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Babbage Engine Printer Finally Available

Posted by timothy on from the hope-yet-for-the-amiga dept.

MrCreosote writes: "This story from the BBC announces the availability of a printer for the Babbage Difference Engine. Originally designed to print the tables that were calculated by the difference engine, it includes advanced features such as user definable formatting and auto line wrap. It is widely believed that the lack of peripherals was a significant factor in the failure of the Difference Engine taking off and gaining a significant market share -- a situation that has led to the current Microsoft monopoly." Kudos to the folks at London's Science Museum who actually built this.

3 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Blimey... by Tim+C · · Score: 5

    A computer printer that was originally designed more than 150 years ago has finally been built and will go on display at the Science Museum in London, UK.

    And I thought getting hardware support for Linux took a long time!

    (Sorry, couldn't resist it :) )

    Cheers,

    Tim

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  2. Because... by hey! · · Score: 5

    it is worthwhile to understand the past.

    When an anthropologist makes a flint knife, is he wasting his time because he can by a far superior pocket knife for a couple of bucks?

    Are paleontologists wasting their time trying to understand dinosaurs because they are extinct?

    There are three good reasons I can immediately see to build something like this.

    (1) It helps us get a better appreciation exactly what our ancestors were capable of doing.
    A lot of people have crackpot economic and social theories that flourish in ignorance of history. We have a tendency to think that the way things turned out was inevitable; it is important to question these assumptions. What had happened if Babbage had more time and resources? Things could have been very different

    (2) It has educational value -- it can teach students about mechanics and mathematics.

    (3) It is important for designers to understand the basic principles of computational machines, and no better way to understand basic principles than looking at real examples early primitive machines. Sure you can plug together boards and create a powerful computer, but what about people in the future who will create entirely new computational technologies such as mechanical nanocomputers? These people will need to have a database of basic designs.

    Who knows, maybe someday we'll have the quantum equivalent of mercury delay tubes in some future computer. Part of the charm of computer science is that in many ways there is nothing new under the sun.

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  3. Analytical Engine Emulator by Cplus · · Score: 4

    Here's a page full of links and info on not only Babbage and his engine but also emulation of his Analytical Engine. There are also links to download the source for the mathematical function library and the java.

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