In The Big Questions, I wrote about an absolutely wonderful toy I had as a child. The Digi-Comp I was a completely mechanical computer; it ran on springs and rubber bands, and you built it yourself from a kit. You programmed it by placing little plastic cylinders (cut from drinking straws) on appropriate tabs, and you pushed a lever to run the program. The back of the computer was completely exposed, so you could watch the cylinders and straws and rubber bands push each other around — and see for yourself how those motions implemented the logic of your program and produced a result. As I wrote in The Big Questions, a child with a Digi-Comp I is a child with deep insight into what makes a computer work.
I am delighted that the Digi-Comp I is, after a 40 year hiatus, back on the market, though the modern version substitutes laminated binders board (i.e. high quality cardboard) for plastic. There is, I think, no better gift for a kid who likes computers, or likes logic, or likes knowing how things work.
Now an old friend (who shares my fond memories of this toy) writes to point me to yet another reincarnation of the DigiComp I — as a Lego project! Way cool.
http://www.mindsontoys.com/kits.htm
“To order by mail in the USA, simply print this page, fill it out legibly, and mail it along with your check payable to Minds-On Toys.”
That’s commitment to the steampunk spirit right there.
Digi-Comp I v2.0 ???
They need to work on their naming skills.
Here’s a puzzle you and your readers might enjoy, Steve.
I’m kind of flabbergasted by Minds-On Toys lack of any sort of ordering system.
For the same price point ($60) they can use one of any number of automated checkout systems with absolutely no up-front cost for themselves. Instead, they use PayPal, and not even the easy way. They make you jump through so many hoops to order this thing it’s a wonder they’ve gone through 11 production runs! Granted, I have absolutely no idea how long it took them to go through those production runs, but apparently they’ve sold 1000+ as of mid-summer 2012.
PayPal is very good for small companies who don’t do a lot of business. Organizational work, research, worry and hassle have costs too. Plus custmers trust paypal, which is a big deal. I know several small business owners who love PayPal.
But as bigjeff5 said, Minds-On Toys is not using the Paypal automated checkout system (“the easy way”). They make you use Paypal’s send money system, which is clunky and inconvenient.
Speaking for Minds-On Toys… we appreciate Steve’s appreciation of the Digi-Comp. If the somewhat off-topic commenters above are irritated by a couple of extra clicks, I somehow doubt they are candidates for a 1963-era mechanical computer! But rising to their bait… We offer a snail-mail ordering option because it’s cheaper for customers who thereby avoid a $2 PayPal processing fee. PP is still great because we can fulfill orders from all over the world. However, our plain-vanilla site only offers this one product; the extra back-end coding to implement PP’s Express Checkout offers no perceptible advantage. We prefer their very simple Send Money method, which doesn’t seem to have baffled any of the 1000+ who’ve used it to date.