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BEFORE the BASIC Stamp — Parallax Forums

BEFORE the BASIC Stamp

ercoerco Posts: 20,261
edited 2010-09-12 08:51 in General Discussion
Back in my day, we didn't have silicon or integrated circuits! If you wanted a computer, you had to build it yourself out of plastic and rubber bands. AND YOU LIKED IT FINE!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260662888507 is an ESR Digicomp 1 from 1963. My older brother had one, it was a pretty cool model kit to build a mechanical computer. You cycled a lever back & forth to advance the computer's "clock" and you could "program" it by placing bits of plastic tubing which would make toggles & flip flops to count in binary.

On Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digi-Comp_I

ESR had several great toys in that era, I still have a Dr. Nim game which is another plastic computer which plays the ancient game of Nim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._NIM
350px-Digicomp_front.png
350 x 176 - 81K

Comments

  • sylvie369sylvie369 Posts: 1,622
    edited 2010-09-11 17:26
    Oh, I had exactly that same one, though I was too young at the time to really appreciate it. Wow. I haven't seen it since those days. I'm reasonably certain I got it from Edmund Scientific (or whatever they were called at the time), probably in about '68 or so.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2010-09-11 19:16
    I went for the Brainiac K30 when I wa a kid. It actually played a good game of tic-tac-toe. The switch connections were a little dodgy, though.

    -Phil

    Looking at that page, I'm really glad I didn't get the Weenyac. I probably wouldn't have posted here in that case. :)
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,569
    edited 2010-09-11 23:06
    This is one that I had ...

    Digital Computer Kit

    ...It still qualifies for not having any silicon or integrated circuits, but I wouldn't classify it as a computer.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-09-12 04:38
    When I was nine in 1951 I was taken to the Science Museum in London to see my first computer, designed for the Festival of Britain:

    http://www.goodeveca.net/nimrod/

    playing the first computer game (NIM) that was available to the public. Computers were called "electronic brains" in the press. I wanted to play against it but there was a massive queue; my parents got fed up and took me home.

    We spent a day at the exhibition on the South Bank:

    http://whitstablepier.com/fob/Southbank%20intro.htm

    I don't remember much about it, apart from a massive apparatus showing how sulphuric acid was made, the Skylon, and the Dome of Discovery
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,261
    edited 2010-09-12 08:51
    My older brother also had the Hasbro Think-a-Tron!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXwUiogMd_4
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