{"slug": "show-hn-bbrouter-ben-eater-s-8-bit-computer-simulated-on-3d-breadboards", "title": "Show HN: BBRouter – Ben Eater's 8-bit computer, simulated on 3D breadboards", "summary": "A developer launched BBRouter, a virtual breadboard editor that simulates Ben Eater's 8-bit SAP-1 computer on 3D breadboards, with features including side-by-side diff, a scope, auto-syncing schematics, an auto-router, uploads from the real Arduino IDE, and an MCP connection that lets AI assistants such as Claude help build or troubleshoot the circuit. The tool is offered on a Maker plan at $7/month, with the code HACKERNEWS making the first month free and then $5/month for as long as the plan is kept. The developer said a side goal is building a community around a simulator that works realistically for an actual build and has a usable UI on mobile and trackpads.", "body_md": "Hi HN,\n\nI kept wiring Ben Eater's 8-bit computer wrong, so I built a realistic virtual breadboard editor.\n\nSome of the nice features are side-by-side diff, scope, schematics auto-sync, auto-router (BBRouter stands for breadboard router), and my favorites: upload from the real Arduino IDE and connect to your AI with MCP, let Claude & co build it or help you troubleshoot.\n\nThe link is the SAP-1 running. You can orbit it, probe a hole with the scope, slow the clock down, play with the virtual displays for debugging, then you can actually build it following the step-by-step instructions.\n\nA side-goal is to create a community, there are quite a lot of simulators out there but mostly offline / too abstract to realistically use it for a real build. I also never found one that had a decent UI/UX and worked well on mobile or with a trackpad.\n\nHappy to answer anything, and tell me what breaks.\n\np.s. Maker plan is $7/month; code HACKERNEWS makes the first month free and then $5/month for as long as you keep it.\n\nComments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50321522](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50321522)\n\nPoints: 2\n\n# Comments: 0", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-bbrouter-ben-eater-s-8-bit-computer-simulated-on-3d-breadboards", "canonical_source": "https://bbrouter.com/bbrouter/ben-eater-sap-1", "published_at": "2026-11-01 00:10:30+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-11-01 00:21:04.454696+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["agent-protocols", "developer-tools", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["BBRouter", "Ben Eater", "SAP-1", "Arduino IDE", "Claude", "MCP", "Hacker News"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-bbrouter-ben-eater-s-8-bit-computer-simulated-on-3d-breadboards", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-bbrouter-ben-eater-s-8-bit-computer-simulated-on-3d-breadboards.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-bbrouter-ben-eater-s-8-bit-computer-simulated-on-3d-breadboards.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-bbrouter-ben-eater-s-8-bit-computer-simulated-on-3d-breadboards.jsonld"}}