[Person Man]

Here is a YouTube video showing the AppleCrate II, a collection of 17 enhanced Apple IIe motherboards networked together for parallel processing, playing a rendition of the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty Four."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa_ONTDm35U

The AppleCrate II is itself the second incarnation of the AppleCrate, a collection of 8 Apple IIe motherboards networked together. Both AppleCrates were designed and implemented by Michael Mahon, a retired hardware/software engineer from Hewlett-Packard.

Over 25 years later, people are still finding new ways to push these old machines beyond their limits.

[Person Man]

46 views and not one reply. I thought at least someone would comment on this.

[osiris]

It's pretty amazing that a $6 Hallmark card can do the same thing.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by osiris 

It's pretty amazing that a $6 Hallmark card can do the same thing.

Yes. I'd like to see those little piezoelectric speakers do 16 voice music.

[Uncle Doof]

Originally Posted by Person Man 

Yes. I'd like to see those little piezoelectric speakers do 16 voice music.

Ummm, I got a birthday card last week which plays a James Brown song. Vocals and everything.

[osiris]

Originally Posted by Person Man 

Yes. I'd like to see those little piezoelectric speakers do 16 voice music.

Not midi, actual recordings.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by osiris 

Not midi, actual recordings.

Yes, I know.

That's not the point, though.

This is something that he spent $50 on, (got 25 motherboards off eBay for $25), and it makes for a nice, simple way to demonstrate how distributed computing works. At 1 MHz speed one can see when the computers (via LEDs) send and receive messages, and one can switch the monitor inputs to see what each machine is working on at any one given time.

He also has a program that computes the Mandelbrot set and displays it on the graphics screen of the controlling computer. Each motherboard works on one line at a time and sends it to the display server. On one Apple II it takes 8 hours to display the completed picture. On this, it only takes 30 minutes.

Again, it can be used as an effective teaching tool, if nothing else.

Also consider that if this had been done in 1983, when the IIe was released, it would have cost $22,000 for the main hardware, alone.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Uncle Doof 

Ummm, I got a birthday card last week which plays a James Brown song. Vocals and everything.

Yes. It played a recording, which is about as fancy as you can get with piezoelectric devices embedded into greeting cards.

[Maflynn]

Originally Posted by Person Man 

Yes. It played a recording, which is about as fancy as you can get with piezoelectric devices embedded into greeting cards.

And its far more powerful then the networked IIe setup

[osiris]

Originally Posted by Person Man 

Yes, I know.

That's not the point, though.

This is something that he spent $50 on, (got 25 motherboards off eBay for $25), and it makes for a nice, simple way to demonstrate how distributed computing works. At 1 MHz speed one can see when the computers (via LEDs) send and receive messages, and one can switch the monitor inputs to see what each machine is working on at any one given time.

He also has a program that computes the Mandelbrot set and displays it on the graphics screen of the controlling computer. Each motherboard works on one line at a time and sends it to the display server. On one Apple II it takes 8 hours to display the completed picture. On this, it only takes 30 minutes.

Again, it can be used as an effective teaching tool, if nothing else.

Also consider that if this had been done in 1983, when the IIe was released, it would have cost $22,000 for the main hardware, alone.

Please don't misunderstand or underestimate my appreciation of this technology nor of this feat. It is amazing.
+Have you seen the BASIC code for this?

http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/ParallelSim.html

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by osiris 

Please don't misunderstand or underestimate my appreciation of this technology nor of this feat. It is amazing.
+Have you seen the BASIC code for this?

http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/ParallelSim.html

Yep.

And I've met and talked with it's creator.

He is obviously so knowledgeable about how all this works and everything that when he talks about it all I can do is just nod my head and smile. Three quarters of it just flies right over my head. Especially when he talks about even just the basics of synthesizing sound.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Maflynn 

And its far more powerful then the networked IIe setup

Not really. Those things are hard wired to just play their sound sample that's been burned into a chip. It would take a good deal more to turn it into a computer, by which point the card would cost about $25 instead of 6. Then it would be more powerful than the AppleCrate.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by Uncle Doof 

Ummm, I got a birthday card last week which plays a James Brown song. Vocals and everything.

So it's like a walkman?