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

From	pyotr filipivich <phamp@mindspring.com>
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 18:36 -0700
Message-ID	<tk7goeht8b1u1913tmi52ovf91p3dpliug@4ax.com> (permalink)
References	<O5KdnQkk04pyOhvAnZ2dnUU7-efNnZ2d@giganews.com> <1562pqe3qrd1p.dlg@v.nguard.lh> <5i4foelg0njuqoue46uudh75srbtfm83ak@4ax.com> <fSQHjbBxZ9hdFw0x@255soft.uk>

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"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.
-- 
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

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