Fenix Guthrie writes that Chris Staecker restored a remarkably well-preserved Digi-Comp 1, the 1963 programmable educational toy computer introduced by E.S.R. The device uses mechanical logic gates programmed with soda-straw-like tubes on sliding rails and spring-loaded levers actuated by a clock switch to compute simple binary functions as a non-Turing-complete state machine reflective of early 1960s computing.
- E.S.R. originally intended to make actual computers before becoming a premier educational toy company in the 1960s
- Staecker'''s restoration used rubber bands and 3D-printed parts to return the toy to working condition
- The machine has 88 states, equivalent to 16,777,216 possible configurations
- Article references successor Digi-Comp II and other vintage ''"sort of''" computers like Geniac
- E.S.R. originally intended to make actual computers before becoming a premier educational toy company in the 1960s
- Staecker'''s restoration used rubber bands and 3D-printed parts to return the toy to working condition
- The machine has 88 states, equivalent to 16,777,216 possible configurations
- Article references successor Digi-Comp II and other vintage ''"sort of''" computers like Geniac
