Re: Reading is fundemental...

On 4/11/25 10:54 PM, rbowman wrote:

On Fri, 11 Apr 2025 22:00:05 -0400, c186282 wrote:
 

    Jacquard inspired BABBAGE ... who designed the first real computers -
    albeit in brass gears. Poor bastard HAD IT RIGHT - but didn't live
    quite long enough to see electric/electronic solutions.

 https://www.hpmuseum.org/srw.htm
 It had an electric motor so you didn't have to crank it but it was all
gears, cams, levers, and springs. The NYS Dept. of Education was still
using them when I worked there summers in the mid-60s.

   OWN an electric - mechanical - calculator. Belonged
   to my dad. Unpolarized plug, so if you get it wrong
   the thing will shock the shit out of you. "Marchant".
   Big bank of keys. Would chunka-chunka-chunka-whirr
   through all the steps. Fascinating to watch. The
   internal mechanics just incomprehensible.
   The Babbage machines were a bit more complex/capable.
   His 'analytical engine' WAS a modern computer with
   all the perks - but he never got enough money to
   complete one (and kept changing the design). Brass
   gears/cogs were THE tech back then.
   So, the actual MACHINE was doomed - but the IDEAS
   to make it work were right on.
   Interesting that while Babbage was kinda fixated
   on doing nothing but utilitarian math, lady Ada
   saw the far more abstract, interesting, uses
   of such machines. Alas she died kinda young ...
   With the 4004, mechanical calculators became
   obsolete. There were some digital solutions a
   few years before, but the 4004 made it all
   vastly simpler/cheaper. Still, VERY interesting
   to see the final-gen mechanicals.