5 ms·

Do you really wonder? The answer would be "Of course!" and "Of course not!". You don't need electricity to run a "computer". But as soon as you're trying to h

by bipson 7y ago

Do you really wonder? The answer would be "Of course!" and "Of course not!". You don't need electricity to run a "computer". But as soon as you're trying to hook up this computer to the Internet, serving responses on an electrical network... I can't imagine how to do this without electricity. Of course you're not looking for answers using a turbine, are you?

rebuilder 7y ago
Well, fiber optic cable uses light to transmit data... a vibrating mirror could modulate the output. How to receive, well, that seems a bit harder! Also probably some small issues with precise timing and bitrate are to be expected.
- bipson 7y ago
  how small these "small issues" will be is of course a question of definition. Details, right? :)
- petra 7y ago
  Communication systems have methods to compensate for timing errors. And it's probably feasible to build all those circuits at the server side. But bitrate would be low.
brutt 7y ago
For TCP/IP, you can use acoustic modem. It's hard, but not impossible to make mechanical computer and mechanical acoustic modem or vibrational modem (vibrations are easier to parse using mechanics).
- swebs 7y ago
  You still have to transfer it over the phone line using electricity.
  - acheron 7y ago
    RFC 1149 disagrees.
petra 7y ago
Here they talk about a miniatirized pneumatic microprocessor using microfluidics: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2917228/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2917228/ But: it takes a full 10cm wafer to make 50 D flip-flops(a basic component equivalent to a memory bit), and it works at frequency of 0.5hz . So it's a challenge. But maybe it's possible to build a very dumb terminal with this(say keyboard + screen https://www.nature.com/articles/s41378-018-0018-1 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41378-018-0018-1 ) , if you offload everything to the cloud - and use a really basic communications protocol. But will the Amish accept a computer/network ? What will it look like ?
- gene-h 7y ago
  Fluidics can work much faster upto 10 KHz[0], maybe even up to 30 KHz or higher if one uses light gases like hydrogen or helium. Although fluidic elements tend to be pretty and have a foot print on the order about a square centimeter. They are also difficult to scale down because it's difficult to maintain the same reynolds number. Mechanical logic is an interesting option as some newly developed MEMS logic gates might be able to operate at MHz frequencies[1]. [0]https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a084924.pdf https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a084924.pdf [1]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08678-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08678-0

by bipson 7y ago

rebuilder 7y ago

Well, fiber optic cable uses light to transmit data... a vibrating mirror could modulate the output. How to receive, well, that seems a bit harder! Also probably some small issues with precise timing and bitrate are to be expected.

bipson 7y ago
how small these "small issues" will be is of course a question of definition. Details, right? :)
petra 7y ago
Communication systems have methods to compensate for timing errors. And it's probably feasible to build all those circuits at the server side. But bitrate would be low.

brutt 7y ago

For TCP/IP, you can use acoustic modem. It's hard, but not impossible to make mechanical computer and mechanical acoustic modem or vibrational modem (vibrations are easier to parse using mechanics).

swebs 7y ago
You still have to transfer it over the phone line using electricity.
- acheron 7y ago
  RFC 1149 disagrees.

petra 7y ago

Here they talk about a miniatirized pneumatic microprocessor using microfluidics: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2917228/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2917228/ But: it takes a full 10cm wafer to make 50 D flip-flops(a basic component equivalent to a memory bit), and it works at frequency of 0.5hz . So it's a challenge. But maybe it's possible to build a very dumb terminal with this(say keyboard + screen https://www.nature.com/articles/s41378-018-0018-1 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41378-018-0018-1 ) , if you offload everything to the cloud - and use a really basic communications protocol. But will the Amish accept a computer/network ? What will it look like ?

gene-h 7y ago
Fluidics can work much faster upto 10 KHz[0], maybe even up to 30 KHz or higher if one uses light gases like hydrogen or helium. Although fluidic elements tend to be pretty and have a foot print on the order about a square centimeter. They are also difficult to scale down because it's difficult to maintain the same reynolds number. Mechanical logic is an interesting option as some newly developed MEMS logic gates might be able to operate at MHz frequencies[1]. [0]https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a084924.pdf https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a084924.pdf [1]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08678-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08678-0