Self-taught tinkerer demos working room-sized Cold War-era supercomputer with vacuum tubes — takes 15 minutes to warm up and smells like burning dust, 8-bit design uses 460 recycled 1950s Soviet tubes
A self-taught electronics tinkerer called Mike recently shared details of his retro-computing vacuum tube computer project.
A self-taught electronics enthusiast named Mike recently unveiled his retro-computing project on the Hackaday platform. Mike's computer stands out due to its unique design using vacuum tubes from the 1950s, specifically 460 Soviet-era 6N3P double triode tubes. The computer, once powered on, requires 10-15 minutes for the machine to warm up, and it emits a distinctive smell reminiscent of burning dust.
Operating this 8-bit design is not for the faint-hearted, as the tubes are fragile, bulky, and have a limited operational life of around 500 hours, necessitating spare tubes and a stepladder for maintenance. Despite its limitations, Mike's computer is capable of performing basic arithmetic functions like sum, carry, not, increment, and XNOR, utilizing a simple arithmetic logic design.
This wall-mounted computer, which is the third iteration of its kind, serves as a space-age homage to the past, offering a glimpse into the era when vacuum tubes reigned supreme in computing.
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