The Pentium as a Navajo Weaving

The entirety would have complete faster if they only used green threads.

Don't hold back, that level of puns is what I live for.

Just wait for the Pentium 4 with hyper-threading.

I always look askance at a blanket statement.

“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns, just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”

– Ada Lovelace, 1843

Neat. 2 RTL gates -> 16 CMOS transistors (10 for XOR and 6 for OR)

Don't bother with the rectilinear pakeha layouts, do your half adders in curvilinear patterns, Koru style

this sounds awesome! do you have drawings?

I thought the same thing reading this! I'm currently reading Prisoner's Dilemma by William Poundstone, which details the life of John von Neumann. According to his brother Nicholas, von Neumann likely got the idea to use punch cards for computers from the Jacquard loom. One of his father's (Maxwell von Neumann) clients at the turn of the century was a Jacquard loom manufacturer, and Max would evidently discuss his work with his kids everyday over supper.

Well done.

That was a very interesting and well researched article. Thank you.

I laughed at the bit where the gallery picked the wrong side of the rug to display, but this got me thinking -- presumably all the die photos we see are from the etched side of the wafer, what does it look like on the other side? Is it just all flat?

Just moved back to ABQ from Shiprock last month, after 8 years. Not every day you see Shiprock featured in an HN post!

I had a dual Pentium II board (made by Tyan, with an Adaptec Raid Option slot) but I don't recall ever seeing a dual P54C board. Did a mainstream motherboard maker ever release one, to your knowledge?

Not a pentium question, but..

> Due to the end of the Cold War, Hughes acquired General Dynamics' missile business in 1991 before being acquired by General Motors in 1985 and sold to Raytheon in 1997.

I'm guessing that's supposed to be 91 -> 95 -> 97?

As a hobby hand-spinner and occasional weaver who’s been in IT my entire working life, and interested in learning more about what my home country has done to the nations that were already there, this article is excellent in all regards.

Excellent article. I know Shiprock but I didn’t know it’s history with manufacturing processors. Thank you for writing it.

I get the feeling Intel needed to "bribe" the Navajo by ordering this work. Why did they need to do that? Was it part of an agreement with tribe leadership?

And as sad it is, they cycle as has repeated itself and its still a sad situation around Shiprock. I'm someone who lives within the general area and poverty is still saturating the Navajo community. To make things worse the oilfield in the area has shifted to Texas. And within the last year the Four Corners Power Plant (PNM) and Navajo Mine (BHP) have shut down. These have been 2 extremely large employers of the area for the Navajo people since the 70's. Lots of businesses in neighboring towns like Farmington and Gallup have shuddered. And a large amount of people (who could afford to) have moved to places like Phoenix and Denver so they don't get stuck being part of the situation.

You know what they've said for millennia: "Vae victis"!

That is how I generally see it. The technological suite needed to get to that stage is astounding.

It is a great indicator of progress and decline, like how the quality of crockery dropped in the roman empire showed how their economics hampered their skills.

Maybe computing is one of the big hurdles that shows the overall capabilities of economies and on a much more broad scale, species. Like wrap drives in Star Trek.

No. Singularity risk has them cowed.

As a programmer and Shepherdess I can tell you that sheep have enough intelligence as is. Contrary to popular belief they are not stupid but certainly have a very different world view.

Interestingly, Peter MacDonald, the Navajo tribal leader at the time, had been a code talker during World War II.

Since 1804!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_machine

Dead stuff is stuff without structure. I tend to think about my interactions with the universe as extending the structure that is me to dead stuff. Stuff is lifted to structuredness, and becomes part of us as a whole. I don't feel that's low at all.

Hello, fellow artist+programmer (:

What do you think of the quote: "Whatever you do will be utterly insignificant, but it is very important that you do it" ?

Personally, I think playing with little dreams is beautiful, but I do hope you find something that satisfies your soul.

In my experience, artistry and a bit of depression often go hand-in-hand. If you spend a lot of time paying attention to things, you're bound to notice the Abyss.

Soeaking as an engineer, has it ever struck you how utterly low it is to sit in a room making art? Sculptural materials and paint is dead. Words are but faint echoes of human life.

Your comments are more a reflection upon your own worldview.

To improve things you merely need to change your own perceptions.

That's a remarkable question.

Have you, reader of this comment, ever created something that will subsequently never interact with a living being?

I don't think I have... except maybe when I've blinked Morse into the sky with a flashlight or laser.

There's always someone or something on the other end. I try to remember that.

Sounds like you're going through a bit of a nihilism phase, the futility of it all. It's cool.

Low and high are but you imposing your value system onto something that exists irrespective of it. "Low" could very well be the activity of breathing if one argues enough to show it. In reality actions don't and shouldn't exist to serve a higher purpose. Attachment with result is the cause of suffering. Attach yourself to the action.