Wow. Not sure which is more hardcore -- this, or the guy who built a complete programmable replica of the Apollo guidance computer using only the original manuals: http://klabs.org/history/build_agc/

I think he's using the computer to host his web site.

By vote's for the apollo guy. But both are pretty incredible!

I read about this a month or two ago. Watched the video, read the whole paper, it's awesome. A great way to demonstrate that computers are really just machines and not magical at all.

How does it make money?

You invite people over to use it, and then you make them watch an ad first.

Things like this make me wish (a little) that I had been an electrical engineer rather than a CS major.

You could do this with a CS background, I think. Relays are very simple to understand. If current is flowing from A to B, then current can flow from C to D. Otherwise, it can flow from C to E. They way they work (conceptually; I've never taken one apart) is that running current from A to B powers an electromagnet. There's a wire tied to C and the other end is pressed against E by a spring. The electromagnet pulls on the spring and moves the wire from E to D. They're just little mechanical if-then-else constructs.

If you run a wire from B to C and connect a battery to A and E, you'll get a nice buzzing sound as it oscillates between states.

Got to see a demo of this system in person, and it was truly spectacular. I learned more in 10 minutes watching this thing than I did reading multiple books. (I took 'Compilers' from this guy, HIGHLY recommended to anyone who happens to be at portland state.)

Wow, just about perfect... sixth photo down, it seems to be in his bedroom. And there is a Home build CPU 'ring',yow!

I could use one of those to illustrate basic internals to my father.