16 Dec
1998
16 Dec
'98
8:46 a.m.
Here are a couple more 'toy' computers that I've come across, dating from
the early 1970's.
The first was made/cloned/sold by many companies, including radio shack.
It consists of a number (8 or 10?) of multi-pole changeover slide
swtichs, which are the 'input'. The output is a row of torch (flashlight)
bulbs. You 'program' it by patching wires between the switch contacts,
thus making up logic gates (2 contacts in series = AND, 2 in parallel =
OR, etc). I seem to remember that the manual for the one I had (and
probably still have) included wiring for NIM, etc.
I had two versions as a kid: in 1976, R-S sold one that had tissue-paper
light-bulb overlays and a field of holes for a patch board, then by 1978,
it was revised to use plastic overlays and spring clips fo the wires.
My main critism was that the various patch diagrams
were never
explained. OK, so it was fun to make a binary adder or whatever, but to
me it would have been even more fun to understand why.
That's why I never did much with mine. They just gave you full-blown
patch assignments with *zero* explanation of the logic behind it.
-ethan