This YouTuber Built a Working PC Out of Pasta
“This has been a very long project that I’m mildly proud of,” said Micah Laplante. Continue reading This YouTuber Built a Working PC Out of Pasta
Tag Archives: Computer
Here’s The First Person To Put A Pi In The Raspberry Pi Keyboard
Last week, the Raspberry Pi foundation released the first official Raspberry Pi-branded keyboard and mouse. As a keyboard, it’s probably pretty great; it’s clad in a raspberry and white color scheme, the meta key is the Pi logo, there are function keys. Sure, the Ctrl and Caps Lock keys are …read more
Continue reading Here’s The First Person To Put A Pi In The Raspberry Pi Keyboard
A Nurse Call System Becomes Turing Complete
George Mallory, a famous English mountaineer, once suggested that it was of no use to climb mountains. Instead, he posited, the only reason to climb a mountain is because it is there. Likewise, when you become an expert in nurse call systems like those found in hospitals, you may find …read more
Continue reading A Nurse Call System Becomes Turing Complete
A Compiler in Plain Text Also Plays Music
As a layperson reading about some branches of mathematics, it often seems like mathematicians are just people who really like to create and solve puzzles. And, knowing that computer science shares a lot of its fundamentals with mathematics, we can assume that most computer scientists are also puzzle-solvers as well. This latest project from [tom7] shows off his puzzle creating and solving skills with a readable file which is also a paper, which is also a compiler for C programs, which can also play music.
[tom7] started off with the instruction set for the Intel 8086 processor. Of the instructions …read more
The Embroidered Computer
By now we’ve all seen ways to manufacture your own PCBs. There are board shops who will do small orders for one-off projects, or you can try something like the toner transfer method if you want to get really adventurous. One thing we haven’t seen is a circuit board that’s stitched together, but that’s exactly what a group of people at a Vienna arts exhibition have done.
The circuit is stitched together on a sheet of fabric using traditional gold embroidery methods for the threads, which function as the circuit’s wires. The relays are made out of magnetic beads, and …read more
Vintage Toys Live on Through 3D Printing
We all have fond memories of a toy from our younger days. Most of which are still easy enough to get your hands on thanks to eBay or modern reproductions, but what if your childhood fancies weren’t quite as mainstream? What if some of your fondest memories involved playing with 1960’s educational games which are now so rare that they command hundreds of dollars on the second-hand market?
That’s the situation [Mike Gardi] found himself in recently. Seeing that the educational games which helped put him on a long and rewarding career in software development are now nearly unobtainable, he …read more
Yet Another Restomod Of The Greatest Computer Ever
The best computer ever made is nearly thirty years old. The Macintosh SE/30 was the highest-spec original all-in-one Macs, and it had the power of a workstation. It had expansion slots, and you could hang a color monitor off the back. It ran Unix. As such, it’s become the prize of any vintage computer collector, and [Kris] recently completed a restomod on our beige king. It’s a restored Macintosh SE/30, because yes, we need to see more of these.
The restoration began with the case, which over the last thirty years had turned into an orange bromiated mess. This was …read more
Continue reading Yet Another Restomod Of The Greatest Computer Ever
Memory Mapping Methods in the Super Nintendo
Not only is the Super Nintendo an all-around great platform, both during its prime in the 90s and now during the nostalgia craze, but its relative simplicity compared to modern systems makes it a lot more accessible from a computer science point-of-view. That means that we can get some in-depth discussion on how the Super Nintendo actually does what it does, and understand most of it, like this video from [Retro Game Mechanics Explained] which goes into an incredible amount of detail on the mechanics of the SNES’s memory system.
Two of the interesting memory systems the SNES uses are …read more
Continue reading Memory Mapping Methods in the Super Nintendo
How to boost your VPN connection speed in 5 ways
By Uzair Amir
VPNs are a fantastic tool for maintaining your online privacy, in that they keep your connection secure and your details anonymous while you’re browsing the web. One key flaw for many VPN users is the lag they can sometimes add to your co… Continue reading How to boost your VPN connection speed in 5 ways
The Math That Makes Computers Go, Built On a Tiny PCB
A computer is, at its core, just a bunch of transistors wired together. Once you have enough transistors on a board, though, one of the first layers of abstraction that arises is the Arithmetic Logic Unit. The ALU takes in two sets of data, performs a chosen math function, and outputs one data set as the result. It really is the core of what makes computers compute.
An ALU is built into modern processors, but that wasn’t always how it was done. If you’re looking to build a recreation of an early computer you may need a standalone, and that’s …read more
Continue reading The Math That Makes Computers Go, Built On a Tiny PCB