2 Nov
2002
2 Nov
'02
12:19 p.m.
I managed to pick up a COMDYNA GP-6 analog computer a couple days ago out
at University Salvage. I initially bought it for its nixie tubes, not
knowing what it was, and then was a bit dissatisfied with the fact that
they were not in great shape.
After taking a few seconds to look at it and try to determine what is was
with all the banana jacks on the front, I thought "Hmm, it adds and
multiplies... google says 'Analog computer'... Wahooo!!"
Does anyone know very much about these? I managed to find this webpage
fairly quickly using google:
http://www.comdyna.com/gp6intro.htm
What kind of applications did they have, etc?
Any info you guys have would be great.
Pat
--
Purdue Universtiy ITAP/RCS
Information Technology at Purdue
Research Computing and Storage
http://www-rcd.cc.purdue.edu
http://dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2040637020924.gif
3 Nov
3 Nov
5:59 a.m.
On Sat, 2 Nov 2002, Patrick Finnegan wrote:
I managed to pick up a COMDYNA GP-6 analog computer a
couple days ago out
at University Salvage. I initially bought it for its nixie tubes, not
knowing what it was, and then was a bit dissatisfied with the fact that
they were not in great shape.
After taking a few seconds to look at it and try to determine what is was
with all the banana jacks on the front, I thought "Hmm, it adds and
multiplies... google says 'Analog computer'... Wahooo!!"
More info about the one I have - looks to be an early model - with nixie
tubes intead of the modern LED voltmeter. Also, the problem with the
display tubes went away when I reseated the display cards in their
sockets.
After playing with this little guy, I'm suprised at how stable the
components are - when I'm not touching anything, there's basicall NO
jitter on the display. It looks like some component values have
deteoriated or drifted a bit, but seems in nearly excellent shape. I'm
about to go out to RatShack so I can get some more banana plugs and
create some more patch cables (assuming that they still sell those...)
One last thing - does anyone have an idea of what the "SW" and "OP"
jacks
at the bottom of the front panel are, and how to use the multipliers? I
can't quite seem to get them to 'multiply'...
Thanks for any info
Pat
--
Purdue Universtiy ITAP/RCS
Information Technology at Purdue
Research Computing and Storage
http://www-rcd.cc.purdue.edu
http://dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2040637020924.gif
5 Nov
5 Nov
3:40 a.m.
on 3/11/02 3:02 PM, Patrick Finnegan at pat(a)purdueriots.com wrote:
I have two of these I would consider selling to fellow list-members (or
trade for a Processor Technology SOL :) :)
Mine have the more modern displays, not nixies. Nice, beautifully built
analog computers. Contact me off-list.
Regards,
Arlen
--
Arlen Michaels
arlen(a)acm.org
I managed to
pick up a COMDYNA GP-6 analog computer a couple days ago out
at University Salvage. I initially bought it for its nixie tubes, not
knowing what it was, and then was a bit dissatisfied with the fact that
they were not in great shape.
After taking a few seconds to look at it and try to determine what is was
with all the banana jacks on the front, I thought "Hmm, it adds and
multiplies... google says 'Analog computer'... Wahooo!!"
More info about the one I have - looks to be an early model - with nixie
tubes intead of the modern LED voltmeter. 
4 Nov
4 Nov
8:43 a.m.
New subject: Analog computers (was Re: COMDYNA GP-6)
--- Patrick Finnegan <pat(a)purdueriots.com> wrote:
I managed to pick up a COMDYNA GP-6 analog computer a
couple days ago out
at University Salvage....
Slick.
My one and only experierience with analog computing was a dedicated
device (no patch panel) that calculated energy reserves for the
planet. It had an LED counter for the year and numerous dials for
amount of driving, heating, electricity usage, etc. Physically,
it was about 3" thick and several feet square. I remember trying
out a variety of simulations on it when it was at the local science
museum, COSI, some summer between 1976 and 1980.
I would google for it if I had a keyword. Does this sound like
any sort of box anyone has heard of?
-ethan
P.S. - somewhere on a tape, I have some energy-related apps from a PET
4016 that drive a bank of solid-state switches off the user port to
control 110V lights - they had a wall wired up with light bulbs, and
the PET app could cycle them in attract mode, or flip them on and off
as the app progressed. This comes from the same era, possibly the
same summer. I'll probably put it up on my retrocomputing page when
I run across that tape again.
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arlen＠acm.org -
erd_6502＠yahoo.com -
pat＠purdueriots.com