Not too many people go to science museums and place orders, but former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold was apparently so impressed with the London Science Museum's replica of Charles Babbage's difference engine he commissioned a $1M duplicate, which was just recently delivered to California's Computer History Museum for a six-month stay. The nine-foot-tall machine has nearly 8,000 parts, many of which were hand-filed, and suffered months of delays while under construction due to the tight tolerances required to make it work -- but it's here now, and it's ready to start cranking out polynomials at the rate of one per six seconds. Bring it on,
IBM. Check the read link for way more pics of the unboxing, which took hours and ended in applause.
posted Apr 21st 2008 6:33PM
Newegg certainly has these in stock. What's the big deal?
Hmmm... I can't see it on Newegg, lol.
But I can just...
*checks airfare prices to California*
It won't play doom but it may overclock.
Its the next gen heat sink for intel 1000 core cpu!
How far technology has come.... also how small it has become...
But I have to admit, that looks awesome in an OTT crazy evil genius machine sort of way.
I'll take 3.
Im waiting for the 8800GT upgrade kit.
Hacking into this computer involves an axe
Definately giving you my +1 for that.
Prepare to go from neutral ------> Highly Ranked
:)
Oddly enough, we can see him Highest Ranked here:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/21/computer-history-museum-unboxes-a-babbage-difference-engine/comments/11741569/
But heck, I'll give my +1 for that.
Overclocking this rig involves installing a farm of dedicated hamsters...
...and syncing involves water.
yes, but can it play doom?
*crosses fingers*
hopes this goes from Neutral -----------> banned.
If you can find a suitable display, this thing could probably almost manage---
...If you're an ent from fangorn forest....
i want to see the steampunk version.
Me too, but lets be honest, how much more steampunked can this thing get?
Powered by a coal furnace?
I would say that some guy with a moustache and a top hat turning a big wheel is easily as steampunk as that.
Does it play Doom..., sorry, I mean Crysis?
Oh, I'm so sorry, can't you see it does not have a freaking monitor to play Crysis!? Not even Doom!
Silence...
Does it play Doom..., sorry, I mean Crysis?
... yourself.
Did it come with a "Vista Ready" sticker?
I hope so....
no, "vista capable"
Actually, the OS of choice here is DSL or Slackware ^_^
I don't know what you are talking about, I have a Babbage difference machine and vista runs flawless on it, you people probably never tried vista on it and are just hating MS.
Ben Heck has already posted pics of his laptop mod.
My favorite thing about the machine is that it has a printer (actually a typesetter, but WTF). Unfortunately, the drivers are not yet available.
The drivers died a long time ago.
RMS is complaining because they're not GPL!
Can solve polynomials in a rate of 1 per 6 seconds? Got to have that for my homework!
Thank God! I have 10 polynomials I need solved within the next minute, or else.
This puts new meaning to the term "hardware". Not many people can measure their computer in tons.
That's sweet.
will it play Crysis? Or doom?
Maybe will it blend? Linux?
Aww c'mon really?
Don't you think it's getting a little old now? :D
At least be original like er.... "Will it play dead?"
Very, very cool.
Can we find any super high resolution pictures of this? It's not like there is a shortage of 12+ megapixel cameras out there.
C'mon, I want to inspect this thing!
Wonder what kind of heat sink we need to keep this cool.
Of course it would be water cooled. Your favorite spray bottle will do just fine..
I'm just down the road from the Science Museum in London. All London visitors should check it out. It's free entry as well.
AAAAAAH!!!! The Computer Museum used to be in Boston. Now it's in California. Why is life so unfair???
maybe because california has silicon valley...
His last name is Myhrvold, not Mhyrvold (as it is spelled in the article).
Haha old computers are old!
hey its very beutiful
The mother and holy grail of all gadget unboxing picture.
I want to see this on "Will it blend?"
While museums are certainly cool, am I the only one whose at least slightly annoyed that rather than put $1m to useful work... say a charity for the environment, or humanitarian issues, or medical research... we've got a giant block of useless wood gathering dust somewhere? I mean if it were an original, sure, but to actually spend that much to *create* it after the fact seems like a waste to me...