The Digi-Comp I was a $5 plastic computer powered by rubber bands

The Digi-Comp I was a $5 plastic computer powered by rubber bands

The Digi-Comp I was a plastic and rubber band toy that sold for $5 in 1963. According to Chris Staecker, a Fairfield University math professor who posted a video about its operation, "This was the first digital computer." It didn't use electricity; instead, it required the user to push and pull a "clock" lever. — Read the rest The post The Digi-Comp I was a $5 plastic computer powered by rubber bands appeared first on Boing Boing.

The Digi-Comp 1: The Plastic Mechanical Computer from 1963

Digi-Comp I image via Wikipedia A very cool piece of computer history from Chris Staecker on YouTube. It looks like a simple toy but the Digi-Comp 1 is actually a fully functional mechanical digital computer. Was this the first ever home computer? Via Wikipedia: The Digi-Comp I contains three mechanical flip-flops, providing an ability to connect them together in a programmable way using thin vertical wires that are either pushed, or blocked fro…

This May Look Like Plastic Rods and a Hand Lever, But It's Acutally a Digi-Comp 1 Mechanical Computer from 1963

In 1963 a kit of red and white polystyrene plates, stiff metal rods, rubber bands, and short plastic tubes sold for $4.99 ($54.45 today) and assembled into a working digital computer. Three small windows on the front face displayed binary digits as either 0 or 1. A white lever marked “Clock” stuck out from the [...]