OT:techology

[Paul Koning]

>>>>> "Jules" == Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> writes:

 Jules> On Mon, 2005-03-07 at 21:20 -0700, woodelf wrote:

 >> Hmm sand and bamboo how would you do that ?...

 Jules> Argh, don't ask things like that.

 Jules> You've got gravity. Dry sand flows pretty well. Bamboo is
 Jules> hollow and so can be used to channel dry sand
 Jules> around. Different lengths of bamboo could be used to introduce
 Jules> delays. Doubtless you could make basic logic gates.

Slightly different, but... many years ago I read some articles about
"fluidics" -- a clever no-moving-parts technology for creating the
equivalent of simple logic gates powered by gas or fluid flow.  The
basic idea is that you can guide a jet of fluid or gas into one of two
outlets by sending it a steering pressure from one side or the other.
Presto changeo, a "form C" relay, or if you wish, a buffer/inverter.

I thought of building some logic with that, but being only about 12
years old at the time I didn't have the facilities.  Anyway, clearly
building a small computer out of those parts is a good exercise for
the student.

    paul