22 Nov
1997
22 Nov
'97
1:10 p.m.
Hans B Pufal wrote:
I see this as more than just an academic project,
rebuilding these old
machines in current technology is really the only way in which they can
be preserved and made available for study, excepting perhaps via
emulators (another of my passions).
Take the idea even further : the technology exists today to build most
if not all first generations machines on a single chip. Indeed I wonder
if an FPGA might not be able to be reconfigurable to build many of these
early machines, certainly a few FPGA's together with the new
programmable routiing chips (from GateWay?) should do the job. Thus we
can build on hardware base capable of emulating or recreating many of
the early machines, just add software.
Another fun project would be that nowawadays with modern materials and
computer controlled machining, it is now possible to make parts to the
tolerances necessary to build a functional Analytical Engine. Anybody
know where I can get a good copy of Babbage's designs?
--
Ward Griffiths
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails
of the last priest." [Denis Diderot, "Dithyrambe sur la fete de rois"]