On 10/19/05, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Real nerds use Fischer-Technik.
I saw that stuff in the early 80s and couldn't come close to affording it.
Alas I know the feeling all too well... Particularly the elecrtronics
modules, which _then_ were around \pounds 20.00 each in the UK. Far too
expensive to get a good collection of them,
Fischer Technik has gone down spectacularly since
I was a kid. In the old
days there were fairly simple elecrronic modules (alas so expensive that
I couldn't afford enough of them) -- things like a double pole changeover
relay, analogue voltage comparator, AND gate, OR gate, flip-flop,
monotstable, etc.
I remember that stuff - in particular, I remember enough logic for an
elevator controller and a traffic light.
I can't rememebr what all the electronic modules were, but there were at
least :
Rectifier (used as a PSU for everything else)
Plain relay (this started off in a different type of case, then later on
came in the same case as the other modules)
Relay + transistor amplifier to drive it
Analogue voltage compaartor (and other useful components brought out to
sockets
Piezo microphone/beeper
AND/NAND gate (IIRC, 4 inputs, you got both normal and inverted outputs)
OR/NOT gates (ditto)
Pulse-coupled AND gate (2 in a module?)
Flip-flop (I think a JK with set/reset inputs too)
Monostable
Patch panel (a number of sockets interconnected inside, you could plug
any compoentns into that for your own circuits
I suppose the TTL-input relay and the 14 pin DIL module count too, but
they were not electriclaly compatible with the rest of the system.
Given all those functions, it would be _possible_ to make just about
anything (we all know you can, in principle, make any logic circuit from
just 2 input NAND gates...). On the other hand, trying to make a
processor would be large and expensive.
The traffic light controller, I think, was electromechanical. That set
included some slip-rings and brush contacts. By fitting insulating covers
onto the slip-rings (also in the kit), you could make an
electromechanical 'programmer'. Certainly traffic lights was one of the
example models for this.
-tony
