

Plan 28: Building Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine - yarapavan
http://plan28.org/

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jgrahamc
For those that are interested I did a reddit AMA about this the other day:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/dr6yk/im_the_guy_behin...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/dr6yk/im_the_guy_behind_plan_28_the_project_to_build/)

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almost
Awesome! I've added my name to the pledgebank list, really hope you get this
going!

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earl
For people in sfbay, you should _really_ go to the Computer History Museum
(<http://www.computerhistory.org/> ). They have a working model of Difference
Engine No 2 -- one of only two in the world. The story goes that some museum
in London was attempting to build one and ran out of money. Word of this
eventually made it's way to Nathan Myhrvold, who offered to donate the
required funds iff they built him one. Nathan has kindly loaned this
mechanical computer to the museum only through the _end of the year_ , whence
it will go to his living room.

The difference engine can calculate 7th degree polynomials with 31 digits of
accuracy, and includes a mechanical printing press! They also run it every day
at approximately 2 pm. It's well worth your time to go check out; the machine
itself is beautiful.

Video of the back right here (that's a mechanical carry bit!)
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbG8jUYJonM&feature=playe...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbG8jUYJonM&feature=player_embedded)

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jgrahamc
That story is not entirely true. The Difference Engine No. 2 was constructed
at the Science Museum in London and unveiled in 1991. It is true that the
printer was not finished until 2002 and that he did put up the money for that
and have a copy built for his home (which you can currently see in MV).

