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Plastic mechanical computer from 1963: The Digi-Comp 1 [video] (youtube.com)
jedimastert 22 days ago [-]
It's cool to see Chris Staecker's channel getting some love, he brings a a kind of joy I miss from the old internet. I know it's still around, but it certainly feels more difficult to find and suppressed in many ways.
professoretc 22 days ago [-]
I think the algorithm recommended Chris to me because of his topology videos, and from there I watched all his "old computing devices" stuff. Something about the Boston accent, the dry humor, and the occasional audio jump-cut make his stuff quite funny.
contingencies 22 days ago [-]
3D print your own: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1477209

This reminds me, a CNC wire bender is on my list.

leephillips 23 days ago [-]
I had one! One of my favorite possessions in elementary school. It came with a nice booklet introducing the theory. Because I studied that booklet, I was probably the only brat in my 2nd grade who knew about number bases. I entertained myself by converting decimal numbers into binary.
andrehacker 23 days ago [-]
Reproductions are still produced, see the wikipedia page.
rramadass 22 days ago [-]
Details on how it works and similarity to FPGA at "Retrocmp" site; DIGI-COMP I - https://retrocmp.com/articles/digi-comp-1
aap_ 22 days ago [-]
Jörg's automation of the machine is truly fun :) The mechanics of the machine are really clunky and giving it an external clock made it function so much more smoothly iirc.
rramadass 19 days ago [-]
I am still not clear on how exactly it works :-( Need to read some more and maybe sit with pen/paper to see how it can calculate and/or evaluate some logic conditionals.

Computers are mainstream but the concepts behind computing are still "magic" to most. We automatically assume that it can only be realized in the current complicated form (microchips/architecture layers etc.) and forget that the concept is just a "machine" which you can build in many different forms.

Leonardo da Vinci himself had a design for a mechanical calculator - https://www.educalc.net/page/197481/ and http://www.computer-timeline.com/timeline/leonardo-da-vinci/

disillusioned1 22 days ago [-]
I still have my Digi-Comp I, as well as Dr. Nim and Think-a-Dot.
NetMageSCW 23 days ago [-]
I had a CARDIAC when I was young.
MomsAVoxell 23 days ago [-]
Still got it? Would be pretty neat to bust out of the attic ..
PopAlongKid 22 days ago [-]
There is an enthusiast discussion group at

https://groups.io/g/DIGI-COMP/topics

redretrat 22 days ago [-]
I bought one of these from Edmund Scientific when I was a kid. I wasn't able to figure out how it worked. I've thought about it occasionally over the years. Enjoyed the video
drfuchs 23 days ago [-]
Wait til you see the DigiComp II! It has flip-flops driven by marbles and gravity. Truly astounding.
WalterBright 22 days ago [-]
I learned binary computing from that machine.
a1o 22 days ago [-]
It looks amazing! Thanks for mentioning it!
22 days ago [-]
rustcleaner 23 days ago [-]
Really cool! Will we ever construct Babbage's Analytical Engine?
erelong 22 days ago [-]
There was a (stalled) recent attempt: https://blog.plan28.org/?m=1
qsera 22 days ago [-]
Wow. didn't know mechanical computers could be so simple.
songhonglei1985 22 days ago [-]
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