Open-Source Bare Metal 8-Bit Microprocessor Board for Education/Fun

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Nick M

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Jun 25, 2026, 2:21:54 PMJun 25

to retro-comp

Hey, not exactly "retro" in the sense of mimicking a real system from years ago, but this is meant to mimic some of the experience of working with a front-panel-controlled device. Also, if this is out-of-bounds for this group, my apologies; I won't re-post it if it's removed.

Anyway, back in WInter I was working on high school outreach at the college where I teach, and started thinking: how can we present something real to these students; something they can't easily get right now, something closer to the bare metal level. I landed on the idea of "Touch Metal" (like "Touch Grass"), as in get in touch with something fundamental, foundational, real. I imagined a custom 8-bit processor, simple front panel interface (a few buttons, easier than toggle switches but not a standard keyboard) and documentation/exercises/etc. to go with it. I considered how to present this: a downloadable program, a web-based emulator, a phone app...but those all felt too removed. So I went for a physical board.

The result is https://touchmetal.org. After several months, it's finished, documented, and available in multiple forms.

You can get to a free emulator at https://touchmetal.org/em/index.html, an online assembler at https://touchmetal.org/assemble.html, and different forms of documentation at https://touchmetal.org/page-resources.html including some sample code, programmer's card, etc. It's all open source; you can find some details at https://hackaday.io/project/205797-touch-metal-microprocessor-board if you want to make your own PCB and build one of these. It's also available on Tindie and on Lectronz (there's links on that TouchMetal.org resource page). Also, as I think building is half the fun, I'm offering it in kit form as well.

Again, this is geared towards education, as opposed to a highly-usable general-purpose 8-bit processor. The memory is limited, but it's got enough capability to do some interesting things. Just thought I'd post this here, in case anyone wants a toy for random assembly language/machine code tinkering :)