HP Forum Archive 21

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A BIG one ... Message #1 Posted by Raymund Heuvel on 26 Mar 2012, 4:33 a.m. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wgJfVRhotlQ

Re: A BIG one ... Message #2 Posted by Bruce Bergman on 27 Mar 2012, 12:28 a.m., in response to message #1 by Raymund Heuvel That is CRAZY! Do you know how much time it probably took him to create that? Wow. O_o

Re: A BIG one ... Message #3 Posted by Luiz C. Vieira (Brazil) on 27 Mar 2012, 1:07 a.m., in response to message #2 by Bruce Bergman I wonder how long did it take to conceive it...

Re: A BIG one ... Message #4 Posted by Luiz C. Vieira (Brazil) on 27 Mar 2012, 1:05 a.m., in response to message #1 by Raymund Heuvel <8^O (speechless)

OT: Re: A BIG one ... Message #5 Posted by Katie Wasserman on 27 Mar 2012, 2:17 a.m., in response to message #4 by Luiz C. Vieira (Brazil) I can't be the only person here who has no idea what Minecraft is, am I? Okay I looked it up but still don't fully comprehend what this person did. I assume that there's some sort of standalone non-multiplayer gaming aspects to it. I'm sure this must have taken forever to "build" but it's the cool aspect of things like this making them real like this Lego Turing machine?

Re: OT: Re: A BIG one ... Message #6 Posted by Cristian Arezzini on 27 Mar 2012, 3:48 a.m., in response to message #5 by Katie Wasserman That Lego machine is cool, but it still uses a physical microcomputer and software. From what I understood, the Minecraft calculator only uses basic blocks, basically the creator designed and "built" a calculator chip from scratch, with adders, decoders, registers and so on... Really impressive I'd say, it shows a deep knowledge of low-level logic and computational technology!

Re: OT: Re: A BIG one ... Message #7 Posted by Katie Wasserman on 27 Mar 2012, 10:27 a.m., in response to message #6 by Cristian Arezzini I realize that but.... it's just an image on a computer screen and it needs to run on some multi-core, hyper-threaded, super-duper machine too boot!

Re: OT: Re: A BIG one ... Message #8 Posted by Cristian Arezzini on 27 Mar 2012, 1:31 p.m., in response to message #7 by Katie Wasserman Yes! But I think the building blocks are simple enough that they could be easily built with off-the-shelf, discrete components like diodes and transistors. I don't know, I really find it fascinating! Back in college I remember I tried to design a calculator using only logic chips (74xx IIRC) but I gave up after building a few dividers and adders. The board was becoming huge and there were too many LEDs - no fancy 7-segment, just binary output! :)

Re: OT: Re: A BIG one ... Message #9 Posted by Luiz C. Vieira (Brazil) on 27 Mar 2012, 2:00 p.m., in response to message #8 by Cristian Arezzini Quote: Back in college I remember I tried to design a calculator using only logic chips (74xx IIRC) but I gave up after building a few dividers and adders. Thatīs the real deal! Thatīs the way actual stuff are made of: building blocks connected by actual people. Edited: 27 Mar 2012, 2:01 p.m.

Re: OT: Re: A BIG one ... Message #10 Posted by Alex S on 27 Mar 2012, 4:33 p.m., in response to message #8 by Cristian Arezzini I second that. Forget about Minecraft being a game. It is an engine to build something as you can do in real world. This guy has built a calculator with discrete components like diodes and transistors as Cristian said. If I remember right, in the 90ties the Doom gaming engine has been used by architects to design the preview of buildings.

Re: OT: Re: A BIG one ... Message #11 Posted by aurelio on 27 Mar 2012, 10:19 a.m., in response to message #5 by Katie Wasserman I was, at least, the second up to now! And actually I've not yet well understood of what and how it was made, but i'm studying! "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Minecraft is a sandbox-building[2][3] independent video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang. Minecraft is focused on creativity and building, allowing players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D world. Gameplay.......[omissis]" Edited: 27 Mar 2012, 10:24 a.m.

Re: OT: Re: A BIG one ... Message #12 Posted by Norman Dziedzic on 27 Mar 2012, 6:19 p.m., in response to message #5 by Katie Wasserman I have a 10yr old and 12yr old and I am fully aware what Minecraft is :-). They both mostly use it in what they call "creative" mode. No monsters or zombies or whatever comes to kill you in the dark and full access to all the building blocks. Aside from the guy who built the calculator which screams way too much time on one's hands, the thing I am most amazed by is the kid's ability to manipulate the objects and views in this 3d space. I'm an engineer that learned to draw in a drafting board and then learned 2D CAD and then 3D solid modeling. Many could not make the leap to 3d modeling software on a 2d screen. It was just too much of a stretch for them. My kids and all their friends effortlessly manipulate their virtual location, their viewpoint, and the location of objects in this 3d space simultaneously and all before getting to high school (secondary school).

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