Timeline for How long would it take to create a Windows 1.0 capable machine from complete scratch?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
20 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 14, 2016 at 17:45 | comment | added | Cem Kalyoncu | You need to wind those wires thus should be flexible. cotton is not a good alternative but could work. Then again, you will need to cultivate cotton. | |
| Sep 14, 2016 at 12:12 | comment | added | nzaman | @Peter: Generators tend to use electromagnets, as normal "permanent" magnets a) don't produce sufficient flux, b) become weaker over time. All you really need is an iron core of sufficient size and purity, and heavy duty wiring. You'd probably need to use electrochemical reactions, i.e., a battery, to produce your initial cables, and start your generator (substitute vegetable oil for diesel), then use that as an energy source when making a larger thermal power plant. Regarding insulation, they used to use cotton cloth as insulation in the 50s. | |
| Sep 14, 2016 at 11:52 | comment | added | Peter | @aroth Except you don't have permanent magnets which are all you need to make electricity. You need electricity to make them. And suddenly an easy problem becomes complicated. | |
| Sep 14, 2016 at 8:56 | comment | added | darthzejdr | Couldn't you use ceramics for insulation? you don't need flexibility | |
| Sep 14, 2016 at 7:39 | comment | added | Cem Kalyoncu | Motors and generators are made out of very thin wires that are insulated wrapped around a magnet. Without insulation they will short. Wire making machines require electricity, motors, and heaters, first time around I thought you probably would mold the wire. But it seems it is easier than that, there seems to be different techniques regarding making wires. Generators get hot, rubber as we talked before won't help at all. Winding wires are coated with polymers not simple plastics. | |
| Sep 14, 2016 at 2:53 | comment | added | aroth | The OP offers "Materials like metals may be present in a higher-than-natural rate to ensure there is enough available for completing the challenge" as a given. I think that means you can do without any substantial/large-scale mining operations. Wire is made by stretching the metal out, so not sure why you'd need perfect molds? And insulation sounds like an optional safety-feature? Even if it's not, surely they can find some non-conductive material to coat their wires with? | |
| Sep 13, 2016 at 16:16 | comment | added | Cem Kalyoncu | To dig deep enough to find permanent magnets, copper, and iron, you need tools, not just shovel and a pickax, you need to sustain the weight of the mine. You need furnace to melt iron. This is the easy part. To make copper wire you need have close to perfect molds. You also need to insulate those wires. Do you know the length of copper wire on a generator? | |
| Sep 13, 2016 at 12:37 | comment | added | aroth | "It would take very very long time to get to a point to generate electricity" - I find this hard to believe. To produce electricity all you need are 1) permanent magnets, 2) copper wire, 3) an axle, and 4) something to make the axle spin (water, wind, fire, etc.). And a bit of math if you want to fine-tune things to produce output within a desired specification. It may take awhile to reach something approximating a modern power-station, but small-scale electricity generation should be almost easy. | |
| Sep 12, 2016 at 16:22 | comment | added | Joshua | @darthzejdr: The problem isn't the motor; it's the technology and infrastructure to make electricity a viable energy transmission source. Internal Combustion Engine is simply more effective during bootstrap. | |
| Sep 12, 2016 at 10:50 | comment | added | Cem Kalyoncu | Electric motors are easy if you have thin wires and patience. | |
| Sep 12, 2016 at 10:41 | comment | added | darthzejdr | @joshua Electric motor is actually extremely simple. And it also produces energy when put in a turbine or something similar. I'd say it's actually easier to produce and use electrical power than internal combustion engines. As long as you know some background basics. | |
| Sep 11, 2016 at 22:53 | comment | added | djechlin | I was really surprised the conclusion of this paragraph was 50 years. Sounds like you were arguing for centuries or millenia. | |
| Sep 11, 2016 at 22:09 | comment | added | Joshua | I was told long ago that if you wiped out all stored human knowledge, the same generation would make it back to the internal combustion engine by only what is carried in our heads, and the next would be in position to attempt the electric motor. And that's w/o the magical ability to avoid human need. From there we can only guess. | |
| Sep 11, 2016 at 20:57 | comment | added | Cem Kalyoncu | It took centuries first time, but there was time to research, fight wars and stuff. These people have the knowledge and 12 hours per day. I would say 50 is not far fetched. | |
| Sep 11, 2016 at 20:20 | comment | added | Youstay Igo | 50 years to make an electronic computer from a scratch? Come on, get real. Talk in centuries! | |
| Sep 11, 2016 at 20:04 | comment | added | Cem Kalyoncu | Well you won't need large quantity, I initially thought you could get away without silicon, but it seems windows 1 needs a whooping 192 kb of memory. On the other hand, if you know how to do it, it won't be too hard to make steel. | |
| Sep 11, 2016 at 19:59 | comment | added | Mołot | It would be hard to prepare Czochralski silicon without steel tools - and that's the simplest method of getting silicon suitable for integrated circuits in large enough quantity. | |
| Sep 11, 2016 at 19:55 | comment | added | Cem Kalyoncu | I don't think you would need steel. Rubber could work though. Oiled paper is not the best idea, it would require lots of infrastructure to make paper of sufficient quality. | |
| Sep 11, 2016 at 19:52 | comment | added | Mołot | 5 to 10 years was needed to master making bronze tools, and these was needed to make iron (dig ore, make smelters). Next 5 to 10 to make decent ironwork. Then, to steel! 50 years is pretty low estimate, given that they need some time before bronze, and a lot after steel. On the other hand, you can skip plastics entirely (rubber and oiled paper can do the job pretty well). | |
| Sep 11, 2016 at 19:43 | history | answered | Cem Kalyoncu | CC BY-SA 3.0 |