Relay Computer

[astaroth120]

can it run crysis 2 ?

[dshmechanic]

If Rube Goldberg ever had the opportunity or inclination to cross over into the world of electronics, I'm pretty sure your computer would resemble one of his creations, LOL. Very neat computer, though!!

[AllGs]

I have a question. why were relays never used as a transistor in place of Vacuum tubes? I mean you can do the same operation with them can't you?

[Frogstopper]

@AllGs Yep, they essentially do the same thing but vacuum tubes can do it much faster.

[Zorbeltuss]

@AllGs They did, just earlier and on the wrong side of world war 2, Konrad Zuses Z3 was the worlds first functional computer and all relay at that. However it has not been in the limelight because its architechture is so alien from other computers because the lack of development relationship, they only figured it was Turing complete 57 years after it was built, wikipedias article is my recommendation in reading up on it.

[AllGs]

@Zorbeltuss WOW! How did I miss this? 0_O

This is amazing, I have always wondered why nobody thought of using relays but never actually stumbled on perhaps one of the greatest invention in the history of of computing =\

thanks for the info

[Nicholas2472]

How do you make the adder take away?

[Frogstopper]

@Nicholas2472 Technically the adder is still adding - it's just adding the negative of what you wanted to subtract :). E.g. a - b = a + -b

Looking at the 2's Compliment binary table, if you take a number, invert all the bits and add 1 you end up with the negative of that number. In the machine the XORs are used to invert all the bits of the B input (@3:00), and then 1 is fed in to the carry in of the adder to get the "add 1" part.

[anothatech]

That is too very cool

[jamespb89]

All I can thing about is that I want to model this with Minecraft

[prozacgod]

Thumbs up for the calculator watch :D good work man!

[deadrabbit666666]

I don't get the "can it run crysis?" comments. Are they some sort of joke, or are these people really that stupid?

[darkdevil905]

Wow you can almost program FORTRAN in that computer !

[Nothingismagnificent]

Lol! Nice!

[visnevskiscom]

Awesome indeed!

[vframuh]

Super awesome :D

[mrkvo]

Buy fpga or cpld :-D but, great work!

[ytacctaccnt]

what is the song in the background?

[iEugene1994]

Maaaaannnnn !!!

[T3CHNOTURK]

relays does the same thing as transistors ;)

[MercifulBeing]

its not a computer u fag

[crack1q2]

@MercifulBeing learn somethig before commenting dumb things you don't know a shit about

awesome video!

[MercifulBeing]

@crack1q2 i know what an arithmetic unit is u faggot. and its not a computer.

[crack1q2]

@MercifulBeing this arithmetic unit is an enlarge of what people call "The brain of a computer", the CPU. So we're both right. It is not a computer at all, but only a part. Enlarged.

[gruntlover2]

@MercifulBeing You are a fag. It is a computer just because you are spoiled and have no fucking clue what a computer is does not mean you have to insult this guys hardwork

[tvolala1976]

What are those two trapezoidal figures in the schematic at the end?

[Frogstopper]

@tvolala1976 Hey, they're multiplexers (A 4PDT switch in the machine). For the lower one, based on whether the "A/C" input is set, either "Mem" or "A" will be output.

[tvolala1976]

@Frogstopper Thanks. I'm also interested in learning how the ALU was wired for subtraction. Can you help me?

[tvolala1976]

@tvolala1976 also, do those spdt switches fit breadboards?

[tvolala1976]

@tvolala1976 *RELAYS. do the spdt relays fit breadboard?

[LiquidChem]

hello.. how hard would it be to connect a binary to digital display readout that could either generate or translate from the binary display you have there, to hex or standard digits on an lcd screen..??

[QsoftStudios]

looks basically like a huge cpu.

[snemeis90]

I just have two questions to this:

1: I've built a register in a simulation program after the scematic at 4:00. I recognized that if you just use the upper part of the register it's rising edge triggered. This takes less relays. Is there a special reason why you used falling edge triggered ones?

2: How do you return the calculated value back to the input of the ALU? and how can you trigger it?

In the simulation it rushes everything down with over 9000 times the speed of light^^

[OghamTheBold]

Considering the LED's a display - I heard XOR operation is - illegal

Without paying someone - else it's a patent infringement

[imihajlov]

fucking music

[MrGameboy1989]

where do you hook up the internet

[ophelius111]

I read the book 'Code' and wanted to build a similar computer. I drew plans and everything, but never built it. Well done!

[gavincurtis]

Now make a relay based computer that plays tic tac toe. That would be awesome.

[vichinni]

NURDDD

[Sayed0Ali]

Nice job... Awesome ... From where did you get the relays?

[MrStalinggrad]

need wiring diagram

[alfaygamarcos]

Creo no esta nada mal para un curso, la verdad no lo entiendo pero creo que puede ayudar en sistemas digitales a comprender un poco mas.

[dosse91]

impressive!

[Alienatorus]

just brilliant...seriously...

[popper666]

Does it do windows?

[SKMatoBB]

oh my god this is sooo cool! i like it so much nice computer. how long do you build it?

[plavins1]

can it run crysis? where do you connect keyboard to this computer?

[gijsbrandt]

@plavins1 only in low res. Pixel shaders still have to be implemented. Don't expect too much

[flexyco]

Can the relays influence each other if the distance between them is too short?

[ericfontainejazz]

sweet...I have always wanted to homebrew a relay computer. The clanking noise would probably upset any roommates, though.

[SEGAFANBOY7]

this thing is so cool how much did it cost i would love to do this over the next couple of weeks

[gnamp]

I think you might be onto something with this contraption

[Vocoder07]

amazing.....nice work...that like a time travel to the beginning at electric computers

sorry bad english

[Minifig666]

Awesome, the case may be exaggerated in size a bit though. How much did this cost? I am working on a similar device, with similar capability, just without the significant bit negative. I have over 2 nights have made the PSU as it kept on melting the bridge rectifiers till I found a tiny solder jumper somehow charring more than 6A!

[dallatorretdu]

ooh.. excellent work.

i will build one similar one day.. for now i will only finish my 4 bit adder... and next subtraction and increment (with a standard cicle A=1 B= output)

[gevidez]

it's a 4-bit ALU

[honik3000]

what watch do you have? love it!

your relay computer is awesome too, btw :P

[8019AS]

no memory program.... no computer :) ... but realy cool project ... its a microprocesor no a calculator

[snemeis90]

@8019AS "micro" sounds good in this case ;-)

[BruceCarbon]

@thelleht I think he has a programm, a fixed Programm to calculate :) the programm is fixed through wiring :D

Nice Work DUDE :D

[linuxrobotdude]

I would not say that. Vacuum tube computers had to be wired by hand to reprogram. The "program" was its wired configuration. We still call those computers so this is a computer.

[alistairism]

cool

lol

[sciencoking]

niiiice one!

[PremierSullivan]

I've wanted to know for a long time what is the minimum number of gates (transitors, relays, vacuum tubes) for a 1 bit computer to be considered "turing complete".

[DarkShroom]

@PremierSullivan between 355'298'298 and infinity, and it depends how stupid a human we're talking about here?

[PremierSullivan]

I said "turing complete", thats different than "passes the turing test".

[supercompute1983]

that's crazy, i made a "computer" last year out of lego's that could add and subtract binary similar to yours 16 was the overflow and it used flip flop logic gates. it was powered by marbles that had to be put in manually. i think there's something about a wooden one on youtube it only adds however.

[Probewitch]

You obviously should have work at one of the large US car manufacture companies.

[xXtortionXx]

lol! loads of circuit diagrams + relays + binary = Relay computer! nice job man!

[GTAmyths94]

Nice computer. I like relay computer.

[xJEEPXJ]

can i borrow this for my math class? but i dont think it would help so much in calculus. lol

[jojje302]

This is exactly the thing I've been looking for! I've always wanted to to make a calculator like this with logic gates. Relays are way more cooler, but they draw to much power. I'm gonna build one of these things with logic gates, and i'm gonna use it as a simple calulator at school, if I can make it so small.

[hrford]

Does it run DOS 3.30 ?

[FULLBACK141]

looks confusing

[571981]

nice

[LTF85199]

I am trying to make one using excel, just designing relays using if else statement. cost efficient and still give a pretty good idea.

[cantfix5tupid]

what is the song?

[elantoine2001]

@cantfix5tupid The song is

Mr. Scruff - Get a move on

[sephrookes]

crazy andy, crazy. i have no idea how any of that works, mainly cos i did food tech at school, so that shows my technical abilities. but very impressive. Although think it shows more then anything the amount of spare time u have on your hands.

[uglyhank]

lol pndyaoos you such a nutter

[yrotstsohgallet]

oh, and why not have a clock pulse instead of pressing the button again and again?

[Frogstopper]

That was the plan originally - but there's only so much soldering I can take over one summer :P. Maybe when I get some more free time I'll add one in.

[yrotstsohgallet]

understandable. how long did this take you to make? it's amazing. i hope to do something similar one day.

[Frogstopper]

I was working at it on and off for 2 months - at a very relaxed pace though :). I'd guess it was about 15 - 20 hours work in all but it's hard to say as it was spread out over such a long time.

If you are thinking of making your own I'd recommend trying to make the relay logic designs as efficient as possible - although it's nice to have it all laid out like in the books its a pain to solder it all up :p.

[yrotstsohgallet]

how did you mount the relays? can't quite tell from the vid. the leds and switches look like they're on some kind of acrylic thing. neat job mounting, however you did it!

[Frogstopper]

Each latch, xor, and full adder has 2 of the relays glued down with a glue gun. It means it's hard to remove them, but I don't think I'll be modifying it anytime soon :).

Yeah, the switches and LED's are mounted through holes drilled in the sheet of clear acrylic.

[yrotstsohgallet]

Well done!

[Rah66Comanche]

loooool, man you got way to much time, You are now officialy a geek!!

I agree, you got to show this in PAL.

[Dosedmonkey]

PAL, ah unknown acronym!

But seriously, Andy had reached geek status a long time ago, however this project was a lot of 'Why andy, why, why," all summer... mostly to consume time and home his soldering skills.

If only he had done this on large scale with some welding it could of been cool... =P

[Rah66Comanche]

PAL = Peer Assisted Learning = the first years as the mr. pvrocks pointed out

Lets just say this makes him an Uber-Geek, this has not average geekiness anymore.

[pvrocks]

Really Cool - You're going to have to demo it to the first years next year!!