So I've been looking into a lot of different information over the past few months and I'm having a little bit of trouble deciphering what I need to do if I want to complete my objective. What I want to do is find out what languages I need to learn, how CPU's are built, and I need to know if it's even possible to build my own CPU that I could actually use to run a linux or windows system.
If you will though, just imagine this for me- imagine that I alreadhy have a machine with which I can actually make billions of transistors and place them where they need to go, I also have a clean room, and enough funds to manufacture this CPU- I just need to know what things I have to study to know how to build it from the ground up and arrange the transistors.
In my search so far I've learned that fpga's can do something like that, but am I correct in understanding that if I learn to create systems (using vhdl or verilog) that I still wouldn't have the basic understanding of how to design an actual CPU? I have heard that understanding a hardware description language is basically the same thing as understanding how the physical components are actually arranged on the chip, but that seems counterintuitive to me.
I am also unclear as to whether the way in which an fpga handles data as compared to a regular CPU is actually useful for building a running computer system that runs modern software.
So to reiterate, I'm not asking anyone to design anything for me, I'm just really confused as to where to start. I want to go from having the materials, machinery, and funds to building a working CPU that runs modern software out of scratch.
I just can't figure out where to start, and there's so much information that seems to be inconsistent... I would really appreciate an educated discussion on the subject. I will also have more questions in the future.
Thanks in advance.
