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An aside, I believe the early computer witnessed by Lawrence Waterhouse in Cryptonomicon used this mercury column system, it was described as visibly moving up
by fuzzix 14y ago
An aside, I believe the early computer witnessed by Lawrence Waterhouse in Cryptonomicon used this mercury column system, it was described as visibly moving up and down inside the columns.
I hadn't heard of anything like it at the time, it was an intriguing idea - I wasn't even sure Stephenson hadn't made the whole thing up.
- phireal 14y agoI think the version in Cryptonomicon was based on actual sound waves (in tubes filled with air) rather than in mercury as the book mentions to noise coming from his laboratory.