TinyMips: Hardware Simulation and Verification

Building a 32-Bit CPU: The TinyMips Guide refers to a practical pedagogical framework used in computer engineering courses and hobbyist communities. It teaches students how to design, simulate, and implement a scaled-down, Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) processor. The project uses a stripped-down variant of the commercial 32-bit MIPS architecture.

Instead of implementing the massive, complex instruction set of a modern processor, this guide focuses on building a functional core capable of executing a subset of essential instructions. It is usually brought to life using hardware description languages (HDLs) like Verilog or VHDL, or visual logic simulators like Logisim or GateSim. Core Architecture Specifications

A TinyMips implementation fundamentally mirrors standard MIPS design principles but cuts out complex coprocessors, exceptions, and advanced memory controls: MIPS architecture overview – TAMS

One of the key features of the MIPS architecture is the regular register set. It consists of the 32-bit wide program counter (PC), Universität Hamburg TinyMips – load-byte store-byte instructions – TAMS