Hacker News Reader

Details on how it works and similarity to FPGA at "Retrocmp" site; DIGI-COMP I - https://retrocmp.com/articles/digi-comp-1

View on HN

Jörg's automation of the machine is truly fun :) The mechanics of the machine are really clunky and giving it an external clock made it function so much more smoothly iirc.

I am still not clear on how exactly it works :-( Need to read some more and maybe sit with pen/paper to see how it can calculate and/or evaluate some logic conditionals.

Computers are mainstream but the concepts behind computing are still "magic" to most. We automatically assume that it can only be realized in the current complicated form (microchips/architecture layers etc.) and forget that the concept is just a "machine" which you can build in many different forms.

Leonardo da Vinci himself had a design for a mechanical calculator - https://www.educalc.net/page/197481/ and http://www.computer-timeline.com/timeline/leonardo-da-vinci/

Reply on news.ycombinator.com