I was really hoping we'd get to hear the computer operate at some point.
UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer [video]
21–30 of 36 posts
Re: UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer [video]
#22I was really hoping we'd get to hear the computer operate
Re: UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer [video]
#23We’ll be doing the same about today’s computers in 70 years time.
yep
Re: UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer [video]
#24Loved the V2 rocket launch at the end. Back in '48 we didn't have any rockets, but we did have Wernher Von Braun.
Which gives me an excuse to post a link of Tom Lehrer singing about Wernher von Braun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ9HrZq7Ro with the famous lines, "'Once the rockets go up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department,' says Wernher von Braun."
This is awesome! :D
Re: UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer [video]
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, just like a sloppy slide-rule or mechanical calipers or micrometer will give you iffy readings. Whether the accuracy change is a material one depends on what you are doing. Daisy chaining results would get you into meaningless territory quite fast I would imagine.
Oddly enough, I have a circular slide rule where the printed scale is not quite concentric with the sliding discs, so the thing has a built-in periodic error.
Username checks out ;) That's neat, I've never had one of those but used a linear one for years for quick order-of-magnitude answers. I got to use it just as modern pocket calculators took off, the first ones were only four function jobs and they were priced insanely high so slide rules were more economic for the kind of problems I ran into in highschool. My maths book even had a whole chapter on using them. Then; after a few years I got a Ti-57 and that was that for the sliderule, that thing was programmable.
Re: UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer [video]
#26Loved the V2 rocket launch at the end. Back in '48 we didn't have any rockets, but we did have Wernher Von Braun.
Which gives me an excuse to post a link of Tom Lehrer singing about Wernher von Braun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ9HrZq7Ro with the famous lines, "'Once the rockets go up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department,' says Wernher von Braun."
Von Braun shot for the moon, but hit London instead.
Re: UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer [video]
#27If you want more information on how you can do computation with mechanical systems, try this video: U.S. NAVY BASIC MECHANISMS OF FIRE CONTROL COMPUTERS MECHANICAL COMPUTER INSTRUCTIONAL FILM 27794 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwf5mAlI7Ug
All parts, without annoying timestamp at the bottom:
Re: UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer [video]
#28I love the tone of amazement and excitement in the video. The images were amazing, but the tone really stuck with me. I wonder what could be done to bring back that type of mass amazement and excitement towards technology? When I think of the future I'm blown away by the possibilities of CRISPER, 3d printing, energy storage, block chains, driver-less cars, UBI, space exploration and more. We are advancing so quickly…
The mid 70's were just about optimal. Lots of stuff you could pick apart and make new things from with standardized parts. After that more and more integrated circuits made it into consumer electronics and if the volume was large enough they'd be custom so useless to either repair or be used as a source of parts.
That’s an illusion. Could you, in the mid-’70s, repair a vacuum tube? A capacitor? No. You threw it away and got a new one, and you didn’t care how it worked inside. Older artisans were probably even then horrified by the ‘new’ age of people who didn’t know how to properly blow glass bulbs.
Re: UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer [video]
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
The mid 70's were just about optimal. Lots of stuff you could pick apart and make new things from with standardized parts. After that more and more integrated circuits made it into consumer electronics and if the volume was large enough they'd be custom so useless to either repair or be used as a source of parts.
That’s an illusion. Could you, in the mid-’70s, repair a vacuum tube? A capacitor? No. You threw it away and got a new one, and you didn’t care how it worked inside. Older artisans were probably even then horrified by the ‘new’ age of people who didn’t know how to properly blow glass bulbs. See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19113359
Not really relevant to the parent's valid point.
Maybe you couldn't repair the switch, potentiometer or the valve, but you could nearly always buy a standard replacement. From just about any suitable shop. Chances are the same switches and valves were used in dozens of products and makes, and there would be third party alternatives - cheaper with shorter life. Sure, there were a few uncommon specialist tubes in some things, but they were hugely outnumbered by standard components.
Now everything is specific and moulded to fit just one product. You try to buy a Sony XYZ1244/a switch, and find Sony don't make that part available, and it's custom moulded to only fit that one particular product. Maybe you can buy a switch as part of the whole control module that includes it, and a bunch of custom ICs at £99. Or maybe not as you're not an approved Sony repair shop.
Re: UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer [video]
#30Does anyone know the citation information? There were no credits at the end.