[HN Gopher] I Built a Mechanical Calculator [video]
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       I Built a Mechanical Calculator [video]
        
       Author : lispybanana
       Score  : 20 points
       Date   : 2025-03-12 21:31 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
        
       | whyage wrote:
       | Great work, excellent video.
        
       | tombert wrote:
       | I love thinking about the "what if?" universe where we never
       | figured out semiconductors and transistors, but still had roughly
       | the same level of human progress. Would everything be clockwork
       | like Syberia [1]? Would we have something akin to iPhones but
       | done entirely with electro-mechanical stuff with antennas? I
       | guess this is sort of the appeal of something like Steampunk.
       | 
       | Mechanical calculators are ridiculously cool to me. If I ever
       | become an eccentric billionaire, I really want to buy an original
       | Curta calculator [2], just because I respect the genius and
       | engineering required to design such a thing.
       | 
       | The one in this video is also very cool. Very satisfying to watch
       | all the gears turn at once.
       | 
       | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syberia
       | 
       | [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta
        
         | sebzim4500 wrote:
         | You don't have to be a billionaire, I got a Curta mark I for
         | ~PS850 on ebay and it's like the world's greatest fidget toy.
        
           | tombert wrote:
           | PS850 is actually cheaper than I thought it was, but it's
           | still a bit much for me to justify right now. If I spent a
           | grand on a fidget toy, I think my wife would be pretty mad at
           | me.
           | 
           | Whatever patents that they had have to be expired, I kind of
           | wish someone would make reproductions. I know there's the 3D
           | printed ones, which are cool in their own right, but since 3D
           | printers aren't super precise the parts have to be huge to
           | compensate. I want as close to a one-to-one reproduction as
           | possible, but I guess there's not much money in it.
        
         | fooker wrote:
         | Maybe without semiconductors we would stumble upon something
         | better sooner.
         | 
         | Maybe optical/biological/quantum computing.
        
       | bnkd_ wrote:
       | Great work !
        
       | renlo wrote:
       | Great video, I really enjoyed how down to earth it was. It
       | reminded me of The Secret Life of Machines [1], where we get to
       | peek behind the curtain and see how seemingly "magical" machines
       | (in your case a digital computer) emerges from simple fundamental
       | concepts.
       | 
       | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Machines
        
       | theendisney wrote:
       | You can just continue the division by inputting the remainer i
       | think?
        
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