Steampunk
(Up to: Alternative Culture )
I love steampunk. The idea of a world running primarily on steam tech to achieve a fraction of the computing power we have in this world, for some reason, makes me grin. Plus steam trains, steamers, traction engines and hulking great dirigibles are cool.
Maybe this a symptom of the fact that ILike Dirt In Theory.
Wikipedia: What is Steampunk? See here for lots and lots of reources too, including books, films, RPGs, etc.
Steampunk links
A site on Charles Babbage's proposed Analytical Engine
Steampunk Central is a quite... basic site, but with lots of material to explore.
Brass Goggles is the Steampunk blog of choice these days, I hear.
Steampunk Magazine looks promising, will order some issues.
Texas Steampunk I: Cathedral Child - on-line comic
Steampunk in the Real World
Charles Babbage at the London Science Museum, along with related machinery links
Tim Robinson's Meccano Difference Engine (see below for a Lego version) and Differential Analyzer
MIT's Tinkertoy computer
Slashdot points to a mechanical version of Pong. Also worth checking out the Konrad Zuse pages for early computing.
- Lego Logic gates and the Lego Computer and the Lego Difference Engine
