16 Feb
2008
16 Feb
'08
2:17 p.m.
woodelf wrote:
Gavin Melville wrote:
> I've seen the stuff on the relay computer, and I suspect that simply
> would not have worked in 1900, but works due to modern relays.
We are talking high speed of 5? Hz for relay
computers.
I am guessing a 1 HZ might practial for that era.
Just for a (partial) example, a year or two ago I breadboarded a 10-stage ring
counter from relays of late-40s/50s vintage while working on a completed design
of Simon*. Going purely by ear, I could clock it up to about 18Hz before it
started to falter.
* After the mention of Simon on the list a couple of years ago I set out to do
a completed design. This was done ( http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~hilpert/e/simon ) and
a simulator written, but I haven't built a complete physical implementation
(not enough relays on hand). The relay ring counter was a test of the timing
system.
I've been meaning to mention this here for ages, but speaking of relay
computers, Simon, and machines with minimal instruction sets, if anybody feels
like a masochistic, tear-your-hair-out exercise in programming frustration, I'd
like to solicit programs to run in the Simon simulator (see link above).