One bit computing, with NO electronics!
Originally shared by Ed S
A DIY paper computer, from 1958... just add scissors and pins and an hour of your time. But don't get over-excited, this is just 1 bit computing, unlike the much more sophisticated 3 bit Digi-Comp I from 1963. What does a 1 bit computer do? Depends on the instruction length, of course, but in this case it's a zero bit instruction - it can only do one thing, which is to accumulate from one storage register to the next. I'm not entirely sure, but I think that means it can toggle one of two bits. Nonetheless "the computer expert will recognise that [this machine] contains most of the units of a large-scale computer, but in simplified form."
(This post unrelated to the much more modern and open-ended 1-bit project from Dave's Dev Lab as seen at
https://hackaday.io/project/22161-daves-1-bit-full-adder
- video within!)
Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digi-Comp_I
Also ref: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=5222588
http://longstreet.typepad.com/books/2010/11/item-mayer-rollin-p-papac-00-a-do-it-yourself-paper-computer-in-communications-of-the-association-for-computing-machin.html
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