communicate (via wireless USB) with
the emulator. Each of these physical
cabinets can represent as much as the
entire CPU, or as little as a single 4-bit
word in memory.
This is where I think the real edu-
cational value of the 4-Bit HRRG Com-
puter begins to manifest itself. A high
school class could build a cabinet con-
taining a small 4 × 4 array of memory
implemented in a technology of their
choice, and then see their program use
the contents of this cabinet to perform
its calculations.
I think I’ll give you a little time to
ponder the implications of what we’ve
discussed thus far before I tell you our
ideas for connecting multiple virtual
and physical cabinets via the Internet.
If you are interested in learning more
about all of this, follow my articles on
EEWeb.com (http://bit.ly/pe-may19-cb2)
and keep on reading my Cool Beans
columns here in Practical Electronics.
The colour of prognostication
I must admit that I’m super-excited by
all the interest and emails I’ve received
regarding the Awesome Audio-Reactive
Artifact project I introduced in the March
2019 issue of Practical Electronics. In
fact, I recently displayed this little beauty
at a Hamfest and electronics fl ea market
in Birmingham, Alabama, US. You can
see a video and access the code for this
project in an article I posted on EEWeb.
com (http://bit.ly/pe-may19-cb3).
I’m also amazed that people are still
emailing me to inquire about the status
of my Inamorata Prognostication Engine
project that I discussed deep in the mists
of time circa 2014 (where does the time
go?). As you may recall, the purpose of
the Prognostication Engine is to predict
my wife’s mood of the moment when I
prepare to head home from my offi ce
at the end of the day. (Ironically, if she
ever discovers what the Prognostication
Engine is actually for, I’m reasonably
confi dent that I won’t need it to divine
her disposition.)
In fact, this project – which currently
has pride of place in my offi ce – is start-
ing to look very tasty; however, it’s still
a long way from completion. The reason
this is taking so long is that I usually
have multiple projects on the go at any
particular time and I’m very easily dis-
trac... Squirrel!As we see in Fig.3, the vacuum tubes
sitting on top of the engine are illuminat-
ed with tri-colour LEDs, as are the dials
and switches in the lower part of the unit.
Observe the inverted brass cone sticking
out of the upper right-hand side of the
cabinet. Also observe the antique brass
and copper fi re extinguisher attached to
the side of the lower cabinet. The way
we power the beast up is to hold a fl ame
under the inverted brass cone. After a
few seconds, we hear a ‘pop’ sound as
this causes the furnace to ignite. This
is the point where we have to furiously
work a 100-year-old leather foot pump
(that originally graced a dentist’s offi ce)
to get the furnace roaring suffi ciently
hot that we can throw the master knife
switch to let the automatic systems take
over. You can see a video showing the
Prognostication Engine in action in an
article I posted on EEWeb.com (http://bit.
ly/pe-may19-cb4). I will of course keep
you appraised of any developments on
all of my projects in future Cool Beans
columns here in Practical Electronics.Cool bean Max Maxfi eld (Hawaiian shirt, on the right) is editor-
in-chief at EEWeb.com – the go-to site for users of electronic
design tools and askers of electronic questions.Comments or questions? Email Max at: max@CliveMaxfi eld.comVisit: http://www.cricklewoodelectronics.com
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