8 Mar
2005
8 Mar
'05
11:40 a.m.
You've got gravity. Dry sand flows pretty well.
Bamboo is
hollow and so can be used to channel dry sand around.
Different lengths of bamboo could be used to introduce
delays. Doubtless you could make basic logic gates.
Some sort of mechanical effort would be needed to lift sand
again in order to combat gravity pulling sand downward.
Not much different from a relay computer really, I suppose.
Just slower.
And more sandy.
And relay computers don't like salt water, but administrators might.
Hmmm, seaside computing. I think we hit on something.
8 Mar
8 Mar
11:47 a.m.
On Tuesday 08 March 2005 11:40 am, James Fogg wrote:
I'm waiting for someone to invent a display that can be used in direct
sunlight, so I don't have to work in what is affectionately called the
'coffin' aka 'caravan by the sea with windows blacked out'.
When will that be...?
Talk to me goose.
Mark.
--
Mark Wickens
Rhodium Consulting Ltd
You've got
gravity. Dry sand flows pretty well. Bamboo is
hollow and so can be used to channel dry sand around.
Different lengths of bamboo could be used to introduce
delays. Doubtless you could make basic logic gates.
Some sort of mechanical effort would be needed to lift sand
again in order to combat gravity pulling sand downward.
Not much different from a relay computer really, I suppose.
Just slower.
And more sandy.
And relay computers don't like salt water, but administrators might.
Hmmm, seaside computing. I think we hit on something. 
12:22 p.m.
On Tue, 2005-03-08 at 11:47 +0000, Mark Wickens wrote:
I'm waiting for someone to invent a display that
can be used in direct
sunlight, so I don't have to work in what is affectionately called the
'coffin' aka 'caravan by the sea with windows blacked out'.
Bamboo troughs. Full of sand = 1, empty = 0. Works for both sighted and
non-sighted people. Unless it's raining.
:-)
1:16 p.m.
At 06:22 AM 3/8/2005, Jules Richardson wrote:
Bamboo troughs. Full of sand = 1, empty = 0. Works for
both sighted and
non-sighted people. Unless it's raining. :-)
Yes, I left that part out. You need water, too, to make the
bamboo and sand computer. Gravity and sand alone don't move
far and fast enough. Water, sand and gravity - whew, that
could double the clock speed from 0.0002 Hz! Ah, but I see
a snarky hand reaching up, asking "Why do you need the sand
at all?" and I say "Persistence of memory!"
- John
4:17 p.m.
John Foust wrote:
Yes, I left that part out. You need water, too, to
make the
bamboo and sand computer. Gravity and sand alone don't move
far and fast enough. Water, sand and gravity - whew, that
could double the clock speed from 0.0002 Hz! Ah, but I see
a snarky hand reaching up, asking "Why do you need the sand
at all?" and I say "Persistence of memory!"
For the clock of course ... the .0001 hz hourglass has to flip correctly.
- John
Ben alias woodelf
6:13 p.m.
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On 8 Mar 2005, at 11:47, Mark Wickens wrote:
I'm waiting for someone to invent a display that
can be used in direct
sunlight, so I don't have to work in what is affectionately called the
'coffin' aka 'caravan by the sea with windows blacked out'.
When will that be...?
Talk to me goose.
They already exist :). It's just that they are monochromatic and
generally of a low resolution and EXTREMELY expensive. I think they are
called dichroic. They were used extensively by the US military in the
1980's
Regards
- --
Chris Blackburn
E-Mail: cblackburn36NOSPAM at softhome.net
E-Mail: cblackburn36 at NOSPAMgmail.com
PGP Public Key: http://makeashorterlink.com/?C2AF31929
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6:21 p.m.
New subject: Ontopic once again... (was: OT:techology
Rumor has it that Mark Wickens may have mentioned these words:
I'm waiting for someone to invent a display that
can be used in direct
sunlight, so I don't have to work in what is affectionately called the
'coffin' aka 'caravan by the sea with windows blacked out'.
When will that be...?
Uh, maybe someplace around 20+ years ago -- the displays on my Tandy Model
100's and 200's are perfectly readable in full sun. In the dark, however...
bring a flashlight. They are not backlit.
Talk to me goose.
AFLAC! (Oh, wait, that's a duck. ;-)
Whew! Finally got caught up after 3 days with no net access... boy, my
dialup (all _I_ currently have available) sure felt good to get back to!
Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- SysAdmin, Iceberg Computers
zmerch at 30below.com
What do you do when Life gives you lemons,
and you don't *like* lemonade?????????????
9:02 p.m.
Mark wrote:
I'm waiting for someone to invent a display that
can be used in direct
sunlight, so I don't have to work in what is affectionately called the
'coffin' aka 'caravan by the sea with windows blacked out'.
When will that be...?
Done. It's called digital paper. It contains zillions of little spheres
that have a white side and a black side, and it uses electrical charge
to rotate them.
There are a lot of companies doing research, but only a few commercial
products right now. For instance, the latest Sony electronic book reader
uses a Philips display. It's only available in Japan (AFAIK), and Sony
encumbered the thing with ridiculous DRM, so it's not selling well. It's
Linux-based, so I'd still like to get one, but they are fairly pricy.
Eric
11 Mar
11 Mar
1:03 a.m.
>>>> "Mark" == Mark Wickens
<m.wickens at rhodium-consulting.com> writes:
Mark> I'm waiting for someone to invent a display that can be used in
Mark> direct sunlight, so I don't have to work in what is
Mark> affectionately called the 'coffin' aka 'caravan by the sea with
Mark> windows blacked out'.
Mark> When will that be...?
Available today, if you have the money. Cockpit displays are,
obviously, designed to be fully readable in bright sunlight.
paul
7011
days inactive
7014
days old
10 comments
11 participants
participants (11)
-
allain＠panix.com -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
bfranchuk＠jetnet.ab.ca -
cblackburn36＠softhome.net -
eric＠brouhaha.com -
James＠jdfogg.com -
jfoust＠threedee.com -
julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
m.wickens＠rhodium-consulting.com -
pkoning＠equallogic.com -
zmerch＠30below.com