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The SX is a super computer. — Parallax Forums

The SX is a super computer.

PLJackPLJack Posts: 398
edited 2005-07-06 15:02 in General Discussion
How things have changed. And yet they stay the same.

Some perspective on computing:
www.digibarn.com/collections/mags/popsci-may-1949/brain4.jpg

Full article here:
www.digibarn.com/collections/mags/popsci-may-1949/index.htm

Drum mercury memory! Too cool.
I could spend all day on "old computer" web sites.

It's all about perspective.

And for those that have the time:
davidguy.brinkster.net/computer/default.html

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Jack

Post Edited (PLJack) : 6/5/2005 4:19:56 PM GMT

Comments

  • paysonbadboypaysonbadboy Posts: 81
    edited 2005-06-05 15:49
    Awesome. [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    Imagine using an entire vacuum tube (and all the electricity/heat generated) to store as little as ONE BIT!

    And I'm concerned about the power my DDR memory is going to draw from my trucks battery while in standby mode tongue.gif

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    http://www.paysonarizona.net/
  • PLJackPLJack Posts: 398
    edited 2005-06-05 16:19
    paysonbadboy said...
    Awesome. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
    And I'm concerned about the power my DDR memory is going to draw from my trucks battery while in standby mode

    LOL. That's the kind of perspective I'm talking about.

    The computer groups of the time would have died for an SX. At under $2.00 to boot.!!

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    Jack
  • paysonbadboypaysonbadboy Posts: 81
    edited 2005-06-05 20:24
    Under $2, you mean under $200 or $2,000?

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    http://www.paysonarizona.net/
  • ForrestForrest Posts: 1,341
    edited 2005-06-05 21:19
    Parallax is selling the SX18 for $1.79
  • paysonbadboypaysonbadboy Posts: 81
    edited 2005-06-06 04:35
    What IS an SX18?

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    http://www.paysonarizona.net/
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,569
    edited 2005-06-06 05:45
    paysonbadboy,

    The SX is a very powerful microcontroller Parallax offers capable of operating
    MANY times faster than a Stamp. You can program the SX in Assembly or Basic.

    See:

    www.parallax.com/sx/index.asp
    www.parallax.com/sx/programming_kits.asp
    www.parallax.com/sx/sxb.asp

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    Beau Schwabe

    IC Layout Engineer
    Parallax, Inc.
  • Jon WilliamsJon Williams Posts: 6,491
    edited 2005-06-06 12:10
    In fact, we like the SX so much we build several BASIC Stamp modules and the Javelin Stamp from various flavors of the SX.

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    Jon Williams
    Applications Engineer, Parallax
  • Ryan ClarkeRyan Clarke Posts: 738
    edited 2005-06-07 18:46
    And the SX/B makes the SX line of chips more accessable/less time consuming.....

    Ryan
  • MacGeek117MacGeek117 Posts: 747
    edited 2005-07-02 20:49
    My dad still has a VTVM (Vacuum Tube VoltMeter) Heathkit set. Works like a charm.
    bugg

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    Boe-bot: $229


    Toddler: $249

    Learning Google is your friend: priceless
  • PLJackPLJack Posts: 398
    edited 2005-07-03 10:40
    I think we have gone full circle now.
    Vacuum tubes on a state of the art motherboard.
    Too Cool.
    Read here:
    www.infosatellite.com/news/2002/06/a050602aopen_tube.html

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    Jack
  • Miner_with_a_PICMiner_with_a_PIC Posts: 123
    edited 2005-07-05 16:27
    PLJack,

    Thank you for posting that article. It is phenomenal how far computing technology has advanced in a relatively short period of time. Just imagine the how much someone back in the day would have paid for a SX Tech tool kit. We are talking well into the millions of dollars. It would take a couple of football fields filled with Univacs and a small power station to match the computational power of a 50 Mhz clocked SX chip. We are so lucky to have access to this technology. Of course 50 years from now a Parallax SX article will be posted on a similar site and it will be just as odd to hear about electrons on a floating gate as it is to us to hear about mercury based memory cells that use sound waves as memory storage.


    JT
  • pjvpjv Posts: 1,903
    edited 2005-07-05 18:40
    Tubes on a high performance processor board?????

    Bah!

    What an idiotic concept.

    Show that there are some folks who will buy anything....

    Peter (pjv)
  • ForrestForrest Posts: 1,341
    edited 2005-07-05 18:59
    How about a tube car stereo head-end www.engadget.com/entry/1234000973047649/
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-07-05 19:02
    The majority of VTs Ive seen implemented in modern computers use them as the amplifier stage for the sound card, audiophiles believe tubes have better overdrive characteristics than transistors. But in today's digital format, preprocessing the signal in silicon can achieve the same audio characteristics as a VT. So it really is just a marketing ploy, because today's top shelf audio processors can do the VTization of the sound in software.
  • pjvpjv Posts: 1,903
    edited 2005-07-05 20:36
    Precisely Paul;

    If you've got good silicon and competent programmers, who needs vacuum? (Probably only those who live in it!)

    Peter (pjv)
  • StarManStarMan Posts: 306
    edited 2005-07-05 23:30
    Yes, some people will buy anything.· And some people will never change.· I know many guitar players who will never use a solid state amplifier.·

    I have a tube amp myself and it sure craps out alot.· But I haven't found a good alternative with comparable tone.



    Chris I.


    Post Edited (StarMan) : 7/5/2005 11:35:54 PM GMT
  • Guenther DaubachGuenther Daubach Posts: 1,321
    edited 2005-07-06 15:02
    Hey, I have a solid state guitar amp here - Behringer Blue Devil made in Germany (China???) with a DSP built in. You can tell this amp to behave like one of the vintage tube amps. When you do, it produces random noise, like an old Fender or Marshall amp plus humming (either 50 or 60 Hertz).

    Nevertheless, a while ago, I decided to build another "real" tube amp as I did quite often when I was a 16-year-old student. But this time, I made a big mistake because I did not follow the rule, I once learned: "Whenever you want to build an amplifier, pretend to build an oscillator, and it will never oscillate - whenever you want to build an oscillator, pretend to build an amplifier - it will definitely oscillate". Now I'm sitting here with my tube amp, and it nicely oscillates at about 30 kHz - Arghhhh (yes, I already checked the polarity of the degenerative feedbak).

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    Greetings from Germany,

    G
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