 | | Building a computer from Lego's —Bob Sardelli
|
| | | This guy built a computer out of Tinkertoys! So I was wondering, has anyone ever built a computer out of legos? Heck, has anyone ever built a working cash register. Certainly can be done. (URL) (24 years ago, 30-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.general)
|
| | | |
| | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —David Eaton
|
| | | | | (...) play tic-tac-toe, made out of tinkertoys... but generally, I think of computers as... I dunno... kinda having a 'processing' stage to them... Or maybe it's that the programs are interchangeable... dunno... Maybe it was a computer... hmm... But (...) (24 years ago, 30-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.general)
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Eric Joslin
|
| | | | | | (...) It was Mario and Marco Beri, they had it with them at Mindfest. I don't know if Mario's brother Gulio had any input into it, so if I'm leaving him out accidentally don't hit me. eric (24 years ago, 30-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.general)
|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Bob Sardelli
|
| | | | | | Well I guess we are using the term "computer" a little loosely. But if it could play tic-tac-toe then it made decisions based variable input, thats kind of like a computer. And using an RCX would definitely NOT count. Bob (...) (24 years ago, 30-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.general)
|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Ronald Vallenduuk
|
| | | | | | | I remember a sort of programmable crane from the first technic ideas book. You'd program it with gear racks on a plate. See (URL) that count? Duq (24 years ago, 30-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.general)
|
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Bob Sardelli
|
| | | | | | | | Hmmm, thats getting pretty close but I guess I'm thinking of for if-then-else logic at least. Or a simple adder. Must be literature on making machines out of simple stuff (non-IC) for adding. Looks like a nice kit though. ... don't make'm like they (...) (24 years ago, 30-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.general)
|
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Mike Fusion
|
| | | | | | | | i couldn't find the actual images, anyone got a specific link? i mean the group thing sounds great but i would really like to see the actual mechanism. mike "dying to reverse engineer" fusion (24 years ago, 30-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.general)
|
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Mark Crosbie
|
| | | | | | | (...) What if you used the RCX to power each subsystem, but not the entire computer? For example, one RCX for the keyboard, another on the tape drive, and another on the output. They communicate via the IR ports (or by raising and lowering flags (...) (24 years ago, 31-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Andrew Lipson
|
| | | | | | (...) I'm pretty sure the Tinkertoy 'computer' was basically a look-up table that had all positions coded into it with the correct responses, making use of symmetries to cut down the size of lookup needed. I don't really consider that to be a (...) (24 years ago, 31-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.general)
|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —John D. Forinash
|
| | | | | | (...) Good enough for me-- after all, any combinational logic construct (gates, but no registers/flip flops) can be represented as a ROM, and this is often done in practice. I can't imagine saying that just because one didn't represent it the other (...) (24 years ago, 31-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.general)
|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Harley Myler
|
| | | | | (...) Browse (URL) for a description of a "rope and pulley" computer, it might give some insight into building one with Lego. Harley Myler (URL) (24 years ago, 30-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —James Powell
|
| | | | | | | (...) tic-tac-toe "computer" from relays, they had one at the old Buhl Planetarium in Pittsburgh. The game of tic-tac-toe is easily simulated with a finite state machine (FSM) as there are fixed strategies, clear outcomes and lots of symmetry. The (...) (24 years ago, 31-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Harley Myler
|
| | | | | | | | (...) You are absolutely correct. The reason I was quoting "computer" was because it has such a broad definition. Some folks get downright violent if you call an abacus a computer, but it is. What you really need to do is classify the computer. the (...) (24 years ago, 31-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Kekoa Proudfoot
|
| | | | | | (...) Hrm. Apraphulians sounds a lot like April-Fool-ians.... Are you sure this is real? Ah-ha. See: (URL) idea though. -Kekoa (24 years ago, 31-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —William M. Leue
|
| | | | | | I took a look at the Dewdney article, and I agree, it is a quasi-digital device, but not a general-purpose computer at all. I have been working on a "universal Turing machine" made from Lego technics parts, but I am cheating and using an RCX for the (...) (24 years ago, 1-Feb-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Harley Myler
|
| | | | | | (...) Nonsense. I quote: "No general-purpose computer is complete without a memory. The memory of the Apraphulian computer consisted of hundreds of special storage elements we would call flip-flops. Here again the remarkable simplicity of the (...) (24 years ago, 1-Feb-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | RCX's and Lego Trains —Richard Clemens
|
| | | | | | Can you "drive" a Lego train with an RCX? The Lego 5300 has a power connector on top, or perhaps just power the rails? (24 years ago, 1-Feb-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Re: RCX's and Lego Trains —J Austin David
|
| | | | | | (...) You can do either one, but it has a few drawbacks -- (a) not much variability in power -- all or nothin' (b) not much selectability -- all trains on the rails get power. I've had success making a powered truck w/ regular train wheels (2 sets, (...) (24 years ago, 1-Feb-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Re: RCX's and Lego Trains —Iain Hendry
|
| | | | | | "J Austin David" <lego-robotics@crynwr.com> wrote in message news:200102010255.VA...gtf.org... (...) ...which is why I'm such a huge proponent of rubber-tyre based transit systems :) (Hear that, m.t.u-t? *sigh*...) Iain (24 years ago, 1-Feb-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Mark Crosbie
|
| | | | | (...) Does building an abacus out of LEGO count as a computer? :-) Mark. ---- Mark Crosbie mark@mastincrosbie.com Linux, Electronics and LEGO all at (URL) (24 years ago, 31-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Harley Myler
|
| | | | | | (...) Now, if you really want to build something out of Lego, build a Von Neumann architecture computer. The RCX is a "Von Neumann Machine". Harley Myler (URL) (24 years ago, 31-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Lincoln Smith
|
| | | | Sorry if this one has been suggested: (URL) have seen two others, but searches came up empty and didn't someone post a brick sorter that read in a sequence of 1x2 tiles to produce an "order" to be "picked" from hoppers of different colour? Couldn't (...) (24 years ago, 13-Feb-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.general)
|
| | | | |
| | | | | | Re: Building a computer from Lego's —Steve Baker
|
| | | | (...) The two gates he presents seem a little complex and bulky. I think the reason is the choice of representation for the logic levels 0 and 1...and perhaps even the idea of base-2 arithmetic at all. It seems to me that if you chose '0' to be (...) (24 years ago, 14-Feb-01, to lugnet.robotics)
|
| | | | |
