Harry Porter's Relay Computer

[RobertMOdell]

Where are you located? And, are you giving live demos ?!!!

[KapriJohn]

*Chr-chr-chr-chr-chr-chr-chr* WHAT THE HECK IS IT DOING? *Chr-chr-chr-chr-chr-chr-chr-c­hr-chr-chr-chr-chr-chr-chr* WELL, ACTUALLY I TRIED TO RUN MINECRAFT, BUT IT'S OUT OF MEMORY, YOU SEE? *Chr-chr-chr-chr-chr-chr-chr-c­hr-chr-chr-chr-chr-chr-chr*

[lophilip]

Fantastic!

I wish I had a machine like this during my assembly programming class - something is lost when you're programming low level programming with solid state devices.

If I were you I would cheat a bit and use a modern PC to load up the programs.... and the debug the programs.

Did you create your own instruction set?

[neogeo53]

that is pretty cool

[bc2noob]

Who else read Harry potter's relay computer :P?

[GegoXaren]

I wonder if it is possible to make a dual- or quadcore relay computer....

[htfkid2000]

@GegoXaren yes it is, but it would seem like 2 or 4 relay computers!

[mast3rm00se]

But can it run crysis at a playable framerate?

[barrybob32]

harry potter.

[Cropduster777]

Mind = blown

[tvolala1976]

what was this sample prrogram?

[CryptoQuick]

"and some other... stuff." 1:13

Excellent usage of the technical term, sir. Bravo.

[metimmee]

This is brilliant, but made me shudder from memories of entering a test program using switches to load registers and instructions..hours of tedium followed by terror as you attempted to execute the program, hoping that you hadnt made any mistakes.. Good job hhp3!

[jeffrey44]

Wow. What does your wife think about this?

[Hruodgercito]

Holy cow!!! It's a Steampunk Processor!!! 

[PircCba]

It's like a giant Z80 =D

Congratulations, it's incredible.

[1schwererziehbar1]

is he a wizard?

[nenad4o]

but can it run portal?

[doooomster]

its minecraft in real life

[sirfunkington]

HP Computers

[nigeldanautilus]

i love this, but i wish it could play pong :P

[mspinksosu]

Now that is a thing of beauty. I want to build something like this some day.

[ANARCHYdashTVdotCOM]

I always thought common light switches would make good on off toggle switches on these old machine. You can buy a huge box of them in bulk at the hardware store; they are super durable, easy to flip on and off. And they come in a lighted variety, where when the switch is off, its lighted, and when its on, its unlighted (reverse to indicate state, but its much harder to design a light switch to work the other way, you have to use the third neutral AC line). Of course, use a plain one for DC.

[Qbranch1024]

BEAUTIFUL piece of work. thank you for sharing. I'd like to build a relay computer like this some day.

[liamshaw666]

Great device :) quick question, seeing as its made of relays they use electromagnets, what temperature do they get to? :)

[esmith5121]

It's got rhythm!  Thanks for building this fascinating machine!

[ksym]

I love the sound of that machine running :D It's like music! Beautiful tempo!

[weed2luke]

Does it have branch prediction ?

[weed2luke]

Does it have branch prediction ?

[EeekImJack]

I clicked the link cause i saw harry potter :(

[whisk0r]

The sound of that machine running is like music. Quite lovely!

[mitekphoto]

You kind of cheated by using an SRAM memory chip. The entire memory array should have been built on relays, too. Or something else, not involving semiconductors. Then, this would have been a proof of concept that the computer was possible 100 years earlier before its invention, that is, by the middle of the nineteenth century.

[cyberlord64]

1:28 I started dancing to that beat when i heard it!!! :P

absolutelly beautiful machine! Remember people that this is what we will start from after world war III so it's crucial that we understand it :D

[mitekphoto]

@cyberlord64 I had the same thought. Hopefully, someone who understands all this will remain alive.

[snippydude]

Absolutely beautiful! I can not understand how people can simply not accept, that this is (in a nutshell) the same machine, they mindlessly use every day - even though the accessibility of the data is somewhat different and the input has to be done by hand. Here you can actually see how a computer works and what i consists of!

[hhp3]

@snippydude

THANKS!

Some people point out that all computers are "Turing Machines" and, in a mathematical sense, all computers are equally powerful.

Recall that a Turing Machine has an infinite tape. The infinity is crucial. Without that infinite memory, the thing is a Finite State Machine, even if it has a 1TB disk. Thus, every modern computer is a FSM. However, in real devices, the amount of memory does matter. Memory is like speed: more is better.

[Desmaad]

@hhp3 I believe the reason more memory is better in modern computers is because of virtual memory and the inherent speed of hard drives. Without virtual memory, the amount of real memory would limit the size and quantity of the programs run.

[toptenmaterial]

is this the same as a modern computer in the same way that the atari 2600 or ibm pc is the same?

[hhp3]

@toptenmaterial

Yes, all computers are identical, in a mathematical sense, having an ability to compute the same set of functions. The only differences between computers are (1) speed, (2) size of storage, (3) Input/output devices, and things like cost, size, and power consumption.

In theory, I could write a PC simulator for my relay computer and use it to boot Windows. However, it would take about 500 years.

[toptenmaterial]

@hhp3 thanks, i have been trying to figure out what a computer actually works, what it is, and what it does.

[northnomad]

@hhp3 Well then do it!

[htfkid2000]

@hhp3 Actually more, it would take at least 10,000 years at that rate! You could try to run a scaled down linux kernel, but why would a simple machine need a kernel to do basic algebra!

[chickenpoper]

@hhp3 Someone needs to make a version of this with 30k relays and see how much computing power it has :)

[chickenpoper]

@hhp3 Which would take about 7 years to bootload windows :)

[jnewbon00]

@hhp3 HAHAHAHAH :D . To right the code or for it to load run it ??

[ArchibaldAlecLeach]

@hhp3 500 years to boot Windows; that sounds about right. ;)

[toptenmaterial]

what is the practical application of this machine? does it do math problems? is the output shown on those lights?

[robm18]

Solid 4 HZ of computing power

[BillyRosinet]

Outstanding, especially the relay "music" at the end! Can it run Windows?

When I was a high school freshman (1959), I built a simple relay computer for the school science fair.  An uncle, who was in the pinball machine business at the time, got me a big pile of relays and some wire. I used a telephone dial to "program" it. All it could do was add some numbers and store one 8 bit result in a relay flip-flop circuit I designed. However, it was nothing compared to this crazy machine.

[DerJakO96]

When I had the time and pats I would buid this because it looks and sounds awesome

[andr123w]

can he play minecraft on it?

[itwizard]

You sir, are a genius! What an amazing device to watch! Here I am grappling with my 8088 SBC!!

[RaymondHng]

This is like a small version of the Mark II computer from 1947.

[Serostern]

The purpose is that it is COOL!

It can do nothing that a regular $3 SDcard can't do, but it makes it way more physical and understandable.

[rattslayer]

First thought:

Why?? why would you do that!

Second thought:

AWSOME!!!

guess i answered my own question

[maniasoft1981]

I love it!! Do you have the schema?

[rattslayer]

@maniasoft1981 web . cecs . pdx . edu/~harry/Relay/ what will probably be as close as you get

[rapidrory]

I'm building a relay computer too, and much of it is based on knowledge i learnt from the video on your website. mine however is a mix of 80 different relays i found lying around (most spdt relays). it will be fully programable though, with conditional branching and 10 ALU functions. to do this i've had to compromise in other places though.. it is only 4 bit, and has 3 registers. But it does have a punch card reader, which makes all the difference :P

[douro20]

The amazing thing about this computer is that it can run a stored program.

[girlstorm09]

i soooo misread that as Harry Potter!! lol

[oleche]

Love the sound of the relays!!!! tic tuc tuc tuc tic tic... incredible job I have to say!!!

[foxthrottle]

that's really, really amazing!

[onionofdeath]

thats like 7 or 8 hz lol! nice work, illustrates what my CPU is doing

[reviathon360]

Porters x2 raygun is next.

[badnewswade]

Nice one. And I thought I was wierd for writing in 8088 lols!

[spiltmilkmaniac]

and some other....stuff

[cobrachoppergirl]

nice beat, easy to dance to

[cobrachoppergirl]

holy smokes... all in relays

[EraseR72]

Souns like ---- Nine Inch Nails - The Becoming ;) Fantastic!

[harddiskfragger]

very cool...this is a loooooot of work :D

[wisteela]

That is very impressive.

[reviathon360]

I want to build one to control the majority of my room :D

[NOnehtaehgnik]

Can someone please help me out and explain what an data bus is, I litterally mean what it is for...I ahve tried to figure out but I can't seem to get it...help?

Nice cpu anyways...I am trying to build my own....(using IC's (TTl logic))

[orangetide]

@NOnehtaehgnik a bus is parallel lines where multiple devices can tap the line to use data as it flows over the bus. generally a bus has some sort of address to go with the data bus, and that address is used to select which device(s) are active for that bit of data.

[Fangornmmc]

Okay thanks I think I get it...

[dallatorretdu]

the bus is a wire... a lot of wire.. for the register the bus is 8 wire, for program counter etcc.. it's 16 wire (16bit) whit this bus you transport the logic value on another component... you must take some lesson of the 8086 ;)

[Polybun]

@dallatorretdu Why the 8086? Myself, I think people should start with a Z80 or a 6502.

[apple2forever]

It's cool and all, but why is there a TOUCH-TONE (tm) telephone on the table? It ruins the effect!

A rotary dial phone would be much more appropriate.

Have fun.

[powaybob]

@apple2forever Yeah, that's the first thing I thought too. Right after "Dude, you are the king of geeks!" Way to go!

[topphemelig]

Soon we can play Modern Warfare 2 with relays only :D

[vdub350]

@topphemelig probably at like one frame per hour lol

[cebudave]

Wow that's great

[aliencurv]

it sounds fantastic

[xxhennersxx]

did you build this for shits and giggles?

[robotbugs]

I think it was mostly for shits.

[robotbugs]

i was just being funny, but honestly it was inspirational to me for building my relay FPU.

[lordtapdoles]

That is really cool! I'd love to build something like that using relays.

Do you reckon you could build a simple graphics card using relays and output something on an oscilloscope trace?

[stathisch]

I herd u can install Windows 7 on that

[QuiltedPine]

Maybe not but it can still RUN during and after a nuclear blast so hah!

Seriously, can you make it do a simple arithmetic operation for us to see?

[bobbie4]

But, can it run Windows Vista?

[Adjmodan]

If it is Turing-complete it can emulate any other computer given sufficient memory and time.

So with a sufficient memory upgrade, I think it would be able to run Vista as reliably as any modern CPU (though much more slowly)... so no, it cannot run windows vista.

[sunsurfandspf16]

This is very cool!! The sound reminds me of the old days when I used to programmatically toggle the cassette relay on my BBC micro at different speeds to make it play tunes. :-)

[embeddedprogrammer]

Excellent work! I would love to see a video of this being designed and fabricated.

[guitard777]

there ye be, mate !! sounds like me poppy's old diesel !

Bit o' a big wonker, ain't she, tho??

[ktekx]

Relays are electro-mechanical devices. It's comprised of basically an electromagnet that pulls a reed switch close. The clicking sounds you here are the inner switches making contact to the electromagnet pulling it (to complete the circuit).

[ylt34c]

it's made with relays. have u never heard relays clicking?

when current is passed through the coil in a relay it creates a magnetic field which then attracts and toggles the contact to the other position. when it touches the other position, the relay makes a pretty audible clicking noise (depending on how big the relay is i guess) this is a system of hundreds of relays and when they click over it's obviously pretty audible

[theseriousaccount]

The sound comes from the relays, which unlike transistors are mechanical.

[FelixTheHouseFreak]

Man listen to that thing crunch away! So satisfying to listen to for some reason...

[hydrolisk1792]

What do you use to drive all those relays?? IC's or transistors??

[3000farad]

I'm not completely sure, but I think it might be the relays themselves. It's a CPU made out of relays.

[IceBug84]

uh, I love that clacker melody :)

[DusteDdekay]

most awesome

[windoes98se]

i bet my 8 digit calculater is more powerfull than that

[donnyab]

just a hint of jealousy because you couldn't do it.....you need to get that under control

[defzonoc]

i have seen the scematics for the original relay computers and want to know how he did it with 415 relays and BTW the transistor is a relay but a little diferent some are amps but many are just switch style but if its real. nice if not though id still like to say hes the ram and rom and thats a processing unit on the mark1 it had a sort of ram for some numbers aside from its registers the navy used mark1's to calculate ballistics tables

[mdivinc]

PEOPLE it's for amusement,thats why he built it,DUH! Nice job, Nice sequence melody.

[karlkid333]

I enjoy forgotten technology.

[Shazaaming]

I agree with blackcow. I think it helps a person appreciate the technology more. Relays are simple and visible. You can achieve a feeling of automated computations. Can you say that much of a transistor? To me, a blown-up model of microscopic transistors seems unreal. Relays hit a sweet spot. And anything a transistor computer can do, a relay computer can do (in theory)...

[sciencoking]

you´ll probably need one or two powerplants in your backyard and the processes will take weeks, but yeah... in theory that works.

[BlackCow99]

That annoys me that people ask what the point of this is or what is it useful for. Because its interesting and different, why does every damn computer have to serve a meaningful purpose lol.

[MartinMusic1]

This is nothing, i would like to see a computer not run by current but by water, there would be needed just some switches for changing water flow and pressure, like 'water transistor'

[blOrf77]

Hm, that would be pretty cool. I think you need sort of a water tower for a high pressure water flow that can turn on and of switches to interact with a separate water flow running your "program". Memory can be an array of filled or empty bits of water.

[angryteabag]

yeah totally, and you program it by filling cups of water, also it would have a water screen. im so keen to make it.

the real question is though, would it play crysis?

[iBO0M]

awesome man, but can it be used for anything?

[Viniciusgyn]

Well, I don't think so. But the noise of the relays sounds like a psy trance lol

[artfungames]

im not sure what that was but it had a good beat at the end.

[bilzoo2000]

You should use light bulbs instead of LEDs (for aesthetics not performance)

also, interesting thing about *most* relays... should i bring over my huge electromagnet?

[Cymro32]

Fantastic. Just imagine if this had been built when relays were first invented :)

[mdimec4]

The first computer used relays and was build in Germany before ww2.

[polopnol]

THIS IS FUCKING WIN

[CraZyCarl6212]

awsome!

[jtel]

Awesome!

[thesouthparkguy]

If I was on a plane and I crash landed on a desert island, I'd build this computer from parts salvaged from the plane.

[skierplaterandy]

1st. where do you get power?

2nd. where do you get hundreds of leds?

3rd. why?

[FlyByPC]

Just a guess, but if I had built it, I'd say:

* Custom power supply

* eBay, DigiKey, Jameco, Mouser, etc etc

* Why NOT? *grin*

[thesouthparkguy]

Oh man, I got such a huge smile on my face when I heard the clacking and saw the badass blinky lights. :D This is every geeks dream. :)

*favorites*

[HifiCentret]

That's awesome cool. Reminds almost of something from a distant time long ago.

Well, except it has just a bit too many "modern" components - LED's first became common in the 70s. Cool none the less!

Can it do some useful calculations?

If I could build a time machine I'd sure go back then and doubt I really would return to present time ;D

[mikeg642000]

This is really cool, but now I can't get this old song out of my head: "Too much time on my hands" by Styx.

[lollnternets1]

lol misread as Harry Potter's relay computer.

[regregex]

@lollnternets1 So THAT's the mysterious ticking noise!!

[daniel1982]

@lollnternets1 Me too

[TheFallibleFiend]

Nicely done.

[cybrax21]

quite cool, does it actually have a function or just built for coolness?

[yrotstsohgallet]

As far as I'm concerned, the purpose is learning, but that's only my opinion!

[cybrax21]

yeah i forgot to add that coolness / learning hehe in any case i think its awesome

please delete the other response it was a missclick

[cybrax21]

ok nvm i removed it already

so one question still will yo use it for something you could (thats what im doing) control your house hehe lights tv swtiched by computers

[brirec]

But does it run Linux?

[yrotstsohgallet]

what kind of power supply is used?

[yrotstsohgallet]

I've watched this probably a dozen times, and it's more amazing each time.

[LTF85199]

Now this how you really build a computer!

[jeffr890]

That is excellent! Great job! I built an emulator of an old 'blinking' light computer (32 bit) and it is fun to watch. But seeing a real one with the sound effects is great. Please post more, as you are very talented. Thanks!

[Gnarlodious]

Ha! Those blinkenlights makes it all worthwhile!

[keenaschips]

wow!

[rockisyourman]

i dig your machine's funky beat.

[trevbork]

This is so cool. One day I hope to be able to do something of a similar nature.

[copper103]

can it play crysis?

[HalfBurntToast]

Wow, I wish I had the money to build something like that.

[champyx86]

Worth the effort, well done, great achievement. Much more fun than a boring microprocessor in a silent black plastic case.

[dunlrock]

Nice job!

[Nimsoft]

w00t, 4hz :)

[zaphod3099]

Impressive machine. THanks for posting.

[amcurtis]

im glad you put this on youtube i have read about your relay computer online but never seen video. its not a full relay computer it has a chip mem. i can understand that. 16 bit address means 65000 bytes and thats a lot of relays.

[Marks256]

actually, it is 65536 bytes.... :)

[amcurtis]

darn you got me :P i knew it was 65k but i didn't feel like looking the exact number up.

[deatheffectxx]

So whats this used for?

[ryanisflyboy]

Very excellent job. Wonderful enclosure.