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Designing mechanical computers with FORTRAC http://anycpu.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=210 |
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Author: | BigEd [ Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:02 pm ] |
Post subject: | Designing mechanical computers with FORTRAC |
Charles Babbage developed a notation for the timing and interactions of mechanisms, which is being decoded by Doron Swade and others. They have in turn developed an ASCII version of the notation, called FORTRAC15 - you might want to use this for your next mechanical computer design! Blog post: http://blog.plan28.org/2015/03/progress ... bages.html Quote: Significant software tooling for FORTRAC is underway. We envisage inter-linking between graphical icons that are the notational symbols, 3D animations of parts, and FORTRAC15 textual descriptions. As a first stage we are building a tool that allows JPEG images of the notations to be annotated with FORTAC15 textual terms. We are now using this tool to capture all the Difference Engine No. 2 notations in machine readable form. Read Babbage's description of his notation at https://archive.org/stream/philtrans094 ... 0/mode/2up The previous blog post has an example from Babbage: http://blog.plan28.org/2014/11/babbages ... ought.html You can see some of Babbage's originals in the Colossus exhibit at The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park (about an hour from London by train) |
Author: | BigEd [ Mon Jun 13, 2016 12:22 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Designing mechanical computers with FORTRAC |
Maybe this thread needs to be a collection of mechanical computers? Here's one made from the K'NEX construction toy, by Daniel Ehrman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdT1YT9AOPA Quote: This is one component of a simple mechanical computer--a full adder--comprised entirely of K'NEX parts and no electronic components. A memory bank as well as an instruction decoder, a program counter, and other key computer components is soon to follow, provided that I can get my hands on some more parts (and a larger space to house the machine). http://www.danielehrman.com/knex-computer/ (Machine is now "on indefinite hold") |
Author: | B.Bibby [ Sun Mar 10, 2024 10:55 am ] |
Post subject: | Re: Designing mechanical computers with FORTRAC |
Another mechanical computer, made with £20 (1934) of Meccano:- https://medium.com/@kgnmkkt/the-20-computer-3e19a09714b7 http://www.amg.nzfmm.co.nz/differential_analyser.html |
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