World's First Computer Rebuilt, Rebooted After 2,000 Years

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  1. Posts : 1,402
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #1

    World's First Computer Rebuilt, Rebooted After 2,000 Years


    A British museum curator has built a working replica of a 2,000-year-old Greek machine that has been called the world's first computer.

    A dictionary-size assemblage of 37 interlocking dials crafted with the precision and complexity of a 19th-century Swiss clock, the Antikythera mechanism was used for modeling and predicting the movements of the heavenly bodies as well as the dates and locations of upcoming Olympic games.

    The original 81 shards of the Antikythera were recovered from under the sea (near the Greek island of Antikythera) in 1902, rusted and clumped together in a nearly indecipherable mass. Scientists dated it to 150 B.C. Such craftsmanship wouldn't be seen for another 1,000 years — but its purpose was a mystery for decades.

    World's First Computer Rebuilt, Rebooted After 2,000 Years | Gadget Lab from Wired.com
    Many scientists have worked since the 1950s to piece together the story, with the help of some very sophisticated imaging technology in recent years, including X-ray and gamma-ray imaging and 3-D computer modeling.

    Now, though, it has been rebuilt. As is almost always the way with these things, it was an amateur who cracked it. Michael Wright, a former curator at the Science Museum in London, has built a replica of the Antikythera, which works perfectly.

    In the video from New Scientist below, Wright shows how the machine works.

    In short, Antikythera's user interface is deceptively simple, operated by a simple knob on the side. This conceals the intricacy within, amounting to a complex mathematical model, tracking the movements of planetary bodies and incorporating a series of submechanisms to account for the eccentricities of their rotation.

    A dial on the faceplace featured the Greek zodiac and an Egyptian calendar; pointers showed the location of the moon and the five planets known at the time. On the machine's back, an upper dial shows a 19-year calendar (matching the solunar cycle) and the timing of upcoming Olympic games. A lower dial shows a 76-year cycle (when the Olympic and solunar cycles coincide) and indicates the months in which lunar and solar eclipses can be expected.

    According to New Scientist, this is the first working model of the Antikythera computer to include all of the device's known features. And, like the original machine, it has been built of recycled metal plates. That's right: The Antikythera mechanism is not only the world's oldest computer, it's also the world's first green computer.
    World's First Computer Rebuilt, Rebooted After 2,000 Years Attached Images World's First Computer Rebuilt, Rebooted After 2,000 Years-olympiadial_original.jpg 
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  2. Posts : 748
    Vista and now 7 in 32 and 64 bit.
       #2

    Amazing. I doubt mine will still boot after 2000 weeks!
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  3. Posts : 3,141
    Vista Ult 64 bit Seven Ult RTM x64
       #3

    Very Cool. :) Thanks echrada. Kudos to Mr. Wright.
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  4. Posts : 7,538
    Windows 10 64bit/Windows 10 64bit/Windows 10 64bit
       #4

    Thanks for that echrada it was fascinating, and very informative especially the video.
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  5. Posts : 4,364
    Windows 11 21H2 Current build
       #5

    Talk about thinking outside the box....
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  6. Posts : 2,899
    Windows 7 Ult x64(x2), HomePrem x32(x4), Server 08 (+VM), 08 R2 (VM) , SuSe 11.2 (VM), XP 32 (VM)
       #6

    wow
    i didnt know you guys were going do coverage on the Antikythera device...
    its remarkable that a device with that kind of technology was seen hundreds of years later..
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  7. Posts : 3,141
    Vista Ult 64 bit Seven Ult RTM x64
       #7

    Neither did we.

    Gary
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  8. Posts : 4,364
    Windows 11 21H2 Current build
       #8

    darkassain said:
    wow
    i didnt know you guys were going do coverage on the Antikythera device...
    its remarkable that a device with that kind of technology was seen hundreds of years later..
    Earlier?
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  9. Posts : 2,899
    Windows 7 Ult x64(x2), HomePrem x32(x4), Server 08 (+VM), 08 R2 (VM) , SuSe 11.2 (VM), XP 32 (VM)
       #9

    later as in now...lol
    also later as the device with such intrinsically design is seen after a few centuries later....


    just clarifying...lol
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  10. Posts : 4,364
    Windows 11 21H2 Current build
       #10

    I don't see how that is remarkable - what *is* remarkable is that such a device was *made* millenia earlier....
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