3 ms·
In a related vein, Ars Technica writer Sean Gallagher did a fantastic story on the US Navy's analog fire guidance computers a few years ago: https://arstechnic
by lb1lf 8y ago
In a related vein, Ars Technica writer Sean Gallagher did a fantastic story on the US Navy's analog fire guidance computers a few years ago:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/03/gears-of-war-when-mechanical-analog-computers-ruled-the-waves/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/03/gears...
The instruction videos alone are worth the visit. Geekery of the first order.
- agumonkey 8y agoreactive analog programming ;) there's a remarkable feature of these old videos, they're so easy to follow. No matter the topic, analog gear-computers, car mechanics, wave principles & radio .. it's always fun yet quite precise. We've lost something here.
- B1FF_PSUVM 8y agoIncidentally, these were the computers in the early Heinlein books. I was mulling the comment here a few days ago pointing out Heinlein's prescient depiction of networked computers, and thinking that the hard part would be having mechanical computers pick up the phone and sending electromagnetic pulses down the line. Perhaps pecking at telegraph keys ...
- DonHopkins 8y agoAsh the Android in Alien used a water based computer. Or maybe that was milk. It looks like he might have been had problems solving non-homogeneous differential equations, because the cream would rise to the top. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA8jv1M6Y2g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA8jv1M6Y2g
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y agoI always thought it was some kind of hydraulic fluid but I prefer your explanation. ;)
- mehrdadn 8y agoThese are absolutely mindblowing. Thanks for sharing!
- Pulcinella 8y agoSee also https://youtu.be/NAsM30MAHLg https://youtu.be/NAsM30MAHLg A analog device for performing Fourier analysis.