3 ms·

Enigma, the Bombe, and Typex

sixothree 8y ago
I've always felt conflicted about learning anything about these machines. They were part of such a terrible machine and were used to commit some awful crimes. I have interest in Colossus and Bletchley Park though.
- NateEag 8y ago
  Why does understanding an evildoer's tools bother you?
willvarfar 8y ago
I played around cracking Enigma https://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/145830743193/my-attack-on-the-enigma-cipher-machine https://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/145830743193/my-... I'm quite pleased with the conciseness of my Python version of the Enigma: https://gist.github.com/williame/94beef4b9afea659864950c29d402b90 https://gist.github.com/williame/94beef4b9afea659864950c29d4...
- TomAnthony 8y ago
  That Python implementation is really concise! Nice job!
flohofwoe 8y ago
There's a user-mod for Silent Hunter 5 (WW2 submarine simulation) which contains a fully working Enigma emulator for decoding and encoding messages. And with this mod installed, all orders from High Command come in encrypted and you'll have to learn and apply all the manual steps required for decoding to actually know what to do next in the game :) Here's a walkthrough video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-7-FrBU4fY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-7-FrBU4fY Good example of a video game that can also be educational, also a good case for keeping video games open enough so they can be modded by users.
- mstade 8y ago
  This is a great video, thank you for sharing!
cjwillcock 8y ago
I made a universal enigma machine simulator that includes a visualization of how the electric signal moves through the rotors and back. The rotors move too. See https://enigma.w6k.ca/ https://enigma.w6k.ca/ This shows the many other variants not covered by the implementation in the article. Over 800 tests and open source. Not for use on mobile and probably not for tablet.
- willvarfar 8y ago
  I found the paper Enigma excellent for understanding how Enigma worked. http://wiki.franklinheath.co.uk/index.php/Enigma/Paper_Enigma http://wiki.franklinheath.co.uk/index.php/Enigma/Paper_Enigm... I kind of imagined it would make a nice 3d printer project, either printing ball-runs so ball-bearings represent current, or by somehow including conductors in the printing. If there is some glow-when-connected wire or wire with lots of tiny leds in, that would be awesome!

I've always felt conflicted about learning anything about these machines. They were part of such a terrible machine and were used to commit some awful crimes. I have interest in Colossus and Bletchley Park though.

NateEag 8y ago
Why does understanding an evildoer's tools bother you?

willvarfar 8y ago

I played around cracking Enigma https://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/145830743193/my-attack-on-the-enigma-cipher-machine https://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/145830743193/my-... I'm quite pleased with the conciseness of my Python version of the Enigma: https://gist.github.com/williame/94beef4b9afea659864950c29d402b90 https://gist.github.com/williame/94beef4b9afea659864950c29d4...

TomAnthony 8y ago
That Python implementation is really concise! Nice job!

flohofwoe 8y ago

There's a user-mod for Silent Hunter 5 (WW2 submarine simulation) which contains a fully working Enigma emulator for decoding and encoding messages. And with this mod installed, all orders from High Command come in encrypted and you'll have to learn and apply all the manual steps required for decoding to actually know what to do next in the game :) Here's a walkthrough video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-7-FrBU4fY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-7-FrBU4fY Good example of a video game that can also be educational, also a good case for keeping video games open enough so they can be modded by users.

mstade 8y ago
This is a great video, thank you for sharing!

cjwillcock 8y ago

I made a universal enigma machine simulator that includes a visualization of how the electric signal moves through the rotors and back. The rotors move too. See https://enigma.w6k.ca/ https://enigma.w6k.ca/ This shows the many other variants not covered by the implementation in the article. Over 800 tests and open source. Not for use on mobile and probably not for tablet.

willvarfar 8y ago
I found the paper Enigma excellent for understanding how Enigma worked. http://wiki.franklinheath.co.uk/index.php/Enigma/Paper_Enigma http://wiki.franklinheath.co.uk/index.php/Enigma/Paper_Enigm... I kind of imagined it would make a nice 3d printer project, either printing ball-runs so ball-bearings represent current, or by somehow including conductors in the printing. If there is some glow-when-connected wire or wire with lots of tiny leds in, that would be awesome!