Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Building a 5-Ton Calculator From 19th-Century Plans

Posted by kdawson on from the steampunk-on-steroids dept.

alphadogg writes "Starting in May, many will have the opportunity to see computing done the old-fashioned way: with lots of gears, a big crank, and some muscle. The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, will unveil a new construction, the first in the US, of the 19th-century British mathematician Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2, an improved version of his earlier design for a mechanical digital calculator. It weighs in at two tons more than the Difference Engine built in 1991 at London's Science Museum. Microsoft millionaire Nathan Myhrvold commissioned and paid for the US model."

38 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. It's cool by kampangptlk · · Score: 4, Funny

    But does it run linux?

    --
    àà®à¥à®à¾à¦ààYà¥àà àà
    1. Re:It's cool by calebt3 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Make an emulator and try it ;-}

    2. Re:It's cool by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Funny

      No it if you RTFA you will see that it was sponsored by Microsoft.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    3. Re:It's cool by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Funny

      But does it run linux?

      Yes, but first you have to figure out how to approximate Linux as a Taylor series.

    4. Re:It's cool by EEPROMS · · Score: 1, Funny

      But does it run linux?

      I heard they are porting Gentoo to the Babage platform (think its called Garbage), should be finished compiling the kernel in about 15 years.

    5. Re:It's cool by cheater512 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hmm...I wouldnt want to put Vista on it in that case.

    6. Re:It's cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      The answer is no, as the Difference Engine is not Turing complete. Charles Babbage realised the errors of his ways though. He repented, abandoned work on his difference engine and commenced work on his Analytical Engine. This new analytical engine was Turing complete and so could run Linux. Unfortunately the desktop version of Linux was delayed until 2004. When he found out about this delay Charles Babbage was broken hearted. Disabled by grief he was unable to complete his analytical engine before his death.

    7. Re:It's cool by ross.w · · Score: 2, Funny

      But how much information can it process in Libraries of Congress?

      --
      If my call is important, why am I talking to a recording?
    8. Re:It's cool by Perf · · Score: 2, Funny

      How many operations can it do in the time it takes light to jump between my knuckles?

  2. frock by Missing_dc · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does this mean as a sysadmin that I should start wearing my Frock and Tophat and subscribe to the local Victorian club???? :)

    --
    How amazed would you be to suddenly find that you just forgot what I wrote and you needed to reread my post.... again.
    1. Re:frock by lgw · · Score: 2, Funny

      ask how many bits there are defined per byte when somebody counts in bytes CHAR_BIT, of course! I'm old school enough to get annoyed when somone just assumes '8' in code. :)
      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  3. We'll know about four years after it's completed by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 4, Funny

    But does it run linux?

    We'll know about four years after it's completed - when it gets done with the boot-up.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  4. Improved model? by calebt3 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2, an improved version of his earlier design for a mechanical digital calculator Hence the 2...
    1. Re:Improved model? by cyphercell · · Score: 4, Funny

      were you expecting 1.9? I don't think they used the opensource versioning conventions en vogue today.

      --
      Under the influence of Post-Cyberpunk Gonzo Journalism
  5. What if... by DigitAl56K · · Score: 5, Funny

    What happens when you divide by zero on a calculator using a physical engine?

    Does it explode? Will it create a black hole? Could this be the next doomsday device?

    1. Re:What if... by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Funny

      Being boring I would expect it would Jam. A gear may break off if you force it.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:What if... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Universe 1.0 will come to an end. God -- or the designated higher being of your choice -- will shake His divine head, and create Universe 2.0 with better error handling routines.

    3. Re:What if... by eln · · Score: 2, Funny

      I would hate to think this many bugs made it past the initial release.

    4. Re:What if... by Torvaun · · Score: 2, Funny

      Or not turn the crank at all.

      --
      I see your informative link, and raise you a pithy comment.
    5. Re:What if... by Bronster · · Score: 4, Funny

      I definitely think it's v2.0 - it shows all the hallmarks of second system syndrome - big, complicated, complete rewrite with all the lessons from the first one thrown out. Yep, v2.0 it is.

      (maybe v2.1 now - there was a service pack applied a couple of thousand years ago according to some reports)

  6. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    We do what we must

    Because we can.

  7. You can't necessarily go by version by Cryacin · · Score: 3, Funny

    For example:

    Windows XP
    Vista

    --
    Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
  8. Re:Only the difference engine? by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 4, Funny

    In a nutshell, it's just an old way of saying "it runs programs".

    Before we had the formal concept of "programs" (as defined and refined by Backus and Naur), computation machines calculated numbers based on information fed into them on paper tape. A full set of instructions on paper-tape was called a "tour", and while the program was running the computation machine was said to be "touring" or "turing" (Fr). When the end of the tape was reached, the computation machine was said to be in the "turing complete" state (i.e. the tour was complete).

    The term "turing complete" came to mean any computer which could run any program fed into it to completion (assuming correct input, of course). We use the term "program" and "run" to talk about computer input nowadays, but we still use the term "turing complete" to describe our general purpose computation devices (computers).

  9. The login screen by Nimey · · Score: 5, Funny


        WELCOME TO THE BABBAGE ANALYTICAL TIMESHARING SERVICE

        PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INTEGRATOR IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
        DUE TO THE WEEKLY GREASING SCHEDULE. WOULD ALL USERS KINDLY
        RETURN ANY UNUSED PLUGBOARDS, AS THE PROGRAMMING TEAM ARE
        RUNNING LOW. DIVISION UNIT 3 WILL BE OUT OF ACTION UNTIL
        THURSDAY DUE TO EMERGENCY COG REPLACEMENT - PLEASE ENSURE
        THAT YOUR PROGRAM DOES NOT ATTEMPT TO DIVIDE BY ZERO AS
        THIS CAN CAUSE SEVERE DAMAGE (INCLUDING SHAFT BREAKAGES).
    .
    .
    SYSTEM READY.
    ?

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
  10. I think I speak for everyone when I ask... by ikono · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does it blend?

    --
    Karma is for whores
  11. Guess that's why by Fnord666 · · Score: 4, Funny
    From the FA:

    Carol gives the example of multiplying 5 by successive numbers, such as 6, 7, 8. "In simple terms, the method of differences is based on the observation that if the work has already been done to multiply 5 by 5, [then] that work can be reused to multiple 5 by 7 with the addition of another 5 into the previous total," he writes.
    I guess that's why the author went into journalism instead of computers.
    --
    'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
  12. Lucky the USA is still using obsolete units! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    They can use the original plans as they are, without that hassle of converting to metric! Bonus!

  13. Re:Turing complete by stewartjm · · Score: 2, Funny

    Almost any machine can run that one:
    Stack overflow (core dumped)

  14. Re:Meh.... by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Funny

    Article: Andrew Carol, an Apple software engineer who built a simpler difference engine, entirely of plastic LEGO pieces...

    It appears Mr. Babbage should have invented Legos first.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  15. Re:Only the difference engine? by calebt3 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hint: You are replying to BadAnalogyGuy

  16. GIGO by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Funny

    a famous quote: "On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."

    I remember reading that one of them was a congressman. If so, things haven't changed in 150 years.
    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  17. The more important question by martinw89 · · Score: 3, Funny

    But will it blend?

    Sorry, I couldn't resist (8 ton blender? Beowolf Total Blender cluster?)

  18. Re:150 years makes quite a difference by PCM2 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Quite impressive that in 150 years we can do with less than a gram of silicon what they tried to do with tons of gears and cranks. Makes you wonder what they're gonna be doing in 150 years from now.

    Same thing they're doing right now, I expect: Decomposing.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
  19. gentoo by Shadow-isoHunt · · Score: 4, Funny

    And that's just getting the livecd up. We've still gotta compile everything - "Deep thought" was just throwing an error from make.

    --
    www.isoHunt.com
  20. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  21. Re:Meh.... by BorgCopyeditor · · Score: 2, Funny

    Also, synthetic polymers and several artificial dyes.

    --
    Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
  22. Re:I want to know... by BorgCopyeditor · · Score: 2, Funny

    Simple: it's circular.

    --
    Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
  23. Re:I want to know... by dbIII · · Score: 3, Funny
    Wrong - clearly not your area.

    Pi are squared :)