Comments by "M Simon" (@msimon6808) on "Computerphile" channel.

  1. Valves also last longer if you reduce their plate and filament voltages. There are minimums and you probably need to test the valves that actually go into the machines. In America we call valves ==> tubes. I started repairing tube TVs in 1957.
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  2. The Americans used a machine during the war that had a tape key. At a speed of 10 characters per second (CPS) - synchronizing is easy. Much above that and you can't do it electro-mechanically. To read a tape going 5,000 CPS photocells are going to be required. Back in the early 8080 days you could build a kit paper tape reader that used photocells. It could do 5,000 CPS if you could pull the tape that fast.
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  3. The Americans actually had a one time tape machine. SIGTOT. So the tape problem was not insurmountable.
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  4. There are never enough registers in CPUs.
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  5. NAND gates (or NOR gates) are sufficient to do any logic. Either one.
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  6. I built an IMSAI - Cromemco Z80 CPU from components. My soldering skills are industrial strength. So yeah. The desire for hardware.
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  7. Postscript is an outgrowth of Forth.
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  8. You might want to look into the Forth language.
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  9. Forth.
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