Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Desktop Turing-Welchman Bombe Build

Posted by timothy on from the purely-awesome dept.

An anonymous reader writes: I completed a months long project to build my own version of the Turing-Welchman Bombe. My machine uses a Raspberry Pi2 and an Arduino to drive stepper motors to turn the three output indicator drums and to drive an LCD display, to work like the indicator unit on the real Bombe. Everything was custom made by me at home. The unit is built to reflect the style of the real Bombe at Bletchley Park and to run in a similar way but as a portable, desktop sized unit. To demonstrate it I use the same Weather Report Menu as used at BP to demonstrate their real Bombe. The entire build was painstakingly documented over many months but the link given shows an overview and a film of the completed machine in action.

7 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. PLEASE by wbr1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    For the love of all that is holy, do not take it to a school in Texas.

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
    1. Re:PLEASE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why not? As long as he's brown, he'll get free tuition and a visit to the White House out of it.

    2. Re:PLEASE by binarstu · · Score: 5, Funny

      For the love of all that is holy, do not take it to a school in Texas.

      And if you do take it to a school in Texas, when questioned by the authorities, don't make the mistake of saying, "No, no, don't worry -- it's just a bombe!"

    3. Re:PLEASE by MechaStreisand · · Score: 2

      No, he was right; I'd say the kid and his dad were more attention whores than asshats.

      --
      Disclaimer: IANAL. This post is, however, legal advice, and creates an attorney-client relationship.
  2. Re: ROT13 in the WW-II era.. by myowntrueself · · Score: 4, Insightful

    wth. why not be proud.

    turing substantially helped the war and was one of the key figures who defined modern computation

    and they harassed the poor man until he killed himself

    the fact that some small fraction of the worlds gay population can celebrate and not cower in fear
    is a huge advancement. and you can fuck off.

    Pride is something you feel about something you achieved not an accident of birth. Is it an accident of birth, something over which you have no control? If so then pride is entirely inappropriate, just like being proud of the colour of your eyes.

    If I were proud of having brown hair wouldn't I be conceited? How about being proud of being heterosexual, proud of not being gay? Is that ok by you? No? Get over yourself.

    Don't be ashamed of what you are but reserve pride for your true achievements.

    --
    In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  3. Re:You didn't built a Bombe by freeze128 · · Score: 2

    Though I suppose from a certain point of view the output display could be considered a cool thing, but it isn't a Bombe.

    Tell that to the cops.

  4. Re:TARDIS by jandersen · · Score: 2

    Not a TARDIS, but a Portaloo, aka TURDIS.