Digital logic labs for a college or university course
Gates, adders, flip-flops, counters and a small CPU built from NAND gates, on real 74HC chips or ideal gates, in a browser tab. Students need no logic trainer and no kit, and the class feature grades each lab.
Where Mokxi fits
A first course in digital logic moves from gates and truth tables to adders and decoders. Then it moves to flip-flops, counters and registers, and often to a simple processor. Mokxi has a running circuit for each step.
Students can work two ways. Ideal gates keep the focus on the logic. 74HC chips add the bench details: power pins to wire, thresholds set by the supply, and propagation delay.
The logic path goes from one NAND gate to an 8-bit CPU called the Kestrel. Every step is checked against its truth table. It suits an intro computer organization course too.
For class work, assign a starter circuit and add checks. A check reads a pin at a moment, after a button press, or as a clock rate. Students press Check my work, and you download the grades as a CSV file.
The labs, by topic
Each row is a topic, the week of the 12-week course that covers it, a circuit that runs now and the pages that explain it.
| Topic | Course week | Lab to open | Read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gates and truth tables | Week 5 | Gate lab | Logic Gates, and the Truth Table You Can Press · Digital Logic Lab Experiments, Graded in the Browser |
| Every gate from NAND | Extra lab | Adder from NAND gates | Build a Computer From NAND Gates, Step by Step |
| Adders and carry | Week 6 | Full adder | Half Adder and Full Adder: Truth Table to Breadboard |
| Decoders and seven-segment displays | Extra lab | BCD display | Arduino 7 Segment Display: an Electronic Die |
| Latches and flip-flops | Week 7 | NAND latch | Flip-Flops Explained: SR Latch, D and JK Flip-Flops |
| Counters and clock division | Week 7 | Binary counter | Flip-Flops Explained: SR Latch, D and JK Flip-Flops · Digital Logic Lab Experiments, Graded in the Browser |
| Shift registers | Week 8 | LED bar chaser | Shifting a Byte In, One Edge at a Time |
| A CPU that runs a program | Extra lab | Your first computer | Build a Computer From NAND Gates, Step by Step |
Every week has a one-page PDF lesson plan. They are all on the teacher resources page.
Where it does not fit
- There is no VHDL or Verilog, no FPGA or CPLD, and no timing report. Karnaugh maps are worked on paper, then built with gates.
- The logic path lessons are not in the Assign work form yet. Students take them from the path page, where each step is still checked.
- It does not replace a real bench. Many instructors use it to design and test first, then build a few circuits by hand.
Labs you can assign today
Each lab starts from a template in the class page’s Assign work form and comes with checks that grade it. The checks are tested on the simulator against the starter and the answer.
Students use the simulator free. With a school email address, Pro is half price: see the student discount. For a department or a large course, get a written quote.
Questions
Is it free for my students?
Yes. The simulator is free, with every part. The class tools come with Pro and the Teacher plan. You can try them free for 30 days with one class of up to forty students.
Can I run several lab sections?
Yes. Make one class for each section. Your seats are shared across your classes, and a student in two sections counts once.
How do the checks grade a truth table?
A check can press a button and read a pin, or read a pin at a set moment. All the checks run in one simulation, so a press in one check is still held while another check reads. The lab page grades a full four-row table this way.
More for this course
Setting up a class for a university course · Mokxi and Logisim Evolution, compared · Mokxi and CircuitVerse, compared · The logic gate simulator · All the free teacher resources · The 12-week course · IT setup for schools · Chromebook readiness test
Other course pages: High school engineering and CTE: digital electronics · Middle school STEM: first circuits · Intro and AP physics: circuits · College and university: microcontrollers · College and university: circuits 1