On Jan 10, 2008 10:53 AM, Gregory K. Ruiz-Ade <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Jan 9, 2008, at 11:30 PM, Tracy R Reed wrote: > > > I have long thought it would be cool to build a simple computer out > > of transistors, vacuum tubes, or relays. Not only for the > > educational aspects but also for the art of it. And to demonstrate > > that a computer is not magical. It is a machine just like any other. > > A very complicated one. But a machine all the same. Transistors > > themselves almost seem magical so they are out. Vacuum tubes are > > expensive and potentially failure prone. But relays seem just right. > > They are mechanical devices that people can understand. Put enough > > of them together in the right way and you can actually make a semi- > > useful computing machine. > > > I have to say, I've always wondered about exactly the same things. > > Thanks for pointing this out, I think it's completely awesome, and > dispels a lot of mysticism that surrounds the "magic black boxes" that > make my computers compute. >
You all might want to read some history for background information. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computing_hardware> Look for Konrad Zuse, Claude Shannon, George Stibitz among others. Vintage 1940's. Consider also the textbook _The Design of Switching Circuits_ by Keister, Ritchie, and Washburn. Without this Ritchie we would not have had Dennis and Unix. carl -- carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-lpsg
