I suggested that after the Final Countdown first computers are made with Rope Memory and Mechanical Relays. But Ken Schirriff said NO -- you need semifast semiconductors to read the memory.

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Suzuran an hour ago | parent | next [-]

If you have relays, the easiest RAM is just a bank of latching relays and the easiest ROM is a resistor board. Core rope is only for density.

	▲	timonoko 7 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Achually. If you have L.M.Ericsson 8x8 latching crossbar switch, 64-bit memory needs only 6 relays. Yes SIX. The Fuji relay-computer has lots of those crossbar switches. However. The rope-memory in this scene read-only-storage containing vast amount of data. Rope memory is economical to use but labor-intensive to produce.

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monocasa 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You'd be able to do it with tubes at least.

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themafia 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I would love to see a relay switch at 1Mhz.

	▲	timonoko 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You will amazed. One reason is that relays are suitable for multilevel signalling. That is why the relays-only Fuji computer was on par with contemporary Amerikahito crap.