Any *really* homebrewing going on?

From: dave dameron <ddameron_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Sun Oct 4 00:20:14 1998

HI Gary and all,
At 10:27 AM 10/3/98 -0700, you wrote:

>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.
>

This sounds interesting. I will try to find the Radio Electronics articles
you mentioned. Can you describe the paper tape, was it 5 bits? Maybe
something else
could be used to simulate it, maybe a mechanical drum or a diode matrix =
rom if the number of bits isn't too large.

My first "computer" project was the game of "life" using TTL logic, for
example a 7490 decade counter to count the cell's neighbors as other
counters moved through the 8 neighbor's x, y addresses.

-Dave
Received on Sun Oct 04 1998 - 00:20:14 BST