Computing

mariohobbs · May 10, 2023

Introduction
so basically i've been trying to make simple mechanical computers in sfs, it has kind of worked i even made a calculator that only fails like 30% of the time. One of my main problems is the inconsistency and annoyingness of wheels. Problems with wheels include: Smashing parts of the machine, flinging themselves when touching other wheels, getting stuck on sides and ruining calculations, rolling into walls and losing all momentum, not falling straight, inconsistent test results. basically if computers are gonna become widespread sfs projects then we gotta overcome some hurdles that being, wheels and making the computers reusable. On the topic of reusable machines my current logic gates are not reusable at least for the and/or gates, however a basic nor logic gate is possible and reusable however the and gate will need some work. unfortunately i haven't really seen any other posts about computers in sfs (unmodded) so until others do research and testing the field of sfs computing will remain bleak.

How my logic gates work
The only logic gate used in the calculator was the and/or gate (an and and an or gate in 1) it has 3 potential outputs and 2 potential inputs. each input and output can use simple binary that being a 0 or a 1. if the input is 01 then the output will be 100, if the input is 11 then the output is 010. if the input is 10 then the output is 001. Using a few of these logic gates simple calculators for adding can be constructed.
first and only calculator so far:

andor gate v1 (first semi-successful version used in calculator)

Andor gate v2 (better performance and reliability, less tall)

Note that these basic gates are not the only type out there i have also made others for sfs.
I'll be tinkering away at making computing work but until i figure that out i have decided to gift you guys these tools so you aswell can build a computer in your earth city.
(none of these have been tested in space and are all gravity based, do not try in space)

https://sharing.spaceflightsimulator.app/rocket/XYrIx-6-Ee2dSLuAd13aUA

This is an epic public progress thread for computing in SFS

SHΔRD Aerospace · May 10, 2023

Heroix made one before

mariohobbs · May 10, 2023

SHΔRD Aerospace said:

do you have a link to it or? Knowing the knowledge of the past could help in the current

SHΔRD Aerospace · May 10, 2023

mariohobbs said:

mariohobbs · May 10, 2023

SHΔRD Aerospace said:

after looking into Fusion space industries although they are great they aren't exactly one to release how they do things to the public or even a bp, so as great as they are i dont think their research can help us very much as far as computing on the forums. although it was interesting how they used heavily stretched rcs thrusters. their stuff may be better and more complex but it does not seem scalable either.

In conclusion these guys are geniuses but their stuff aint open source. thereby it cant really help get computing going here on the forums very much.

mariohobbs · Mar 28, 2024

I've decided to revisit this thread; The main barriers for computing in SFS are these:

Single Use Systems:
Most SFS computing systems rely on the breaking of objects and destruction physics in order to process their calculations, meaning computers are all single use.
Part Counts:
Due to previously mentioned computing methods, The more bits you have in your computer, The more parts you'll need; meaning SFS computing is eternally bound by how much you can limit the amount of parts your logic uses.
Logic:
To build a computer one needs an "AND" gate, and an "OR" gate, as-well as a "NOT" gate. An and gate is fairly simple, if it recieves two inputs (1,1) it will output a 1, An OR gate is very simple, if it recieves an input of 1 from any side (0,1) or (1,0) or (1,1) it will output a 1. A not gate will simply invert any input it recieves (1->0) (0->1). A not gate is the main issue here, due to the way computing is done with object breaking and gravity, it is simply impossible, A not gate is a very important piece of computing for an XOR gate and complex circuits, though some things can be done without it.
Computation:
In real life electricity is strange, Though this is completely wrong i'll explain it the ways schools do it since it'll server our purposes: Electricity is a bunch of electrons moving through a wire, a bunch of them, its called a current like a wave pool, when they interact with things they encounter resistance but certain components can use the energy of the electrons and convert that into something else. A computer uses logic circuits with trasistors to do math with these electrons. The problem with SFS computing is that instead of having a constant stream of electrons, we have falling physics objects, now mind you the ancients had computers that worked like these, but they were wildly impractical.

In conclusion: Computing in SFS is limited by the fact that its logic is dictated by the destruction of physics objects aswell as the limited amount of those objects your device can run, These limitations make certain vital logic gates impossible and thereby make any large scale physical computing with physical objects impossible.

If someone were to make a mod with computing in the ways minecraft redstone does it (signal based with toggleable wires and such) then it could be possible to make something truly impressive, but as I do not have the modding capabilities to do that, and nobody here has a need for it, such a thing will remain only in my dreams.