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

James Fogg geeks at sunhelp.org
Wed Jun 20 14:30:14 CDT 2001


Wait... this is going to get way out of hand...

Even transistor gates are analog, we just saturate them too. Maybe I shouldn't
have said anything.

And yes, many of the tube computers used transformers driven to saturation.
And nothing is more analog than a vacuum tube (except a common wall clock, but
thats another, more philosophical, discussion and can get hairy).


On Wed, 20 Jun 2001, THOU SPAKE:
>  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
> -- 
> =======================================================
> 	 James D. Fogg, Network Engineer
> 	Vicinity Corporation - Lebanon, NH
> 
>      DESK (603) 442-1751 - CELL (603) 252-1864
>      PAGER (802) 742-0280 - HOME (603) 526-7729
>             EMAIL jfogg at vicinity.com
> 
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-- 
=======================================================
	 James D. Fogg, Network Engineer
	Vicinity Corporation - Lebanon, NH

     DESK (603) 442-1751 - CELL (603) 252-1864
     PAGER (802) 742-0280 - HOME (603) 526-7729
            EMAIL jfogg at vicinity.com

If you can read this e-mail, Thank a Network Engineer!
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