ManaUser
Brain of Cthulhu
What is cyclic memory? Well for starters is a term I just made up. 
But it looks like this:
Each switch in the main row controls a torch, representing 1 bit of memory. Press the switch on the left and all the torches cycle to the right, wrapping around as the they reach the end. Even though I designed this, when I first saw the result I was initially confused why the logic lamps don't seem to match the torches. It turns out that what happens is each logic lamp stores the difference between the two torches on either side. But anyway, it works:
The top switch is a reset of sorts, if you press that everything shifts to the right, but in effect lit torches "drop off" the right edge instead of wrapping. (Actually it does wrap, but then the first torch is turned off, if it went on.)
Anyway, here's the wiring:
You can also make a super compact version:
This uses all 4 wire colors though and it's a bit hard to work with.
Finally, a "practical" application, scrolling text!
Thumbnails, because these are big:
But scrolling lights or text is only the most obvious use. It could be used for any situation where you want to store a series of values and later act on them in the same order.
But it looks like this:Each switch in the main row controls a torch, representing 1 bit of memory. Press the switch on the left and all the torches cycle to the right, wrapping around as the they reach the end. Even though I designed this, when I first saw the result I was initially confused why the logic lamps don't seem to match the torches. It turns out that what happens is each logic lamp stores the difference between the two torches on either side. But anyway, it works:
The top switch is a reset of sorts, if you press that everything shifts to the right, but in effect lit torches "drop off" the right edge instead of wrapping. (Actually it does wrap, but then the first torch is turned off, if it went on.)
Anyway, here's the wiring:
You can also make a super compact version:
This uses all 4 wire colors though and it's a bit hard to work with.
Finally, a "practical" application, scrolling text!
Thumbnails, because these are big:
But scrolling lights or text is only the most obvious use. It could be used for any situation where you want to store a series of values and later act on them in the same order.
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