Re: What is the absolute smallest instruction set do you need to make a working computer?

From	Rene Lamontagne <rlamont@shaw.ca>
Newsgroups	alt.comp.os.windows-10, alt.windows7.general, comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips, comp.sys.intel, alt.comp.hardware.amd.x86-64
Subject	Re: What is the absolute smallest instruction set do you need to make a working computer?
Date	2019-09-22 22:31 -0500
Message-ID	<guqskgF8foqU1@mid.individual.net> (permalink)
References	<O5KdnQkk04pyOhvAnZ2dnUU7-efNnZ2d@giganews.com> <1562pqe3qrd1p.dlg@v.nguard.lh> <5i4foelg0njuqoue46uudh75srbtfm83ak@4ax.com> <fSQHjbBxZ9hdFw0x@255soft.uk> <tk7goeht8b1u1913tmi52ovf91p3dpliug@4ax.com>

Cross-posted to 5 groups.

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On 2019-09-22 8:36 p.m., pyotr filipivich wrote:
> "J. P. Gilliver (John)" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> on Sun, 22 Sep 2019
> 21:15:45 +0100 typed in alt.windows7.general  the following:
>> In message <5i4foelg0njuqoue46uudh75srbtfm83ak@4ax.com>, pyotr
>> filipivich <phamp@mindspring.com> writes:
>> []
>>>        Martin Gardner had an article about a "theoretical" 'primitive
>>> computer using pulleys and ropes in place of transistors (or tubes).
>>> In theory it would work, in practice there would be too much
>>> imprecision from the slack/stretch in the ropes for it to work.
>>>
>> Babbage (arguably only with modern materials) made a mechanical machine
>> work. There are the mechanical equivalents of squaring circuits,
>> thresholds etcetera. Electronic computers could be made to work with
>> three or four voltage levels rather than two - it just reduces the noise
>> margin, which puts limits on speed and distances. Presumably a
>> pulleys/ropes machine could be made, as long as there were thresholds,
>> and the mechanical equivalents of amplifiers (a rope-operated clutch
>> perhaps? I'm not really a mechanical engineer).
> 
> 	It is funny in a way.  Garden was reporting a supposed "discovery"
> of a "computer" discovered on a south pacific island.  Yes, one could
> probably be made to work.  Wintergatan - Marble Machine has made what
> was originally a CGI video into a working machine.
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q>  A fascinating study in
> its own right.
> 

Absolutely wonderful machine and a brilliant inventor/builder. I didn't 
know it existed.

Rene

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