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<span id="title-1595685" class="story-title"><a href="//slashdot.org/~wooby/journal" title="wooby's Journal" class="skin">wooby's Journal:</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="//slashdot.org/journal/93707/mechanical-logic-gates-and-the-tinkertoy-computer">Mechanical Logic Gates and the Tinkertoy Computer</a></span>
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Journal
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<a href="//slashdot.org/~wooby">wooby</a>
<time id="fhtime-1595685" datetime="on Thursday December 23, 2004 @03:14AM">on Thursday December 23, 2004 @03:14AM</time>
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<p>I'm on Christmas break and have been spending part of my time reading through AK Dewdney's "The Tinkertoy Computer," a collection of Dewdney's writings and articles from Scientific American and elsewhere.</p><p>Of particular fascination to me is the idea of constructing computers without silicon. Dewdney points out that all matter can be fashioned into a computer. The only variables are size and speed. Silicon and electricity are currently in vogue; they supersede mechanical and electromechanical, and may be replaced by the light or quantum.</p><p>In the 20th century before the transistor, computers were made predominantly from either electrical relays or or vacuum tubes. Konrad Zuse's Z3 was perhaps the most advanced of the relay machines, whereas ENIAC is champion of the vacuum tube.</p><p>In the spirit of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stibitz">Stibitz's Model K</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zuse">Zuse's Z2</a>, I ventured to RadioShack on a quest to build a binary addition machine using relays.</p><p>The electronics hobbyist is a dying breed. Visit your local RadioShack and wander towards the parts aisle, and note how the salespeople shy away from you. They won't be selling you a cell phone or a new stereo today. You're on a mission.</p><p>My RadioShack adventure was a success, but I was struck by the prices of the damned things. An individual 5v SPST reed relay cost me $2.69. I knew that transistors were faster, but cheaper too? Oldschoolism isn't cheap. I bought enough for a 1 bit adder. The XOR gate I designed required 5 relays, and a 1 bit adder is basically a glorified XOR gate. As it turned out, I used more relays than planned because the output LEDs required separate circuits. The single SPDT relay I bought, which is necessary as a boolean "not," uses 9V and would blow series-wired lights.</p><p>I'm proud of <a href="http://www.neologic.net/ad/pictures/adder.jpg">the finished product</a> but I'm not sure if making a 4 or 8 bit adder is completely worth it. For an 8 bit adder, I'd be looking at over 40 relays costing over $100.00. Maybe I should build a <a href="http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cfs/472_html/Intro/TinkertoyComputer/TinkerToy.html">Tinker Toy computer tic-tac-toe player instead.</a> </p>
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<span class="escape-link"><a href="//slashdot.org/~wooby/journal/93707" title="Back to Article - Mechanical Logic Gates and the Tinkertoy Computer">Mechanical Logic Gates and the Tinkertoy Computer</a></span>
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