THE ANALOG THING – Newsletter #1

First of all, welcome and a big "Thank you!" to all fellow analog computing enthusiasts who subscribed to this newsletter! We have 550 subscriptions already! Happy analog computing to all of you!

We, the team behind THAT, would like to stress that THE ANALOG THING is an open hardware project. All schematics and specifications are public. Anyone interested in analog computing may use this project as a point of departure for their own work. THAT is not-for-profit and intended to be an educational resource for as many people as possible. We are planning to share our motivation for this project with you in more detail in future issues of this newsletter.

Introducing THE ANALOG THING

This month, THE ANALOG THING was shown publicly for the first time at a TEDx conference in Münster, Germany by our team member Sven Köppel:
 

It was also shown by our team members Bernd Ulmann and Dirk Killat at the Kleinheubacher Tagung 2021, an academic conference in Germany. At this event, an implementation of a Lorenz attractor and a Hindmarsh-Rose model of a biological neuron were demonstrated using THATs. The implementation of a Hindmarsh-Rose model is described in detail in this application note.
 

In addition to these outreach initiatives, we are currently working on a short product video to communicate the value of THAT and of analog computing in general to broader audiences.

Towards Production

All THATs that have been shown to the public so far are first-batch prototypes. The second batch of prototypes is currently in production. The development of the second batch has seen some quirks fixed as well as changes in function and appearance. Examples include the addition of the HYBRID port and the change of the coefficient potentiometer scales from numbered to gradual scales.

We are currently waiting for the second batch of prototype PCBs to arrive so that we can perform the final tests before going into series production. We are super excited to put the HYBRID port to work!

The Wiki

It is fantastic to see new user accounts being set up on the wiki! We hope that a healthy community for analog computing enthusiasts will result from this and that this community will generate a valuable learning resource for THAT users.

Buying

We are currently setting up a webshop for THE ANALOG THING and related equipment. This requires some legal aspects to be clarified, which we expect to take a few weeks.

We are also working on the packaging for THAT and other aspects of sales and distribution.

Learning

We received several requests for resources to start learning about analog computing.

A good place to start is the Analog Museum. It includes a wealth of information on classic analog computers. For beginners, the introductory section is a good place to start.

A more contemporary resource is the book Analog and Hybrid Computer Programming:
 

Contact

If you have questions regarding THE ANALOG THING, please contact us at that@anabrid.com.