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From: jgd@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (John G Dobnick)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: LEGOs -- and Tinker-Toys
Message-ID: <281@uwm.edu>
Date: 30 Sep 89 18:25:19 GMT
References: <218@visix.UUCP>
Sender: news@uwm.edu
Reply-To: jgd@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Lines: 32

In article <3300071@m.cs.uiuc.edu> nelson@m.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
   We are interested in building something (possibly a Turing Machine) 
   out of LEGO blocks. 

In article <1801@brazos.Rice.edu>, by preston@titan.rice.edu (Preston Briggs)
answers:
   ... it reminds me that Danny Hillis (as in Connection Machine) once
   mentioned building a tinker-toy machine that played tic-tac-toe. u
   I believe it lives in a museum in Arkansas.
 
From article <218@visix.UUCP>, by jeff@visix.UUCP (Jeff Barr):
   Unless there is more than one, I saw the Tinker-Toy (tm ?) tic-tac-toe
   machine in the Computer Museum in Boston, MA ...


In the October 1989 issue of Scientific American, A.K. Dewdney's "Computer
Recreations" column is titled "A tinkertoy computer that plays tic-tac-toe".   

According to the column there were two of these built -- by M.I.T. students
naturally [:-)].   One (the cube) is currently in the Computer Museum in Boston
but is not fully functional;  the other (a different design) is "in storage"
at the Mid-America Center in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Read the column for the fascinating details.
-- 
John G Dobnick
Computing Services Division @ University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
INTERNET: jgd@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
UUCP: uunet!uwm!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!jgd

"Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation,
and is thus a source of civilized delight."  -- William Safire