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12 | <title>technikum29 - <!--#echo var="title" --></title> |
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15 | <meta name="t29.SVN" content="$Id: search.shtm 108 2009-08-19 17:20:00Z heribert $" /> |
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16 | <meta name="t29.thistranslation" content="12.11.2009" /> |
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17 | <meta name="t29.comment" content="Initial announcement" /> |
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19 | <body> |
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20 | <!--#echo encoding="none" var="heading" --> |
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21 | <div id="content"> |
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22 | <h2><!--#echo var="title" --></h2> |
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23 | |
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24 | <h3>Pianola</h3> |
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25 | <p>The technikum29 is quite versatile – beside all the communication |
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26 | and computer technology we also show very special exhibits: This is |
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27 | a fully executable pianola, year of manufacture about 1910-1915.</p> |
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28 | |
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29 | <p> |
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30 | It's a great experience see and hear such old jukeboxes, typically made only of natural materials like leather, gum, wood, bone glue, felt, metal, paper, ivory and glass.<br/> |
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31 | By assembling these elements in an intelligent way, one could build a simple mechanical machine which is especially impressive for today\'s people. Here at the technikum29, we will show you how this device works, we will explain the basic functionality and play challenging compositions. While having covers removed, you can even see the fascinating mechanics working. |
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32 | </p> |
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33 | |
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34 | <div class="box center"> |
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35 | <img src="/shared/photos/kommunikationstechnik/pianola.jpg" |
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36 | alt="Picture of the Pianola" width="700" height="618" class="nomargin-bottom" /> |
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37 | </div> |
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38 | <h3 id="Q1"> technikum29 supports school projects:</h3> |
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39 | |
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40 | <p>Microcontrollers revolutionize |
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41 | and influence next to everything. How can schools participate on these |
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42 | developments and perform successful and interesting projects?<br> |
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43 | Six pupils of Q1 (12th year in school) of the Albert-Einstein secondary |
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44 | school were looking for a suitable idea for their so called "project |
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45 | week". This project should be connected to mathematics, physics and/or |
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46 | computer science. This is where the technikum29 got involved. The idea |
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47 | the pupils came up with was to connect technology from the 1950s with |
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48 | modern equipment of 2012. Communication spanning time and technology.<br> |
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49 | <div class="box left"> |
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50 | <img src="/shared/photos/kommunikationstechnik/arduino1.jpg" width="606" height="335" /> |
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51 | </div> |
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52 | <p>Traditionally such projects required knowledge only accessible to |
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53 | computer scientists, engineers and the like. Often they had to spend |
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54 | weeks of reading data sheets, writing cryptic assembly code etc. How |
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55 | things have changed! Since 2009 a cheap and versatile module named |
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56 | "Arduino" is available - a controller based on the well known ATmega |
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57 | 328 chip featuring 32 kB of memory. Arduino boards are designed not |
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58 | for the expert but for the layman and are the perfect base for |
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59 | creative people, artists, designers etc. |
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60 | <br> |
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61 | This project focuses on connecting computers to the "real world". The |
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62 | small Arduino board can be programmed to be used as an interface for |
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63 | nearly everything. The pupils decided to connect an early fax machine |
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64 | (a Siemens KF108 made in 1958) to a modern PC. <br> |
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65 | This fax machine is based on a rotating drum which holds the sheet of |
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66 | paper to be transmitted to the receiving station. The picture is |
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67 | scanned in a spiral movement by a photodetector that slowly moves in |
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68 | parallel to the axis of the drum. Of course, this is incompatible with |
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69 | more recent fax machines. |
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70 | |
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71 | The Arduino was planned to act as the interface between this historic |
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72 | device and a modern PC. Thus the pupils first had to learn how to |
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73 | program such a micro controller which turned out to be quite difficult |
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74 | for non-programmers. Nevertheless the software approach has its |
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75 | advantages: It is more easily debugged compared with a traditional |
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76 | hardware based interface. Thus it only took a single week to program |
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77 | and interface the Arduino board to the Siemens fax. |
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78 | |
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79 | <div class="box left"> |
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80 | <img src="/shared/photos/kommunikationstechnik/arduino2.jpg" width="606" height="354" /> |
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81 | </div> |
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82 | |
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83 | <p>The fax machine generates an auido signal with a frequency of 1.5 kHz |
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84 | denoting black pixels to be transmitted. To convert this into a binary |
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85 | signal with a 5V level an amplifier circuit is needed that is followed |
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86 | by an RC-combination. In addition to that a synchronization signal is |
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87 | necessary to signal the start of a new line being scanned. This is |
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88 | generated utilizing a reed-contact that is triggered by a so called |
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89 | "super magnet" that has been glued onto the axis of the scanner drum. |
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90 | The reed-contact thus generates a signal for every revolution of the |
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91 | drum which corresponds to a single line being scanned.<br> |
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92 | |
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93 | The control program for the Arduino was developed by the pupils (the |
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94 | source code can be found <a href="/de/lernprojekte/arduino-projekt-programme/"> >>HERE</a>). It allows the picture being scanned, a historic Mickey-Mouse drawing, to be transferred to the PC |
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95 | where it is displayed slowly line by line with good resolution. |
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96 | |
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97 | The experiment was a full success and will inspire future projects. |
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98 | |
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99 | <p class="small">*) Arduino: The name of this board derives from King "Arduino of |
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100 | Ivrea" who lived in medieval times in northern Italy where the |
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101 | controller was developed.</small> <br> |
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102 | |
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103 | |
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104 | <h3 id="leander">Art in the Museum</h3> |
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105 | |
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106 | <p>The technikum29 motivates activities that get awards and prices. The latest |
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107 | example is that of the young artist Leander A. Schwarzer who transforms |
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108 | everyday things into pieces of art. He has developed pictures made from zippers |
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109 | that can be opened thus giving the viewer the opportunity to modify the picture |
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110 | itself.<br> |
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111 | His latest visit to the technikum29 has inspired him to make art from |
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112 | and with punch cards which were the basis of industrialization in the 20th |
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113 | century. First the "Terzett" (Trio) was created which consists of three punched |
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114 | cards with these irreversible sentences:</p> |
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115 | |
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116 | <div class="box left"> |
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117 | <img src="/shared/photos/start/lk.jpg" width="250" height="350" class="nomargin-bottom" /> |
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118 | <p class="Bildtext small">Picture 1: 3 punch cards with text</p></div> |
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119 | |
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120 | ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE<br> |
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121 | IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING<br> |
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122 | IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE<br> |
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123 | <div class="box right"> |
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124 | <img src="/shared/photos/start/leander.jpg" alt="Leander Schwarzer" width="313" height="239" class="nomargin-bottom" /> |
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125 | <p class="Bildtext small">Picture 2: Leander A. Schwarzer punching cards on an IBM key punch</p> |
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126 | |
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127 | </div> |
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128 | |
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129 | <p>These cards were hanged on a wall at a distance of 1-2 cm. During the day sun |
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130 | rays create shadows of the punched and coded text on the wall behind the cards. |
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131 | This work of art was awarded a price at the 32th grafics competition in Austria |
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132 | (Innsbruck, 2011). This in turn motivated Mr. Schwarzer to continue his work |
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133 | with punched cards. He spent several days at the technikum29 punching excerpts |
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134 | from Marx' "Capital" thereby creating a pile of several hundred cards. These |
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135 | were shown in the exhibition "A Symbol of Freedom" in Piacenza (Italy). Punched |
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136 | cards transform contemporary slogans into visual paradoxes when they create |
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137 | their unique shadows.</p> |
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138 | <div class="box left"> |
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139 | <img src="/shared/photos/start/lk-musik.jpg" alt="Musik aus Lochkarten" width="336" height="188" class="nomargin-bottom" /> |
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140 | <p class="Bildtext small">Picture 3: Punched cards running through a "musical clock"</p> |
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141 | </div> |
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142 | |
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143 | <p>Another work, "Fetish Character of commodities", concatenates the cards |
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144 | containing Marx' text fragments. This string of cards is then pulled through a |
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145 | mechanism like a musical clock that generates sounds controlled by the holes in |
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146 | the cards. So, finally, the "Capital" is transformed into atmospheric sounds.</p><br> |
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147 | |
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148 | |
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149 | |
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150 | |
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151 | <h3>Movie projector "Dresden 1"</h3> |
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152 | |
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153 | <div class="box left clear-after"> |
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154 | <img src="/shared/photos/kommunikationstechnik/kinomaschine.dresden1.jpg" |
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155 | alt="Photography of the movie projector Dresden 1" width="350" height="630" /> |
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156 | |
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157 | <div class="bildtext"> |
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158 | <p>The technikum29 has a movie projector from 1951 (there are |
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159 | more and even older projectors from the 1930s that are stored in the |
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160 | archive for lack of space).</p> |
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161 | <p> |
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162 | Movie projectors have always been very complex devices. At that time, |
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163 | the bright picture projection was archived with an arc light which was |
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164 | generated between two carbon pencils. The waste heat was deflected via a |
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165 | chimney pipe! <!-- stupid mode... --> |
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166 | Since the pencils got shorter and shorter while the movie went on, they |
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167 | had to be moved continously closer together for producing a constant |
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168 | luminosity. Otherwise the light goes out. |
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169 | <br/>We will repair this device to show an original newsreel from the 1960s. |
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170 | </p> |
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171 | </div> |
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172 | </div> |
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173 | |
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174 | <h3 id="demo">Siemens Demonstration Computer</h3> |
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175 | <div class="box center"> |
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176 | <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/siemens-democomputer.jpg" alt="Siemens demonstration educational computer CPU" width="700" height="587" /> |
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177 | <p class="center"><b>Siemens educational computer</b></p> |
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178 | </div> |
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179 | |
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180 | <p>This demonstration model was build in 1973, when personal computers were not |
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181 | invented for a long time yet. Engineers had to be trained to understand |
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182 | computer architectures. Therefore, this big education model was constructed. |
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183 | It is a giant implementation of a typical register machine where 126 lamps |
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184 | display all registers, control, ALU and RAM, including the data flow. |
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185 | Featuring a mutable clock pulse and only 4 bit word with, elementary opcodes |
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186 | could be reproduced in a very illustrative way. The device can be toggled to |
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187 | process one instruction or one cycle a time. |
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188 | <br>On the left side, the computer program could be directly "written" by plugging |
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189 | cartidges labeled with assembly instruction mnemonics or numerical values |
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190 | (immediate operands). On this cartiges the user could directly read the binary |
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191 | value of the machine instruction which will be the content of the corresponding |
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192 | random access field. As you might guess, the computer cannot change the program |
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193 | memory without user interaction, so this model actually implements an Harvard |
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194 | architecture, even though the (german) labels on the frontend suggest something |
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195 | different. |
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196 | <br>The picture above shows a currently running program that adds memory cells. It |
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197 | shows that computer word lengths do not limit the length of proccessable |
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198 | numbers. |
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199 | <br>It is a wonderful device that can even be used today to understand the elementary |
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200 | workflow of modern high end desktop CPUs. |
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201 | </p> |
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202 | |
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203 | </div><!-- end of content --> |
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