The CPU runs in simulation, but it doesn't bootstrap itself and doesn't communicate with "real" peripherals (even if simulated). 

When I on the technical side of this project (which also has administrative, legal, and fundraising sides), I presently work on the firmware loader, which needs to transfer firmware (lookup tables) from persistent storage into at least 22 SRAM ICs. There are also several initial conditions to force, such as the instruction pointer and other CPU state.

After the system can start itself in simulation, I will finish an already-started interface for peripherals. This will be via an SPI bus (I2C wil be supported also, but SPI is essentially a quorum anyhow).

Once all that is in place, then the fun work starts with power, bypass capacitors, "final" component placements, tracks, routing, connectors, plotting the board, mounting several hundred components, and---black smoke? White smoke?