# Touch Metal Microprocessor Board, V1.3 A small 8-bit microprocessor board for education/fun, with front-panel control and an LCD display. - **Seller:** [Zarasawa, LLC](https://www.lectronz.com/stores/zarasawa), Vancouver, Washington, United States - **Price:** $40.00 (USD, before shipping and taxes) - **Availability:** In stock - **Categories:** Technology, Retrocomputing - **Product page:** https://www.lectronz.com/products/touch-metal-microprocessor-board-v1-3 ## Options **All orders come with USB cable and tri-fold programmer's reference card.** - Fully Assembled [Add $5.00] (6 left) - Kit Form - you assemble it yourself. (7 left) **Optional Hardcopy Instruction Manual** - Without printed instruction manual - With printed instruction manual [Add $7.50] **Book of Exercise Problems** - Without exercise book - With book of exercises [Add $7.50] (4 left) ## Links - [Documentation](https://touchmetal.org/assets/all.pdf) - [Code](https://gitlab.com/nickmacias/touchmetal) - [Design Files](https://gitlab.com/nickmacias/touchmetal/-/tree/main/PCB) - [Schematics](https://gitlab.com/nickmacias/touchmetal/-/blob/main/PCB/schematic.pdf) - [Bom](https://gitlab.com/nickmacias/touchmetal/-/blob/main/PCB/mainBOM.csv) ## Images ![Touch Metal Microprocessor Board, V1.3](https://lectronz-images.b-cdn.net/lectronz/active_storage/representations/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6NjE2NTAsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--8233b11cba058a80611e6ba1950f925855401daf/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6eyJmb3JtYXQiOiJqcGciLCJyZXNpemVfdG9fbGltaXQiOls5NjAsNjQwXSwic2F2ZXIiOnsic3RyaXAiOnRydWV9fSwicHVyIjoidmFyaWF0aW9uIn19--970c165836a83091725a1a0fd4f37ce9408da1bf/PXL_20260528_204540345.jpg) ![Touch Metal Microprocessor Board, V1.3](https://lectronz-images.b-cdn.net/lectronz/active_storage/representations/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6NjQ0ODQsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--c8cd9a4ceaaa5a5d8fbb3d4998c8e554ccf7825e/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6eyJmb3JtYXQiOiJqcGciLCJyZXNpemVfdG9fbGltaXQiOls5NjAsNjQwXSwic2F2ZXIiOnsic3RyaXAiOnRydWV9fSwicHVyIjoidmFyaWF0aW9uIn19--970c165836a83091725a1a0fd4f37ce9408da1bf/back.jpg) ![Touch Metal Microprocessor Board, V1.3](https://lectronz-images.b-cdn.net/lectronz/active_storage/representations/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6NjQ0OTIsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--053dc7ba7ab9f0804cbb19e5fb858687f1560c53/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6eyJmb3JtYXQiOiJwbmciLCJyZXNpemVfdG9fbGltaXQiOls5NjAsNjQwXSwic2F2ZXIiOnsic3RyaXAiOnRydWV9fSwicHVyIjoidmFyaWF0aW9uIn19--605f1da017bcbb03ce31845cd0e81d97e3b3c574/Screenshot_2026-06-28_15-54-23.png) ![Touch Metal Microprocessor Board, V1.3](https://lectronz-images.b-cdn.net/lectronz/active_storage/representations/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6NjQ0OTYsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--58f3a5baae030d9452178c3a1e3b4fa7827dc715/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6eyJmb3JtYXQiOiJwbmciLCJyZXNpemVfdG9fbGltaXQiOls5NjAsNjQwXSwic2F2ZXIiOnsic3RyaXAiOnRydWV9fSwicHVyIjoidmFyaWF0aW9uIn19--605f1da017bcbb03ce31845cd0e81d97e3b3c574/Lessons-blue-cover.png) ![Touch Metal Microprocessor Board, V1.3](https://lectronz-images.b-cdn.net/lectronz/active_storage/representations/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6NjQ1MDAsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--30674d657e37c9b4946455bca650de770dcd63b0/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6eyJmb3JtYXQiOiJwbmciLCJyZXNpemVfdG9fbGltaXQiOls5NjAsNjQwXSwic2F2ZXIiOnsic3RyaXAiOnRydWV9fSwicHVyIjoidmFyaWF0aW9uIn19--605f1da017bcbb03ce31845cd0e81d97e3b3c574/Programmers%20Card%20Both.png) ## Description ## What is it? An educational tool for working with and learning assembly language and machine code, and learning a bit about computer architecture at the "bare-metal" level. It fits in your hand, is programmed with a set of push buttons, has an LCD display for examining memory and registers, and even has a built-in dissassembler for showing you the assembly language corresponding to memory contents. This provides a relatively gentle introduction to low-level programming, but is also fun for those already familiar with assembly language and machine code. The board is self-contained -- no way to interface it to anything outside of itself -- but for working with the software (including playing with interrupts!) it's a handy platform :) ## Status Currently shipping. **NOTE:** Only available for delivery in the US #### Package Includes - One Touch Metal Board (Version TM13) Fully Assembled or in Kit Form (your choice) - One USB-C Cable - One Programmer's Tri-Fold Card - *Optional printed copy of the instruction manual* (also available as a free PDF download from [https://touchmetal.org/assets/all.pdf](https://touchmetal.org/assets/all.pdf)) - *Optional book of exercises* (also available as a free PDF download from [https://touchmetal.org/assets/Lessons.pdf](https://touchmetal.org/assets/Lessons.pdf)) ## Documentation The main website is [touchmetal.org](https://touchmetal.org/) The instruction manual is available as a [free download](https://touchmetal.org/assets/all.pdf). ## Why did I make it? Computer Science is increasingly detached from the low-level aspects of the underlying CPU/memory system. With vibe-coding, this detachment is absolute: **you don't even need to understand much about the *higher-level* aspects of the system**. This board is an attempt to help people re-connect with those lower-level aspects. With the Touch Metal board, you examine and modify memory one byte at a time, by typing in addresses and data in octal (using 8 push buttons). After entering your code, you can single-step the CPU, examine registers and memory, and really see what the CPU is doing as it executes your code. I'm hoping this will be a fun, entertaining and educational toy for people who want to know more about how computers work: a chance to "touch metal." ## What makes it special? This is a custom CPU architecture, designed for education. It has a simple instruction set; relatively few addressing modes (it favors direct memory access, though it also has internal registers and supports memory-indirect addressing); and the coding of instructions in machine code is very clean, breaking on octal-digit boundaries, which makes it feasible to assemble code in your head (especially with the handy assembly-to-machine code map on the back). Other features: - It's powered by a USB-C cable (included with every board!) - It fits in your hand. - The display is small (but can be made a bit larger to be easier to see). - It allows you to store 4 programs in non-volatile memory, so you can re-run your favorite programs without having to toggle them in each time. - The website ([touchmetal.org](https://touchmetal.org)) has various resources available, including an [assembler](https://touchmetal.org/assemble.html) (when you want a break from assembling by hand!), as well as an [emulated version](https://touchmetal.org/em/index.html) (if you suddenly get the urge to do some machine-code programming but forgot your board at home). - The hardware and software are open-source (source code etc. are on [Hackaday.io](https://hackaday.io/project/205797-touch-metal-microprocessor-board)). ## Unboxing Video ##### __AI Notice__ No AI (including auto-correct, grammar suggesting software, AI-assisted search, vibe-coding, AI overviews, etc.) was used in the creation of any aspect of the Touch Metal project. All bugs, mistakes, typos, oversights or "hallucinations" are entirely my own! [https://real-i.org](https://real-i.org) ## Shipping policy Items are generally shipped within two days of ordering.