I'm just starting on a "8051 in TTL-logic"-design. Is this ever done before? I hope to present the results so far on my site by Tuesday. Any comment is welcome.
I have seen people who have used VHDL or similar and created solutions with discrete logic chips for individual parts of the 8051. I haven't seen anyone who have bothered to implement a full processor using discrete logic.
But TTL in itself doesn't mean much. It is just a gate design type. It doesn't imply discrete logic chips. So full microprocessors could use TTL logic before the manufacturers started to use NMOS and similar. But a 8051 chip in TTL logic looks almost the same as a 8051 chip in NMOS or CMOS. It's just the currents and voltages specified for the inputs/outputs that will be a bit different. And a chip in TTL will have a different static and dynamic current consumption.
Once you've done it in discrete logic, how about in discrete transistors?
And then in valves (tubes)...
next months project.