Collaborate Disseminate
Today, if you want a computer for a particular task, you go shopping. But in the early days of computing, exotic applications needed custom computers. What’s more is that with …read more Continue reading This Vintage Computing Device is No Baby Food
It is easy to think of a potentiometer as a simple device, but there are many nuances. For example, some pots are linear — a change of a few degrees …read more Continue reading How Ten Turn Pots Are Made
Back in 1976, when calculators were not common or cheap, a company named MEGO made the Star Trekulator: a calculator sporting a Star Trek theme. However, it was a bit …read more Continue reading Retro Calculator Panders to Trekkies… or Trekkers
[Mikrowave1] had a Unelco shortwave receiver as a kid. This was a typical simple radio for the 1960s using germanium and silicon transistors. It also had plug-in coils you had …read more Continue reading A Nostalgic Look at a Kid’s Shortwave Resistor
Designing combinatorial digital circuits seems like it should be easy. After all, you can do everything you want with just AND, OR, and NOT gates. Bonus points if you have …read more Continue reading Secrets of the Old Digital Design Titans
If you think of supercomputers, it is hard not to think of Seymour Cray. He built giant computers at Control Data Corporation and went on to build the famous Cray …read more Continue reading Remembering Seymour Cray
Navigating aircraft today isn’t like the old days. No more arrows painted on a barn roof or rotating airway beacons. Now, there are a host of radio navigation aids. GPS, …read more Continue reading DME with a Twist of LimeSDR
If you have a hobby, it is natural to want to share it with kids. If you are interested in 3D printing, you may even have kids who want to …read more Continue reading Sharing 3D Printing with Kids
We’ve often thought that while going to the moon in the 1960s was audacious, it was just the flashiest of many audacious feats attempted and accomplished in the 20th century. …read more Continue reading How the Bell System Was Built
For most people, you turn on your computer, and it starts the operating system. However, the reality is much more complex as [Thasso] discovered. Even modern x86 chips start in …read more Continue reading A 64-bit x86 Bootloader from Scratch