This whole series of getting the G15 and UE1 to work before the end of the year has brought me so much joy recently, especially all the paper tape reader stuff. Thanks for the amazing journey, Usagi-san!
@@Drew-Dastardly I think that's why I like it so much - nostalgic memories of the ASR-33 Teletype. The crude "boooop" of a PC speaker was never any kind of substitute.
A long descent into madness. Now it wants a tube-based oscillator hooked to the output register so it can play notes. The UE-1S vacuum tube synthesizer.
2:12 Actually the paper tape reader IS ROM. It's not like you can do anything else with it! It's just ROM with added visual (and aural) excitement. 24:41 Never in the history of computing has one man been more excited about a bell going "DING"!🤣 Congratulations! I sincerely hope the memory issue isn't too difficult to track down. Have a great New Year!
As paper tape punch is write only, the punch/tape/reader forms a personal WORM memory system. Albeit with "interesting" failure modes, such as when, back in the late seventies when I first encountered a computer, the tape spooled out on to a wooden parquet floor and snagged on a splinter when rewound.... 🥵
@@Photo_CB Technically, IMHO, the paper tape here is not WORM, because it cannot be written by the same device that reads it (the UE-1). In that respect, it is actually just a ROM. (Obviously, all ROMs must be written originally by _something,_ but the typical distinction is that they are written (aka "programmed" or "burned") outside of the system that ultimately reads them in normal operation). Though there is also arguably a difference between "memory" and "storage". The distinction can sometimes be fuzzy, is often arbitrary, and has changed over time, but I think in general most people would still consider paper tape to fall into the "storage" category, and therefore not actually be categorized as a "ROM" per se...
I wonder how hard it would be to hook the UE1 up to the paper tape punch. I doubt UE1 assembly is expressive enough to produce a quine, but it would be fun if it could 🙂
Towards the end of the tube era, they made 12V tubes that used 12V nominal on the plate. These were for car radios. They had an extra grid very close to the cathode that accelerated the electrons towards the control grid. They were an amazing bit of gear. The output stage on the radios was usually done with a PNP germanium transistor or on the really fancy ones two such transistors.
Congratulations on meeting your goal of getting both your VTCs executing code by the end of the year! This was quite an ambitious goal. We were all rooting for you and are happy to see both machines ringing out the year with their respective bells! Happy New Year!
Fantastic. I see a lot of talking about the lights. One thing hasn't been mentioned. You are using incandescent lights. As these age, the inner surface of the bulbs will darken. Running for a long time will need continuous readjustment of the diodes thresholds. It would be better to lower the intensity of the lights and increase the sensitivity of the the diodes. This will slow the aging of the lamps. I do hope you have time to read all these replies. Happy new year.
Wow, this is absolutely incredible, the algorithm is on point today. Subscribed! Also, I think it's hilarious that you just made like... Basically the most complicated 5-second timer for a bell
I've been following this project for a while now and now that it can run code, wanted to say "CONGRATULATIONS". You are truely amazing. I am very envious of people like you. Well done.
Not at all. Many hardware registers to control things are write-only, because it's easier for the hardware designer. This is very annoying for the software people though, as we have to shadow the value written to remember what it was, if we care to read it back.
I am currently fiddling with a Z8 (not a Z80) CPU and it has several write only registers. Hooked up to this CPU I have a bunch of HP DL1414 displays and they are also write only 🙂 By overlaying the displays with SRAM it is possible to read the former written value.
@@JohnDlugosz I tend to write the code for the hardware I design but I have done write only memories more than once. I also did a design where it did matter what you wrote. When you wrote, the LSB of the address bus became the new value for the flip-flop.
A cool variant of write only memory is in banks, transaction backups are written to media that is designed to not be able to seek back to prevent overriding historical transaction data, could be stuff like magnetic tape or paper printers.
Re: 2D21 If you look at how the Bendix is wired, you will see that the cathodes of the thyratrons are all tied to ground. You have a relay coil in the cathode circuit, which is raising your firing voltage by the voltage of the coil. Change it so the relay is in the plate circuit, and your firing problem will disappear.
If the thyratron is off, there is no current through the relay. No current, no voltage. It should be fine. When the thyratron fires, it will hold current through the relay. Then there is voltage across the coil. As long as the current is enough to hold the thyratron on, it should work fine.
Three cheers and a tiger for you! You got both the Bendix G15 and the UE1 working by the end of the year. I have to admit that I didn't understand half of it, but I sure enjoyed watching it. It would be really amazing to see both of those computers do something more than just execute test code. Not that just executing test code belittles your achievements in any way, but I know the Bendix G15 was a business computer that presumably ran some sort of program that an organization needed, and, well, I have no idea what one does with a 1-bit computer, but I sure would love to find out. But for now, I hope you have a very happy, healthy and safe New Years holiday, and I look forward to more vintage computing adventures with you.
My father founded the industrial control system corporation for the early US semi conductor industry, Robitech Inc. He passed this past summer at 85. He would have loved this channel. Keep it up! 🇺🇲
It's a really great feeling when a large project starts to near completion and actually work. Way to stay on it, you made it to the end of the year with a working home brew computer! I've built a computer from scratch so I know what your dealing with and I know how good it is to see it come to life. Congrats!!!
@10:30, see if you can find car interior filament bulbs. The are shaped like a fuse and have a long stretched out filament. Or, see if you can get transparent filament mini X-mas bulbs, 9 of them in series without their case, 1 per bit or 1 per every 2 bits all flatly assembled. Careful as they exist in 3v and 1.5v variants.
@@kensmith5694 exactly as @frozendude707 said. People will want them as mementos. I have a few of those and other "ancient artifacts" - and I show them to the young IT generation that don't realize those were actually real and used by people. You can see their mind exploding and their brains starting to make the connections needed to properly understand computers.
Yeah, needing more grid current makes sense in a way. The plate voltage for your thyratrons normally is high enough that it accelerates the electrons very quickly through the gas, causing secondary ionizations in the gas molecules. With a low plate voltage the electrons don't accelerate as much, so you need a lot more to get the avalanche going.
~24:39 - 25:20 Yep. THIS! Happy new year to you and yours, David. So, you've got the G15 executing app code and the UE-1 can execute enough code to "BEL" then "HLT" -> You've got both these valve computers executing code before 2024 was out - Very well done! 🍻 - "Just" some fine tuning to finish these off 😉
That was awesome! I really enjoyed this series. You may need to add one more thing though. A wire wound potentiometer to the tape motor, about 100~ ohm maybe a bit more for better speed stepping when diagnosing, and possibly a few rollers at the bottom of the tape loop, because if you run a loop long enough it is likely to get snag somewhere, maybe on a tube even. All in all it's pretty impressive. Again... Very good Job. Have Happy New Year.
Pretty cool to see the UE-1 working. I appreciate the troubleshooting and explanation of what the issue was and the possible solution. I hope you and your family had a Merry Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year. Thanks for the videos.
Since memory is tape based for the UE1, you can have the Centurion communicate with the UE1 via the tape punch. You should be able to send binary to the tape punch from the Centurion.
You might lengthen the plate on the left side of the tape reader's "bit bucket" That would help guide the returning tape back into the bucket. Good work, man!
I also got the impression that the filaments on the replacement lamps were considerably further offset to the sides from the ones in the round bulbs. But within the constraints of era-appropriateness I'm not sure how early the principles of a lightpipe could be employed? I'm sure I encountered them in Japanese consumer electronics for indicators in the 1970s.
Awesome! David, have you considered some kind of diffuser for the tape reader? You're never going to get perfectly even illumination of the photo diodes with just the bulbs because the bulb filament is pretty much a point source, and will not line up through the holes in the tape to the photodiodes. Adding a diffuser would spread the light out, giving more even illumination and probably you could use less lighting power. Another (maybe better still) possibility would be some kind of light pipe made out of clear acrylic, I'm no expert on how these are designed but I have seen them on many a commercial product where a single bulb positioned in a hole in the light pipe provides a bright, even, line of light along its edge. But for now it works!! Happy new year!
This is like learning from steam powered and belt driven machinists. It’s a foundation knowledge if forgotten will possibly set back civilization for an unknown amount of time if not preserved as a coat tail for those to rebuild or understand the root of the tech they are using. I have no idea how to build or program but fully support the project. Not many can build a computer from scratch!
I called it, didn't I? The UE1 is gonna have to be finished in the new year. But that's okay, because it's fun to watch you gradually figure everything out and overcome all of the problems to get a working, completely "home-brew" vacuum tube computer. And your joy at getting things working is infectious. 😄 So congratuations. You've worked hard on this little "baby" and you've got your reward: A bell, dinging in the New Year. So, Happy New Year to you and to the UE1. 😃
10:37 Do not add a 3rd bulb; get a half round of plexiglass or lucite coated with a mirror finish (easy to make) and illuminate from both end. Put the flat side facing the diodes.
Man I just love to see your joy when things work out eventually, this channel is one of the best I found on TH-cam.. thank you for these great videos and much success in your future projects!♥
Hearing the UE1 ringing its bell was a wonderful way to wrap up the year! Been watching you work on it for all these years, so this is an amazing achievement!
Happy new year david, youve done wonderful things this year. i thought i was into vintage tech having run 10base5 ethernet in my trainee days... you have blown my mind
It's probably nice to run that computer in a closed room in wintertime. My new Mac mini M4 runs on about the same power as the three lamps in the paper tape reader.
Just Bonkers man. Someone's gotta do it. Thanks for going to such contrivances, it is really inspirational/encouraging. I love that it is on a plywood panel too hehe.
You finally did it. Both, the G15 and the UE1 are running code. I love it. You did well. Now I'm waiting, what coming next. I wish you a very happy new year.😊
Thank you for these great successful projects, we all know you make these wiring errors on purpose, so that we don't do them while building our own 1-bit computers
I don't know vacuum tubes, I don't know vintage computing, and I have NO idea what you're talking about. But dang, do I love the vibes of a hobbyist in their element.
Great job!! Agree with the idea about developing some insane I/O interfaces between your restored machines (" Frankenfaces") to create some Rube Goldberg computing.
A way to get focused light is to use a round bar of plexiglas. If done right you get a light slot. May be something to use, I have no clue but I know it works. Thanks for all the great videos.
Hey, nobody said making a vacuum tube computer would be easy! But I'm not surprised you managed to get it working, at least working as well as it is. Looks like you've got a pretty good handle on troubleshooting this machine, so I expect fixing the memory will be a breeze. Until the next problem crops up! 🤣
lol. Great to see you include the datasheet for infamous Signetics WOM chip, which seems well suited to your build, given that it needs a 6.3V filament supply. ;)
I am so thankful for your sharing this project with us the way you have all this time! Also, for a while there your workbench kinda looked like you were trying to make lasagna and had some kind of unfortunate pasta accident about 14:41 lol
I started watching this channel to see updates on the UE1. Now that it is executing code, I guess it's time to move on... Nah, I'm kidding! Happy New Year, congratulations!
Many years ago, my then boss was irritated that the bell would ring on his computer every time an email with an overly long line came in- which was frequent. He asked one of engineers if he could disable the bell. Many hours of disassembly and tweaking later, the bell was gone. My boss announced at the next staff meeting that the engineer was now the proud recipient of the “NO-BELL PRIZE.” We were suitably impressed.
I have been following it since the beginning and I am elated to see that it works perfectly. You have made my year great. I wish you happy holidays and hope for many more exciting moments in 2025. Cheers 🍻
That's what U can call a very complicated Doorbell with a very low responsetime. 😁 And how can You tell, You did it Well? You run the Code and it rings the Bell. 😊 Great Work👍😁😁
What a trip! and a freaking bell at the end! Man, you're the inspiration for the young old dinosaurs let's keep doing things...things with a bell... You can never miss a bell... and Blinkenlights !
Wonderful. We have a one bit computer with memory problems that rings a bell. Sorta like a patient in a memory support ward asking for a nurse. Looking forward to the "hey it's working" moment, followed by unscripted irritation about how the damn bell keeps ringing. 😃 Wishing you, and all who read this, a wonderful 2025 and many more to follow.
We all know the bell rang many more times after you stopped recording.
no doubt there's a tape loop where it just dings incessantly 🙂
Awesome. Would love to see the UE1 and the G-15 communicate. Networking between the oldest and newest tube computers.
You've been playing too much Factorio
Nevertheless I concur completely...
Networking by smoke signals? (-:
I would love to see that
Electronics are pretty good at communicating via smoke signals, as I found out yesterday when I dumped too much power into a voltage regulator....
At this point you should reach out to the expert: Michael MJD
To paraphrase Eric Morecambe "It's running all the right instructions....just not necessarily in the right order"
I'll follow up with some Monty Python - "I see you have a machine that goes 'ping!'".
@@mdpenny42 lol :)
That's good enough for me!
Eric Morecambe on the piano. Brilliant.
@@mdpenny42 or Doctor Who - th-cam.com/video/fq-nqBIERhg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=JndySkAptqXqCJ2Y
David: I'll put a box down here to hold the tape loop.
Tape loop: Box? What box?
I spent all morning today building guides to make the tape go into the box. It now finds the box at least 90% of the time, lol.
@@UsagiElectricYou should do it like those really long infinite cassettes where they just have the loops go willy-nilly in a box
Every computer needs a bell!
Every computer needs a cowbell! We need more cowbell!
\b for life
"I got a fever, and the only prescription, is more computer bell!"
@@MobCat_ I'll take your \b and raise you a ^G
PRINT CHR$(7)
😃
This whole series of getting the G15 and UE1 to work before the end of the year has brought me so much joy recently, especially all the paper tape reader stuff. Thanks for the amazing journey, Usagi-san!
Thanks for coming along on the journey with us!
Many more journeys to come in 2025 too!
The bell really brings the entire UE-1 project together. Also, I love the symmetry of the circular bell control board.
That thumbnail-pic totally makes it look like the tape reader is on fire
"Far away across the field - The tolling of the iron bell - Calls the faithful to their knees - To hear the softly spoken magic spells"
Oh, I like that update. I agree, it needed that. And you're right, homebrew computing IS hard.
Homebrew computing is soooo hard, mad respect for all the homebrewers out there!
Two working vacuum tube computers in 2024!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Done and done! Congrats!! Well done sir.
That bell is shockingly gratifying. The crowd is never wrong. Every computer should have a bell.
Control - G.
@@Drew-Dastardly I think that's why I like it so much - nostalgic memories of the ASR-33 Teletype. The crude "boooop" of a PC speaker was never any kind of substitute.
A long descent into madness.
Now it wants a tube-based oscillator hooked to the output register so it can play notes.
The UE-1S vacuum tube synthesizer.
It most definitely needs a sound card!
2:12 Actually the paper tape reader IS ROM. It's not like you can do anything else with it! It's just ROM with added visual (and aural) excitement.
24:41 Never in the history of computing has one man been more excited about a bell going "DING"!🤣
Congratulations! I sincerely hope the memory issue isn't too difficult to track down. Have a great New Year!
As paper tape punch is write only, the punch/tape/reader forms a personal WORM memory system. Albeit with "interesting" failure modes, such as when, back in the late seventies when I first encountered a computer, the tape spooled out on to a wooden parquet floor and snagged on a splinter when rewound.... 🥵
@@Photo_CB Ooops! Who knew that it was critical to the operation of the computer that the wooden floor was well sanded!🤔
@@Photo_CB Technically, IMHO, the paper tape here is not WORM, because it cannot be written by the same device that reads it (the UE-1). In that respect, it is actually just a ROM. (Obviously, all ROMs must be written originally by _something,_ but the typical distinction is that they are written (aka "programmed" or "burned") outside of the system that ultimately reads them in normal operation).
Though there is also arguably a difference between "memory" and "storage". The distinction can sometimes be fuzzy, is often arbitrary, and has changed over time, but I think in general most people would still consider paper tape to fall into the "storage" category, and therefore not actually be categorized as a "ROM" per se...
I wonder how hard it would be to hook the UE1 up to the paper tape punch. I doubt UE1 assembly is expressive enough to produce a quine, but it would be fun if it could 🙂
Congratulations and happy new year, David. UE1 and G-15 both executing code. You are a man of your word.
Towards the end of the tube era, they made 12V tubes that used 12V nominal on the plate. These were for car radios.
They had an extra grid very close to the cathode that accelerated the electrons towards the control grid. They were an amazing bit of gear. The output stage on the radios was usually done with a PNP germanium transistor or on the really fancy ones two such transistors.
The same tubes turn out to make exceptionally good single tube regenerative circuits if biased for plate detection.
@@zinckensteel Yes, I can see that they would. They had a fairly high gm
Congratulations on meeting your goal of getting both your VTCs executing code by the end of the year! This was quite an ambitious goal. We were all rooting for you and are happy to see both machines ringing out the year with their respective bells! Happy New Year!
Fantastic. I see a lot of talking about the lights. One thing hasn't been mentioned. You are using incandescent lights. As these age, the inner surface of the bulbs will darken. Running for a long time will need continuous readjustment of the diodes thresholds. It would be better to lower the intensity of the lights and increase the sensitivity of the the diodes. This will slow the aging of the lamps. I do hope you have time to read all these replies. Happy new year.
Wow, this is absolutely incredible, the algorithm is on point today.
Subscribed!
Also, I think it's hilarious that you just made like... Basically the most complicated 5-second timer for a bell
I hope the UE-2 will have a bell in by default!
It's great to see it executing code! You hit your goal! Congratulations!!
A set of bells in different sizes/tones!
I've been following this project for a while now and now that it can run code, wanted to say "CONGRATULATIONS".
You are truely amazing. I am very envious of people like you. Well done.
My God. The man actually did it. I always thought "write only" memory was just a joke. 😂
Not at all. Many hardware registers to control things are write-only, because it's easier for the hardware designer. This is very annoying for the software people though, as we have to shadow the value written to remember what it was, if we care to read it back.
I am currently fiddling with a Z8 (not a Z80) CPU and it has several write only registers. Hooked up to this CPU I have a bunch of HP DL1414 displays and they are also write only 🙂 By overlaying the displays with SRAM it is possible to read the former written value.
dev null is write only memory.
@@JohnDlugosz I tend to write the code for the hardware I design but I have done write only memories more than once. I also did a design where it did matter what you wrote. When you wrote, the LSB of the address bus became the new value for the flip-flop.
A cool variant of write only memory is in banks, transaction backups are written to media that is designed to not be able to seek back to prevent overriding historical transaction data, could be stuff like magnetic tape or paper printers.
Re: 2D21
If you look at how the Bendix is wired, you will see that the cathodes of the thyratrons are all tied to ground. You have a relay coil in the cathode circuit, which is raising your firing voltage by the voltage of the coil. Change it so the relay is in the plate circuit, and your firing problem will disappear.
If the thyratron is off, there is no current through the relay. No current, no voltage. It should be fine. When the thyratron fires, it will hold current through the relay. Then there is voltage across the coil. As long as the current is enough to hold the thyratron on, it should work fine.
Then you could increase the grid resistors again, decreasing grid current and improving tube life time
Adding a Fresnel Lens between the bulbs and the paper would help evenly distribute the light for your reader. Great stuff. Keep it coming!
You've got your New Years Eve ticker tape and confetti ready to go! Also, you gave UE1 a face with the bell and its board: O_O
Three cheers and a tiger for you! You got both the Bendix G15 and the UE1 working by the end of the year. I have to admit that I didn't understand half of it, but I sure enjoyed watching it. It would be really amazing to see both of those computers do something more than just execute test code. Not that just executing test code belittles your achievements in any way, but I know the Bendix G15 was a business computer that presumably ran some sort of program that an organization needed, and, well, I have no idea what one does with a 1-bit computer, but I sure would love to find out. But for now, I hope you have a very happy, healthy and safe New Years holiday, and I look forward to more vintage computing adventures with you.
Yay! You haven't just made a computer. You made it DO something!
Your happiness at a homemade vacuum tube computer ringing a bell is wonderful. Happy new year and well done!
My father founded the industrial control system corporation for the early US semi conductor industry, Robitech Inc. He passed this past summer at 85. He would have loved this channel. Keep it up! 🇺🇲
It's a really great feeling when a large project starts to near completion and actually work. Way to stay on it, you made it to the end of the year with a working home brew computer! I've built a computer from scratch so I know what your dealing with and I know how good it is to see it come to life. Congrats!!!
@10:30, see if you can find car interior filament bulbs. The are shaped like a fuse and have a long stretched out filament. Or, see if you can get transparent filament mini X-mas bulbs, 9 of them in series without their case, 1 per bit or 1 per every 2 bits all flatly assembled. Careful as they exist in 3v and 1.5v variants.
I've followed this project for years now and every video is amazing! I hope Usagi and you all have a safe and happy New Year!
Please save the "useless" punched paper strips and bring them to the next meetups (DFWRetro & VCFSW). Lots of people would love them.
Why do they want them?
Width 1"
Roll dia 1.5 inches
color yellow
If there is a good reason to, I can mail it to you
@@kensmith5694 I think he means as a memento, kinda like pieces of the Berlin wall, that is really just cheap broken concrete.
@@frozendude707 I hope he does answer because I hunted and found the paper tape.
I also have a card of core memory and a few other things tucked away
@@kensmith5694 exactly as @frozendude707 said. People will want them as mementos. I have a few of those and other "ancient artifacts" - and I show them to the young IT generation that don't realize those were actually real and used by people. You can see their mind exploding and their brains starting to make the connections needed to properly understand computers.
Yeah, needing more grid current makes sense in a way. The plate voltage for your thyratrons normally is high enough that it accelerates the electrons very quickly through the gas, causing secondary ionizations in the gas molecules. With a low plate voltage the electrons don't accelerate as much, so you need a lot more to get the avalanche going.
The plasma in the thyratron, does it glow? would a camera view of this help to visualize what is going on?
Your joy when that bell rung put a big smile on my face.
2:00 "The 25120 is easily cooled by the employment of a six foot fan ..." - wtf? this can't be right
That's not the worst of it, did you see how close it needs to be mounted?
" If the device fails you have exceeded the RAGINGS. "
The device will fail if you hurt it's feelings. Do not become angry at the device.
It also provides 50% more power than you will obtain. Be sure your latex output terminal protectors are in place.
@@Hans-gb4mv Won't this create enough wind to tatter the paper tape loop to pieces?
@@Hans-gb4mvA 6 foot fan, mounted 1/2 inch away. 😳 What the?
~24:39 - 25:20 Yep. THIS! Happy new year to you and yours, David.
So, you've got the G15 executing app code and the UE-1 can execute enough code to "BEL" then "HLT"
-> You've got both these valve computers executing code before 2024 was out - Very well done! 🍻 - "Just" some fine tuning to finish these off 😉
That was awesome! I really enjoyed this series. You may need to add one more thing though. A wire wound potentiometer to the tape motor, about 100~ ohm maybe a bit more for better speed stepping when diagnosing, and possibly a few rollers at the bottom of the tape loop, because if you run a loop long enough it is likely to get snag somewhere, maybe on a tube even. All in all it's pretty impressive.
Again... Very good Job. Have Happy New Year.
Ponder Stibbons : we now need to add a little gnome that strikes a tiny bell to Hex.
Ridcully : Why?
Ponder : To, um, ring in the new year properly?
Pretty cool to see the UE-1 working. I appreciate the troubleshooting and explanation of what the issue was and the possible solution. I hope you and your family had a Merry Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year. Thanks for the videos.
"DING" - what a great gift for Christmas! Happy New Year! This channel is just amazing! 🙂
Since memory is tape based for the UE1, you can have the Centurion communicate with the UE1 via the tape punch. You should be able to send binary to the tape punch from the Centurion.
You might lengthen the plate on the left side of the tape reader's "bit bucket" That would help guide the returning tape back into the bucket.
Good work, man!
I can barely keep up with what you're talking about most of the time, but damn your enthusiasm for these projects is so infectious and fun to watch
Hell Yea! I thought for sure that the round board you cut to control the bell was going the be the Usagi/rabbit board from the intro.
11:31 Would using frosted bulbs or putting some sort of material in there to diffuse the light help at all?
yes maybe a festoon (cylindrical or barrel shaped) bulb which is long and could illuminate all the paper stripe uniformly.
That's what I was thinking, a diffuser.
Also how about some kind of dark anti-reflective enclosure for the paper tape reading apparatus to minimize the effect of ambient and reflected light?
Having said all that though, it is an remarkable achievement
I also got the impression that the filaments on the replacement lamps were considerably further offset to the sides from the ones in the round bulbs. But within the constraints of era-appropriateness I'm not sure how early the principles of a lightpipe could be employed? I'm sure I encountered them in Japanese consumer electronics for indicators in the 1970s.
10:19 ..or drill the holes in an angle to catch the light because there is a need to account for the material thickness.
Awesome! David, have you considered some kind of diffuser for the tape reader? You're never going to get perfectly even illumination of the photo diodes with just the bulbs because the bulb filament is pretty much a point source, and will not line up through the holes in the tape to the photodiodes. Adding a diffuser would spread the light out, giving more even illumination and probably you could use less lighting power. Another (maybe better still) possibility would be some kind of light pipe made out of clear acrylic, I'm no expert on how these are designed but I have seen them on many a commercial product where a single bulb positioned in a hole in the light pipe provides a bright, even, line of light along its edge. But for now it works!! Happy new year!
This is like learning from steam powered and belt driven machinists. It’s a foundation knowledge if forgotten will possibly set back civilization for an unknown amount of time if not preserved as a coat tail for those to rebuild or understand the root of the tech they are using. I have no idea how to build or program but fully support the project. Not many can build a computer from scratch!
I called it, didn't I? The UE1 is gonna have to be finished in the new year. But that's okay, because it's fun to watch you gradually figure everything out and overcome all of the problems to get a working, completely "home-brew" vacuum tube computer. And your joy at getting things working is infectious. 😄 So congratuations. You've worked hard on this little "baby" and you've got your reward: A bell, dinging in the New Year. So, Happy New Year to you and to the UE1. 😃
10:37 Do not add a 3rd bulb; get a half round of plexiglass or lucite coated with a mirror finish (easy to make) and illuminate from both end. Put the flat side facing the diodes.
Man I just love to see your joy when things work out eventually, this channel is one of the best I found on TH-cam.. thank you for these great videos and much success in your future projects!♥
Hearing the UE1 ringing its bell was a wonderful way to wrap up the year! Been watching you work on it for all these years, so this is an amazing achievement!
Happy New Year! Ding!
Happy new year david, youve done wonderful things this year. i thought i was into vintage tech having run 10base5 ethernet in my trainee days... you have blown my mind
That was a good one. And a good finale for this year. Thanks for showing, have a nice time out and a Happy New Year ! Let's see what comes up next ...
It's probably nice to run that computer in a closed room in wintertime.
My new Mac mini M4 runs on about the same power as the three lamps in the paper tape reader.
Just Bonkers man. Someone's gotta do it. Thanks for going to such contrivances, it is really inspirational/encouraging. I love that it is on a plywood panel too hehe.
This is so awesome! 😊 One small step turned into a journey.
Thanks for sharing this awesomeness.
You finally did it. Both, the G15 and the UE1 are running code. I love it. You did well.
Now I'm waiting, what coming next.
I wish you a very happy new year.😊
That is quite possibly the most elaborate way to ring a bell that I have ever seen.
Sweet way to end the year! Thanks for bringing us along!!
Thank you for these great successful projects, we all know you make these wiring errors on purpose, so that we don't do them while building our own 1-bit computers
🎉 I found you late, but this is amazing. Good job and happy new year! Ding!
And absolutely love the ding when it completes a task.
You gained another subscriber brother. 😊
I don't know vacuum tubes, I don't know vintage computing, and I have NO idea what you're talking about. But dang, do I love the vibes of a hobbyist in their element.
🎵you can ring my bell, ring my bell 🎵🤣never seen anyone so happy to hear a bell. Congratulations. All the very best for the New Year.
In the words of Anita Ward - "You can ring my bell, ring my bell (Ring my bell, ring-a-ring-a-ring)"
🎉Happy New Year Everybody🎉
Great job!! Agree with the idea about developing some insane I/O interfaces between your restored machines (" Frankenfaces") to create some Rube Goldberg computing.
A way to get focused light is to use a round bar of plexiglas. If done right you get a light slot. May be something to use, I have no clue but I know it works. Thanks for all the great videos.
Came here to say similar 😄
Hey, nobody said making a vacuum tube computer would be easy! But I'm not surprised you managed to get it working, at least working as well as it is. Looks like you've got a pretty good handle on troubleshooting this machine, so I expect fixing the memory will be a breeze. Until the next problem crops up! 🤣
Great job and great way to RING in the New Year. Always enjoy your videos and your enthusiasm.
Nice work. I like the installation of the dinger!
Congrats, Dave! I look forward to seeing it at a VCF someday.
Oh so awesome, I must have a bell on my laptop now. Happy newyear!
lol. Great to see you include the datasheet for infamous Signetics WOM chip, which seems well suited to your build, given that it needs a 6.3V filament supply. ;)
"It's my machine that goes, 'DING'."
Your joy when things work is so infectious. I don't MEAN to smile, but... I just do. Excellent work sir. All the best for 2025!
I am so thankful for your sharing this project with us the way you have all this time! Also, for a while there your workbench kinda looked like you were trying to make lasagna and had some kind of unfortunate pasta accident about 14:41 lol
That look of accomplishment and it working sorta brought tears to my eyes. What a journey it's been!
Now we know what the drones and orbs are looking for --> UE1
Incredible stuff you're accomplishing! An inspiration to all Engineers!
Amazing achievement. What an awesome way to bring in the new year!
Homebrew computer cowboy must make peace with the endians.
jaajajajajaaaaa....nerd
make my day
Boooo… bad pun! Dad joke material. 🤣😆
So, chiral and nibble-swapped, an accidental middle-endian system.
A man and his bell!
Happy New Year David🎉
DING! DING! DING! Correct Answer!!! Congrats on a major milestone on your homebrew computer. Have a Happy New Year.
I started watching this channel to see updates on the UE1. Now that it is executing code, I guess it's time to move on...
Nah, I'm kidding! Happy New Year, congratulations!
Many years ago, my then boss was irritated that the bell would ring on his computer every time an email with an overly long line came in- which was frequent. He asked one of engineers if he could disable the bell. Many hours of disassembly and tweaking later, the bell was gone. My boss announced at the next staff meeting that the engineer was now the proud recipient of the “NO-BELL PRIZE.” We were suitably impressed.
‼️This is the only tech channel with any effort or talent and it’s a lot of talent.
Congratulations and happy new year!
Best ding I've ever heard. Happy New Year, David!
I have been following it since the beginning and I am elated to see that it works perfectly. You have made my year great. I wish you happy holidays and hope for many more exciting moments in 2025. Cheers 🍻
This is impressive. Congrats for the effort.
its is awesome. I cant wait to see it hooked up to a terminal or something. thank you fro the amazing video
Thank you. Have a great new year.
So Awesome! the UE1 is pretty much complete!
it was a long arduous project as a whole, but well worth it! great JOB! 🤩👍❤
That's what U can call a very complicated Doorbell with a very low responsetime. 😁
And how can You tell, You did it Well?
You run the Code and it rings the Bell. 😊
Great Work👍😁😁
What a trip! and a freaking bell at the end! Man, you're the inspiration for the young old dinosaurs let's keep doing things...things with a bell... You can never miss a bell... and Blinkenlights !
Clock pulse low, data is on high,
And the UE-1 bell is dinging!
Happy festive season!🎄
Wonderful. We have a one bit computer with memory problems that rings a bell. Sorta like a patient in a memory support ward asking for a nurse.
Looking forward to the "hey it's working" moment, followed by unscripted irritation about how the damn bell keeps ringing. 😃
Wishing you, and all who read this, a wonderful 2025 and many more to follow.