Old and New Babbage Engine

[gobacktorussia]

the difference engine is spectacular, although i can not find a decent explination of how it works. ofcourse im sure its not the easiest mechanism to explain, though i would like a bit more information as to how it calculates and how it is programmed?

how complex an equasion can it calculate?

i would love to take a look at the original blueprints

[wilsonces]

Glad to see it was finally built. Even if it's not the final design. We will have some record for the future that's not magnetic data, stored on an ipod. Carried on the hip. And dependant on mains power. Roll on december 2012.

[NoStrangerOpening]

A marvel of engineering

[opiate115]

What a beautiful machine.

[plenty2see]

brilliant machine , the guy who invented the first electronic computer at bletchly park in 1940 I forget his name he was a scot, brilliant mind , he was tortered to death by the british govt in the 50s, because he was homosexual, after being convicted he was forced to take medication to suppress his libido and sexual urges, he became depressed and committed suicide , how bizzare

[johanges]

That would be Alan Mathison Turing (June 23, 1912--June 7, 1954). One of the most brilliant minds in recorded history. He presented the theoretical device now know as the Turing Machine in a 1936 paper.

Although Turing's work at Bletchley Park laid the theoretical foundation for Colossus (possible the first programmable computer), he was not part of the development team.

[influenza99]

Agreed. Turing is rivalled only by Newton and Einstein. Too bad is not better known. I suspect this is because of the top secret nature of much of his work.

Only when you understand the enormity of the problem that was laid at Turings feet can you begin to understand the enormity of his genious.

Even with a modern day super-computer, it would be difficult to calculate how many lives Turing saved.

[gonzo1275]

He died from eating a cyanide laced apple. Some people say that apple computers' logo was a nod to Turing's apparent suicide and even his homosexuality...the multicolored apple with a bite taken out of it.

[influenza99]

Colossus was the first programmable computer and was the brainchild of British post office employee, Thomas Flowers...Don't let the ENIAC guys tell you otherwise. The reason the ENIAC got all the fame was because Colossus was classified Ultra Top Secret and it was designed to defeat the German Enigma encryption device.

Aside from the tremendous bravery of the Allied foot soldier, the men and women at Bletchly Park may be the single biggest reason we won WWII.

[influenza99]

I think Apple Computers name is a homage to Isaac Newton. Further proof of this may be Apple's Newton MessagePad...the first PDA device.

[georgH]

I was at this museum two weeks ago. What a pity they don't do demonstrations of the Difference Engine n.2 anymore. They are building a copy.

20/08/2007

[advnetlab]

They didn't do demonstrations when I was there either. I bribed the guy with a bag of Kona Coffee (30 pound sterling at harrods at the time) The copy was done when I was there, but the printer wasn't quite finished. The cool part is that the copy worked, and would have worked in Sir Charles' day if he had been able to get better materials and machine tools.

/brian chee

[georgH]

>would have worked in Sir Charles' day

Sure!

acarol.woz. org

ww w.meccano. us/difference_engines/rde_2/in­dex. html

[mopalia]

Yes, sure. We ran it quite a bit just today. And the same person who built the Meccano versions was on the team that did the monthly maintenance on the Babbage engine today.

[georgH]

>The copy was done when I was there,

>but the printer wasn't quite finished.

Hi, I think we used <i>copy</i> with different meanings: you referred to the first Difference Engine n.2 and I was referring to the copy of this that they're doing for another museum. ;)

[advnetlab]

ah! Busy aren't they?

Being an academic, I've always wanted some footage to show classes that I didn't have to worry about copyrights on....so when I had the opportunity, it was put up or shut up...so that's why I'm only asking for credit. As long as it's used for educational purposes, I'm fine with it.

So now that editing technology has improved, this time I'm hoping the audio comes out so that you can hear the gears churning away. Quite the clacking as the registers shift.

[gonzo1275]

First off, thanks for putting this up. Wish I could go there myself to see it and hear it. Maybe some day.

Even with better materials and tools, engineering methods back then weren't advanced enough to pull off such a complex task. Imagine getting all those moving parts timed just right, synced perfectly for it to work properly, like Babbage intended.

[mopalia]

If you're in the US, there's one in California until April, 2009, at the Computer History Museum.

[gonzo1275]

Thanks for the info! I'll have to go there next time I'm in the bay area. I lived there for 7 years and had no idea there was Computer History Museum in Menlo Park!

[gonzo1275]

...I mean Mountain View.

[mopalia]

It works just fine,, and it was built using the same tolerances that Babbage used, as well as the same materials. If they had completed it in his lifetime, it would have worked. I know, because we just finished oiling and greasing #2 (as in Difference Engine #2, #2, this morning. It works just the way Babbage intended.

[robbyrne22]

what a machine!

[advnetlab]

oh by the way, you can barely see it, but there is a gutenburg style printer attached to the unit. It drops metal slugs into a try to print out the ballistics tables it was designed to produce.

/brian chee

[gadgettts]

I think my school has one of these in the data center.... no wonder why my email keeps getting lost!