Any *really* homebrewing going on?

From: Gary Oliver <go_at_ao.com>
Date: Sat Oct 3 12:27:32 1998

I hesitate to ask this question, since it may elicit some "religious"
responses as well as the intended ones...

I've been lurking on this group for quite a while, feeding my habit
with great stories of old machine rescues and resurrections. It's
great to hear of the machines folks have in their collections
or that are found and restore to operable condition. But I'm posing
a different question for the list: are there any "real home brew"
projects underway or that have been completed in the past? And to
keep it on topic, I suppose I should confine my question to home
brew computers that were started more than ten years ago or that use
technology more than ten years old.

I read a few of the news groups that discuss home brew computers, but,
lately they really only talk about plugging power supplies, motherboards
and peripherals together to make a (shudder) PC. I'm talking about
*REAL* iron (or aluminum.) Starting from basic relay, transistor, or IC
(SSI or MSI only!) and rolling a machine the "hard way." Recreations of
old machines (i.e. building your own PDP-1) would make a very
interesting discussions.

To start things, I'd like to offer that I'm in the process of recreating
a copy of Edmund Berkeley's "Simon" computer designed and built by him
in the 50's as a demonstration "show and tell" of how a "real" computer
works. It's a collection of 100+ relays, two paper tape readers and
some blinkey lights. Version 1 was a "two bit" computer with the
ability to scale to 4 bits, while version 2 scaling to multiple precision
using a real CARRY! It's a small machine - "almost" a "laptop". Right
now I'm collecting parts - specifically looking for the two paper tape
readers (solenoid operated - not motor driven - so if anyone out there
has one or two of these...)

For a reference to Simon, see the thirteen part series in Radio Electronics
magazine (US publication) from October 1950 through October 1951.
"Constructing Electronic Brains" by Edmund C. Berkeley and Robert A. Jensen.
There was also a cover article in Scientific American around that time -
sorry I don't have the issue handy with an overview of the project.


Anyway, tell me your stories.

Gary
Received on Sat Oct 03 1998 - 12:27:32 BST