User:Larix - Revision history

Larix: fixed heading hierarchy, scrubbed a very minor and obsolete item

2015-01-25T13:23:47Z

fixed heading hierarchy, scrubbed a very minor and obsolete item

Larix: Gotta show off the computer.

2015-01-22T19:36:42Z

Gotta show off the computer.

Larix: /* Maple 6/6 Programmable Computer */

2014-11-10T01:08:24Z

Maple 6/6 Programmable Computer

Larix at 09:14, 22 July 2014

2014-07-22T09:14:50Z

Larix: /* Taming the diagonal Minecart */

2014-04-20T01:13:42Z

Taming the diagonal Minecart

Larix: /* Multiplication with beyond-binary result calculation */

2014-04-20T01:11:53Z

Multiplication with beyond-binary result calculation

Larix: /* Division by minecart collision */

2014-04-04T14:39:06Z

Division by minecart collision

Larix at 02:18, 1 April 2014

2014-04-01T02:18:40Z

Larix at 01:05, 28 March 2014

2014-03-28T01:05:50Z

Larix: /* Very compact incrementers and a collection of other computing components */

2014-03-01T14:37:44Z

Very compact incrementers and a collection of other computing components

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=147725.0
-=== Odds and Ends ===
+== Odds and Ends ==
 A collection of Dwarf Logic projects, ranging from an overengineered silly joke to overengineered solutions for simple problems or challenges to... overengineered overengineering:
-== Maple 6/6 Programmable Computer ==
+=== Maple 6/6 Programmable Computer ===
 * A project that grew out of a crude tape processor originally built to see how close i could get data processing to the 100-step limit set by pressure plates' reset time. With some encouragement and helpful comments on the forum, i put another afternoon into the extant machine and turned it into a computer capable of executing programs written in an ultra-compact (and extremely low-powered) machine language consisting of six main instructions modified by the actual program adress as parameter (six values possible). I tried to make it as simple and small as possible while still giving it more functionality than just pushing a solitary bit around.
@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 Handout that hopefully gives a better idea of how this machine processes data: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/User:Larix/Programming_the_Maple_6-6
-== hq9+ Interpreter ==
+=== hq9+ Interpreter ===
@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 : I am especially proud of the unary memory device.
-== The Drunk Number Generator ==
+=== The Drunk Number Generator ===
 * Dwarfs are always so sloshed that when they try to be random, they still just end up drunk. Their drunk stumbling around the meeting hall can be used to derive irresponsibly unpredictable signals, which in turn can be converted into apparently random numbers. Be careful when constructing such contraptions on your own computers, intoxicated computers can be quite difficult to handle.
@@ Line 59: / Line 59: @@
 : http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=129226.msg4452422#msg4452422
-== Security Blast Door ==
+=== Security Blast Door ===
 * Do you lack the patience to wait a hundred steps for a pressure plate to re-set and close a door? Are you annoyed by dwarfs dragging their feet when ordered to pull the "close that door!" lever? No problem, you can get a door to close as reaction to an "on" signal, potentially in less than ten steps. It just takes ~400 power and 25 rollers and pressure plates and link jobs.
@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 : http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=128095.msg4449221#msg4449221
-== Taming the diagonal Minecart ==
+=== Taming the diagonal Minecart ===
 * Just working out that diagonally-moving minecarts are notoriously unwilling to follow track directions only served as an incentive for me to step up my game and tame the wild diagonal minecart. I succeeded in getting such carts to stay in holding loops, cycle through repeaters and even hold a bit of information by their rotation direction in a read-writeable 'memory cell'.
@@ Line 75: / Line 75: @@
 : '''Controlling diagonal minecarts'''; one-cart one-byte memory; seven-state fluid memory/potential base-seven adder? http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=131325.msg4621257#msg4621257
-== Multiplication with beyond-binary result calculation ==
+=== Multiplication with beyond-binary result calculation ===
 * Binary multiplication has a simple basis, but tends to get unwieldy because so many adders are needed to put all the partial results together. DF's mechanical logic, however, offers amazing options to compactify the adding-up process so that for a multiplication of two eight-bit numbers, no more than fifteen additions are run in a single adding step, and the sum results generated in another semi-simultaneous step. But how can this be, when up to sixty-four signals are generated before any addition takes place, and the addition will produce a slew of extra carries, up to seven on the "middle" result bit, while a full adder has no more than three inputs? Simple (or not so simple): by using something else than normal binary adders, so that more than three signals can be added in a single circuit. A load-based "how many inputs are on?" circuit can not only check against a defined threshold of inputs before switching off, by using the output-generating pressure plates to re-configure the circuit itself and thus change the load, it can check for different significant load limits in succession and enforce a stable state when the "correct" output is reached.
@@ Line 88: / Line 88: @@
 : http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=132977.0
-== The Signal Grinder ==
+=== The Signal Grinder ===
 : An unbeatably dwarven (and delicious) power-to-signal converter.
@@ Line 117: / Line 117: @@
 : List of Materials: 1 millstone, 2 mechanisms, one chair, millable plant(s), empty bag(s). The chair can be deconstructed after priming the circuit, to recover materials.
-== Very compact incrementers and a collection of other computing components ==
+=== Very compact incrementers and a collection of other computing components ===
 : The second post in a thread originally made to present a pseudo-random RNG using standard computing procedure - a linear-feedback shift register. During that construction, i got some ideas for smaller dwarven computing stuff, so went and built those, too. Some of them may be of practical use (as far as dwarven computing can be considered practical).
@@ Line 125: / Line 125: @@
 : The two designs of '''all-purpose logic gates''' are primarily concept demonstrations, to show what minecart computing is capable of. Each can distinguish the four possible states of two binary inputs accurately, using only two input devices/connections, which don't need reconfiguring for different logical conditions.
-: The '''memory cell''' is still more for showing off - there are compacter and more reliable powerless memory cells possible. The design shown has been demonstrated to be a workable adressable memory cell which reliably acquires and holds an input after enabling, until reset, and can be read out to a memory buffer, which can be shared with other memory arrays.
+: The '''memory cell''' is still more for showing off - there are compacter and more reliable powerless memory cells possible. The design shown was an important stepping stone, since it was the first time i fiddled with concepts of adressing memory instead of using memory cells dedicated to a single purpose.
 : The '''binary and ternary incrementer''' are ''very'' compact and to my knowledge perfectly reliable devices. I fully intend to use them in future projects.
@@ Line 132: / Line 132: @@
 : Grab-bag of mechanical and minecart logic stuff, crammed into a thread full of weird computey things: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=135141.msg4881573#msg4881573

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 [[User:Larix/Minecart Collisions]]
 === Odds and Ends ===
 A collection of Dwarf Logic projects, ranging from an overengineered silly joke to overengineered solutions for simple problems or challenges to... overengineered overengineering:
 == Maple 6/6 Programmable Computer ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:08, 10 November 2014
Line 26:		Line 26:

	: The Manual: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=140773.msg5496324#msg5496324		: The Manual: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=140773.msg5496324#msg5496324
		+
		+	Handout that hopefully gives a better idea of how this machine processes data: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/User:Larix/Programming_the_Maple_6-6

	== hq9+ Interpreter ==		== hq9+ Interpreter ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:14, 22 July 2014
Line 17:		Line 17:
	A collection of Dwarf Logic projects, ranging from an overengineered silly joke to overengineered solutions for simple problems or challenges to... overengineered overengineering:		A collection of Dwarf Logic projects, ranging from an overengineered silly joke to overengineered solutions for simple problems or challenges to... overengineered overengineering:

		+	== Maple 6/6 Programmable Computer ==
		+
		+	* A project that grew out of a crude tape processor originally built to see how close i could get data processing to the 100-step limit set by pressure plates' reset time. With some encouragement and helpful comments on the forum, i put another afternoon into the extant machine and turned it into a computer capable of executing programs written in an ultra-compact (and extremely low-powered) machine language consisting of six main instructions modified by the actual program adress as parameter (six values possible). I tried to make it as simple and small as possible while still giving it more functionality than just pushing a solitary bit around.
		+
		+	* Reading the program from a "tape" (effectively a ROM device) allows extremely fast execution - since the tape contains program data only, the data management processes of von Neumann machines are not needed, allowing single-action execution at a rate of one operation per 120 steps. On the other hand, it limits flexibility and more complicated programs can become quite long. Similarly, tape not needed for program storage cannot be used to store data.
		+
		+	* All things considered, designing and building the machine took one week-end, and the in-game construction cost comes to 1875 mechanisms, 176 ropes (for rollers) and 210 logs. 260 mechanisms could be saved by removing redundant connections, putting it at ~1/5 the mechanism cost of Jong's dwarven computer theoretically, almost 1/4 practically.
		+
		+	: The Manual: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=140773.msg5496324#msg5496324

	== hq9+ Interpreter ==		== hq9+ Interpreter ==

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 * Just working out that diagonally-moving minecarts are notoriously unwilling to follow track directions only served as an incentive for me to step up my game and tame the wild diagonal minecart. I succeeded in getting such carts to stay in holding loops, cycle through repeaters and even hold a bit of information by their rotation direction in a read-writeable 'memory cell'.
 : There's no need to use an extra minecart for every bit of memory you wish to store, a single minecart can hold a full byte of information.
 : Oh, and i got a rudimentary base-seven memory device or adder to work, based on regulating water depth and measuring it with pressure plates.

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 == Multiplication with beyond-binary result calculation ==
-* Binary multiplication has a simple basis, but tends to get unwieldy because so many adders are needed to put all the partial results together. DF's mechanical logic, however, offers amazing options to compactify the adding-up process so that for a multiplication of two eight-bit numbers, no more than fifteen addition steps are required. But how can this be, when up to sixty-four signals are generated before any addition takes place, and the addition is liable to produce twenty carries? Simple (or not so simple): by adding more than three signals in a single circuit. A load-based "how many inputs are on?" circuit can not only check against a defined threshold of inputs before switching off, by using the output-generating pressure plates to re-configure the circuit itself and thus change the load, it can check for different significant load limits in succession and enforce a stable state when the "correct" output is reached.
+* Binary multiplication has a simple basis, but tends to get unwieldy because so many adders are needed to put all the partial results together. DF's mechanical logic, however, offers amazing options to compactify the adding-up process so that for a multiplication of two eight-bit numbers, no more than fifteen additions are run in a single adding step, and the sum results generated in another semi-simultaneous step. But how can this be, when up to sixty-four signals are generated before any addition takes place, and the addition will produce a slew of extra carries, up to seven on the "middle" result bit, while a full adder has no more than three inputs? Simple (or not so simple): by using something else than normal binary adders, so that more than three signals can be added in a single circuit. A load-based "how many inputs are on?" circuit can not only check against a defined threshold of inputs before switching off, by using the output-generating pressure plates to re-configure the circuit itself and thus change the load, it can check for different significant load limits in succession and enforce a stable state when the "correct" output is reached.
-: I endeavoured to make it more elegant by "pre-processing" the carries generated and unwittingly introduced another problem - the "resistor-based input counter" can process new inputs turning on, but will ignore inputs turning off during operation, something that ''will'' happen in the course of preprocessing. Conservatively, this problem can be handled by not pre-processing the generated carries and just passing up to seven up to the next bit, meaning you'll have to handle up to fourteen in- and seven outputs.
+: I endeavoured to make it more elegant by "pre-processing" the carries generated and unwittingly introduced another problem - the "resistor-based input counter" can process new inputs turning on, but will ignore inputs turning off during operation, something that is bound to happen in the course of preprocessing. Conservatively, this problem can be handled by not pre-processing the generated carries and just passing up to seven up to the next bit, meaning you'll have to handle up to fourteen in- and seven outputs.
 : Or you can build a "consistency check" routine into the resistance counter, which massively increases the parts count but adds a whole new level of elegance and potential for further use. Equipping a multiplier with the presented finalised "count to ten" circuit will likely use at least as many parts as a Wallace or Dadda (or un-organised old-school) adder to collate the partial results, but allows calculating all carries of a bit ''and'' its sum on the same circuit.
 : '''Mechanical Multiplier (binary), 8x8 bits, with "single-pass" addition. As a possible improvement, the 0-10 Volume Meter'''
 : http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=132977.0
 == The Signal Grinder ==

@@ Line 111: / Line 111: @@
 Since i successfully built devices to perform addition, subtraction and multiplication, i felt the need to complete my mastery of basic algebra by designing something that divides. This is notoriously difficult to achieve automatically, because to the best of my knowledge, binary division is a sort of iterative subtraction and there's no reasonable way to do this without a massively complicated processor, like the one shown in [[User:BaronW|The Almighty Dwarven Calculator]].
-Since the reasonable way to do it would be to laboriously repeat a feat already achieved handily by someone else, i settled for an unreasonable way to do it: bashing minecarts together. In case you didn't know, bashing minecarts together is the new magma. If it's not the answer, the question has been formulated wrong.
+Since the reasonable way to do it would be to laboriously repeat a feat already achieved handily by someone else, i settled for an unreasonable way to do it: bashing minecarts together. In case you didn't know, [[User:Larix/Minecart Collisions|bashing minecarts together]] is the new magma. If it's not the answer, the question has been formulated wrong.
 Since the output speed of a linear minecart collision is simply the speed of the incoming minecart, multiplied by its mass and then divided by the mass of the outgoing cart - capped at incoming speed itself - every such collision effectively performs a division. By choosing and changing weight and speed of the incoming cart, the dividend can be changed, and by selecting outgoing carts of different weights, different divisors can be chosen. By letting the outgoing cart run freely for a constant number of game steps, then stopping it, the output speed can be measured (in integer numbers).

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:18, 1 April 2014
Line 8:		Line 8:

	[[User:Larix/Adder]]		[[User:Larix/Adder]]
		+
		+	Some findings on the mechanics of minecart collisions:
		+
		+	[[User:Larix/Minecart Collisions]]

	=== Odds and Ends ===		=== Odds and Ends ===

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:05, 28 March 2014
Line 102:		Line 102:

	: Grab-bag of mechanical and minecart logic stuff, crammed into a thread full of weird computey things: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=135141.msg4881573#msg4881573		: Grab-bag of mechanical and minecart logic stuff, crammed into a thread full of weird computey things: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=135141.msg4881573#msg4881573
		+
		+	== Division by minecart collision ==
		+
		+	Since i successfully built devices to perform addition, subtraction and multiplication, i felt the need to complete my mastery of basic algebra by designing something that divides. This is notoriously difficult to achieve automatically, because to the best of my knowledge, binary division is a sort of iterative subtraction and there's no reasonable way to do this without a massively complicated processor, like the one shown in [[User:BaronW\|The Almighty Dwarven Calculator]].
		+
		+	Since the reasonable way to do it would be to laboriously repeat a feat already achieved handily by someone else, i settled for an unreasonable way to do it: bashing minecarts together. In case you didn't know, bashing minecarts together is the new magma. If it's not the answer, the question has been formulated wrong.
		+
		+	Since the output speed of a linear minecart collision is simply the speed of the incoming minecart, multiplied by its mass and then divided by the mass of the outgoing cart - capped at incoming speed itself - every such collision effectively performs a division. By choosing and changing weight and speed of the incoming cart, the dividend can be changed, and by selecting outgoing carts of different weights, different divisors can be chosen. By letting the outgoing cart run freely for a constant number of game steps, then stopping it, the output speed can be measured (in integer numbers).
		+
		+	The entire complication of the device lies in selecting and combining carts and speeds to implement a sufficiently large range of divisions to run. You could of course just inscribe a huge lookup table of sample divisions into your fort's floor (or simply put it into the notes). My dividing machine's primary merit is making the looking-up of division results more entertaining through colliding minecarts.
		+
		+	http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=15096.msg5129395#msg5129395

@@ Line 91: / Line 91: @@
 : The second post in a thread originally made to present a pseudo-random RNG using standard computing procedure - a linear-feedback shift register. During that construction, i got some ideas for smaller dwarven computing stuff, so went and built those, too. Some of them may be of practical use (as far as dwarven computing can be considered practical).
-: The water level measurer is highly theoretical for now, since i'm not aware of any kind of liquid-based computing that'd produce liquid of discrete depth.
+: The '''water level measurer''' is highly theoretical for now, since i'm not aware of any kind of liquid-based computing that'd produce liquid of discrete depth.
-: The two designs of all-purpose logic gates are primarily concept demonstrations, to show what minecart computing is capable of. Each can distinguish the four possible states of two binary inputs accurately, using only two input devices/connections, which don't need reconfiguring for different logical conditions.
+: The two designs of '''all-purpose logic gates''' are primarily concept demonstrations, to show what minecart computing is capable of. Each can distinguish the four possible states of two binary inputs accurately, using only two input devices/connections, which don't need reconfiguring for different logical conditions.
-: The memory cell is still more for showing off - there are compacter and more reliable powerless memory cells possible. The design shown has been demonstrated to be a workable adressable memory cell which reliably acquires and holds an input after enabling, until reset, and can be read out to a memory buffer, which can be shared with other memory arrays.
+: The '''memory cell''' is still more for showing off - there are compacter and more reliable powerless memory cells possible. The design shown has been demonstrated to be a workable adressable memory cell which reliably acquires and holds an input after enabling, until reset, and can be read out to a memory buffer, which can be shared with other memory arrays.
-: The binary and ternary incrementer are ''very'' compact and to my knowledge perfectly reliable devices. I fully intend to use them in future projects.
+: The '''binary and ternary incrementer''' are ''very'' compact and to my knowledge perfectly reliable devices. I fully intend to use them in future projects.
-: For now, the synchronous toggler is another curiosity, but it's a great step forward in compactness and regularity for such devices.
+: For now, the '''synchronous toggler''' is another curiosity, but it's a great step forward in compactness and regularity for such devices.
 : Grab-bag of mechanical and minecart logic stuff, crammed into a thread full of weird computey things: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=135141.msg4881573#msg4881573