[geeks] Re: [rescue] RE: Small schools.& elections

Ken Hansen geeks at sunhelp.org
Wed Jun 20 15:11:10 CDT 2001


Are you sure eniac was analog underneath? My understanding is that ENIAC was implemented much as a modern digital computer would be, but on a "macro" scale (a coupe tubes for an AND, OR or other gate, then the gates were strung together to define the operation (program) of the "machine" - by re-wiring the gates, you could re-program the computer.

The circuits implemented binary logic - only two states, analog computers have multiple (infinite?) states, IIRC.

Ken
(Wait, this has to do with computers, should we move it back to Rescue? ;^)

-----Original Message-----
From: James Fogg [mailto:jfogg at vicinity.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 3:04 PM
To: geeks at sunhelp.org
Subject: RE: [geeks] Re: [rescue] RE: Small schools.& elections


The first "production" analog computers were used to calculate fire control on
battleships. Some versions existed in WWII, probably mechanical.

Then there were the computers that acted digital, but were built from analog
parts (eniac among them I think). They used saturation circuits on special
transformers.


On Wed, 20 Jun 2001, THOU SPAKE:
> You know, there is such a thing as an analog computer... (I hove no links to back that up, but i have seen them mentioned in the past - typically they were purpose-built and not "programmable")
> 
> Ken
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Bradford [mailto:mrbill at mrbill.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 1:46 PM
> To: geeks at sunhelp.org
> Subject: Re: [geeks] Re: [rescue] RE: Small schools.& elections
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jun 20, 2001 at 06:15:22PM +0100, David Murphy wrote:
> > "Bah!, Back in my day, we didn't *have*  zeroes".
> 
> OH YEAH?  We didnt even have these fancy things you call
> "digital numbers" - we had ANALOG POTS!
> 
> -- 
> Bill Bradford
> mrbill at mrbill.net
> Austin, TX
> _______________________________________________
> GEEKS:  http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/geeks
> _______________________________________________
> GEEKS:  http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/geeks
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