothesizes that this device is “most likely much faster at number crunching and fundamental I/O than the CPU utilized in the initial IBM PC.” IBMs original PC was based on Intels 8088 microprocessor, an 8-bit chip that ran at 5Mhz. The difference here is that this is a pregnancy test you pee on and after that throw away.
When it gets wet it triggers the battery and powers the device on, the paper strip inside acts like a wick so. The device then uses three LEDs and 2 photosensors to read the lines on the paper strip that typically provide a pregnancy test result. The processor, RAM, battery, and LCD show actually exist to check out a paper strip and enhance the clearness of a test by showing “pregnant” or “not pregnant” on the display screen rather of the normal lines that can be hard to check out.
Pregnancy tests used to be fairly simple sticks you peed on, but the relocate to digital versions has changed them into small computer systems nearly as effective as the initial IBM PC. Amazed by the digital era of pregnancy tests, Twitter users foone and xtoff just recently pulled apart examples from Walmart and Clearblue to expose whats actually going on within.
The device then uses 3 LEDs and two photosensors to check out the lines on the paper strip that generally provide a pregnancy test result. The chip within isnt programmable, so theres no possible way people can get Doom to run on these digital pregnancy tests. While these digital pregnancy tests appear like an extraordinary waste of plastic and electronic devices, Im simply appreciative mankind has actually moved on from injecting frogs with urine to confirm pregnancies.
