Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu 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