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Posts Tagged “

Babbage

retromodo

Video: Charles Babbage's Difference Machine No. 2 Fully Operational

For those who haven't yet heard, a band of number-crunching nostalgists took the concept design for Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2, and turned it into a real, fully functional machine. But what really makes the Difference Engine amazing is only noticed when you watch its thousands of moving parts in action. Upon first glance, the Difference Engine looks a bit chaotic. But upon closer inspection, it moves with the precision of a Swiss watch while maintaining the fluid motion of a wave about to break. And today, it went on display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. More »

gadgets

Lego Difference Engine


Nineteenth-century computer pioneer Charles Babbage is taken back—via Lego. Andy Carroll, an apparently highly-skilled Lego builder and mathematician, created this functional mechanical computer, modeled after Charles Babbage s Difference Engine, which was a precursor to modern-day computers. More »