Intergalactic supercomputers for all (Not CGI)
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- A quick showcase of various supercomputers and a build of an Evilution hexputer.
You can download the Gerber files for the 6" by 4" (150mm by 100mm) and A4 supercomputers here:-
www.bigclive.co...
The 6X4 PCB file is called gallium2
www.bigclive.co...
and the A4 sized version is A4gallium
www.bigclive.co...
The 6X4 and A4 panels are designed to fit into a picture frame with the glass removed.
To get PCBs made, choose your preferred PCB manufacturer and upload the whole zipped file on their order page.
The other components you will need are flashing LEDs of your choice, either 470 ohm or 1000 ohm (1k) resistors and a spare USB cable to chop and connect to the PCB.
Note that JLCPCB have changed somnething on their site including PCB filename recognition! If their site doesn't recognise the outline, change the name of the outline file from outline.GML to outline GKO.
If you want one of Mouse's mini supercomputers or a badge minicomputer his Etsy page is here:-
www.etsy.com/s...
For one of Evilution's hexaputer kits his Etsy page is here:-
www.etsy.com/s...
All these panels can be built at your own pace. I timed it to see a typical build time for myself.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.co...
This also keeps the channel independent of UA-cam's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators
Back in my pro audio days, we used to put something called "LPD" on our equipment spec spreadsheets when comparing possible equipment choices. LPD = lights per dollar. If the rack was a show piece, high LPD equipment was sometimes chosen so the client felt like they were getting something for their money. The DSP boxes we often used had a single red.poweer.light on the front and weren't terribly interesting to the uninitiated.
That's so smart 😂 awesome
Der blinkenlights are an important factor.
That's just like having people go "I want those shoulder mount camera's, that looks good" while a much smaller one these days might be just as capable though yes you might see it in the resulting image when it comes to dynamic range when you knew what to look for.
Best thing was when having hired 4 of those big ones and the job was over, you later heard the customer saw you at so many places due to having to move a lot with them (in a multi-camera setup for instance) they thought you were there with 6 of those camera's :P.
I've always believed that if a device has lots of LEDs, the buyer thinks they are getting their moneys worth.
@@tonylock7657 that's just like the common knowledge that lot's of RGB fans in a computer makes it faster 😄
My Hexputer arrived a couple of weeks ago - plan to start assembling it this weekend. Probably with Big Clive's Patreon Weekend Stream playing as a mood enhancer.
@Tim M Hexputing.
@Tim M The real question is....
What don't they do?
from the HexLed store; "I was selling about 4 kits a week, so keeping on top of the stock was easy. Then Big Clive released his video and I sold 46 kits in 2 hours and I have had to close the shop to catch up." I can't help but feel warm and fuzzy for buying out someone's shop. ^.^
In 2 days I eventually sold 80 kits and 55 plain PCBs. The postman looked a bit downtrodden when he had to pick them all up.
Me too but imagining the shop owner's initial panic attack 😳, makes me laugh a little. 😆
Where can I locate blue slow flash LED's?
@@evilutionltd Thanks for your work - I built mine over Christmas.
Could u use an opto coupler to create a real rng program?
As a dinosaur I completely approve of many LEDs for a proper computer, especially supercomputers of course. These are important and valuable Clivean projects.
13:47 Right hand side, first row of whites has one sticking way out. Also right hand row of reds has one wonky. Looks like you caught them before the finish though.
Haha, I was also yelling at the screen at this point.
4 from the back, second row from right at 13:53 shows a white one and on 5'th from back first row from right has a red one sticking out as well.
That's the first time we see em.
Kinda funny because his right middle finger is touching the high red LED while talking about not finding any that are high at 13:51. D5 and D18 were standing quite high.
What I like about these super computers, in preference to for example, a Cray .... is the simplicity of adding more boards to greatly increase in computing power. And they are so much more compact. NCC-1701, Jupiter-2 and even HAL, has nothing on these.
Don't forget the "Seaview" Submarine ;)
I have had a MASSIVE fascination with LEDs that do things on their own (flash, fade, color change, etc.) for many years now, and this tickles all of those fascinations. Especially high amounts of them in one place. I think it all started with a flashy dragon I got a while ago with the blue/red flashers. Similar to what you showed, they all start on red then slowly become un synchronized. I could watch it flash (and those boards too) flash away all day! I love it!
One technique I use for when placing lots of LEDs is to line them up in the positive and negative rails of a bread board. Then I can test all the LEDs for matching brightness. Then when I go to put the LEDs into the PCB, I snip the LED standing in the bread board so I always know the polarity directly before placing it into the PCB. they stand up nicely in the bread board which is easier to snip, and also the legs are easy to clean up because they remain in the bread board until you pull them out.
Funny, I used to make these way back in the early 1990s when the blinky leds first came out. I used to make small 12v red versions in a bezel (still have one) for car dash boards before alarms were the norm, so it looked like you had a car alarm, and a thief would leave your car alone. Sold many hundreds (lost count) for $15 each. I bought thousands though, and noticed same effect, so also made large blinking panels from old populated pcbs, and sold them for hundreds of dollars as supercomputer tech art.
OMFG, did not think of using already-populated boards as a backdrop. That idea is going in my back pocket.
When you talk about supercomputers as as effect, I can't help but think of how they depicted them back in the old Star Trek days. It involved multi-colored lights, moving discs, and a frosted lens, so that it made random swirling patterns. Rather reminiscent of the flame-effect device you posted recently.
the wall in UFO
..... The nacelle B.O.M. must have included LED's from the 23rd century.
The hexagon is giving me a Blake's 7 moment. Zen, put up the force wall and clear the neutron blasters for firing.
CONFIRMED!!!
@@hughn - Slave actually had a computer board (Acorn System) from a U.K. computer manufacturer mounted on it’s body…
Absolutely love your supercomputers. Inspired by you, I've constructed a supercomputer for my son using ESP8266 and a P10 red LED array of 16x32 with some code that runs a server page that he uses to write a stream of characters on the array and then returns to the intergalactic computation after some time. He is very happy everyday. I love it every time when he uses it.
Clive i am surprised that you didn't solder a micro usb socket to the back of the board so you save all the faf of cutting off the plug etc. Just an idea for future board designs. You did it on your LED driver board.
The rectangular PCBs are designed to go into a picture frame. It made mounting the connector awkward.
@@bigclivedotcom you need the straight on connectors like you find on gps units, surface mount on the backside of the board and the usb would come straight out the back of the frame add another footprint for a flush one and you're in business
Clive's dexterity is fascinating to watch... like a sleight of hand magician, every movement is so smooth
As a chronic dyspraxic I find his hands only videos fascinating...when he holds the solder between to fingers, the object to be soldered in one hand and the soldering iron in the other is a favourite. 👉💎👈
I have so far completed and framed two 4x6 units, one with flicker flame candle style LEDs, and one with red/blue dual color alternating LEDs. I also completed and framed an A4 unit with the same red/blue LEDs. I will be working on a second A4 unit soon with red/green alternating LEDs for Christmas! Thanks for making the files available for us!
Ohhh I would love to see the flicker one.
Finally, some solder work again. Love those, and my personal supercomputers (10 by 7 1.5hz mixed monolight LED, 10 by 7 RGB morphing) is fascinating everyone who enters my office. Is is so relaxing if you need to get your head free ...
Sometimes bare bone basic setup of these supercomputers are the best route to go tried tested and true
I would mix in about 1/3 slow LED's randomly in a fast array. I think that would make a nice effect.
It's so good to have affordable electronics. When I was in college in the 80's, if you blew up components (especially EEPROMS) you got a real roasting for it. Worst I did was miswire a 8086 board and fried the processor ... and pretty much all the important stuff on the board ... I just put it back in the cupboard and got another one out. Next class must have taken the hit for it.
Very nice. Twenty years ago I built a star with blinking LEDs for Christmas. And I'm in the process of building a circuit board with 392 neon glow lamps. Each glow lamp will have a capacitor and two resistors and will thus switch itself on and off. One of the two resistors limits the discharge current of the capacitor, because otherwise the electrode material of the glow lamps will be sputtered away. For 12 years I have been running a test circuit to test the life of the glow lamps, so far everything has been fine. I would just have to continue soldering the 392 circuits to finish.
Burroughs 6000 computers had an arrray of red leds (very much like the mini supercomputer here in function) that did this and did not represent data activity. I saw them on a group being burned-in at Burroughs. I also saw a failed 9000 system laying on its side in a caged storage area, 'What's that' I asked, 'We don't talk about that' was the reply.
That cube one looks great.
Adverts to the Power of Clive... Evilution sells out, due to high demand .. Well done Clive, I will have to think of something else for my Christmas construction project..
Anybody else just see "5 Elf Flashing Leds" written on Clive's notepad before realising it said "Self" ?
The effect of holding the incomplete board in front of the working hexputer (about 22:01) and having the slow blinking leds shine through the pin holes in it is really nice. Maybe a 2 layer 'puter with the small fast green leds with lots of extra holes drilled in it in front of another board of slow blinking larger leds?
the fact that they’re all USB powered makes me very happy
I LOVE these, I think I'll actually make one for myself. I might get a bunch of the hexagon ones
You could join them together like a football to make an orb shape
@13:55 Got to love how the moment you say that there are no LED's sticking up there is one sticking up in position #18 near your right hand middle finger...LOL :)
What's interesting is that there is some intense computation going on. By the universe, that is...
That was really soothing to watch💚🌻
I can't help but sing in my head, "Light Bright! Light Bright! Turn on the magic of coloured lights!"
13:52 "I'm also noting there are none sticking up to an undue level" as your right index finger taps right next to a sticking-up LED.
Mine arrived a few weeks ago and just built it today after watching this video it took me about 4 hours 20 minutes as I don't have the circuit board holder, only had 1 led not work as I fitted backwards. I went for the fast flash pink LEDs and put a constant blue led boarder around it. I'm well happy with it.
That’s marvellous, matched also by the soldering skills used.
The A4 board with non-blinking, higher-brightness (well, up to the current limit of the traces - an amp?) LEDs would make a fine "shadow-free" (well, soft-edged shadows, which is really the point) light panel for amateur videography!
Not sure about that, I have an old flashlight with a 4 x 15 array of white LEDs, the Terralux TLW-80, WorkStar 80, and the shadows from it have lots of very close overlapping edges. Looks artificial almost, like bad cgi? Each LED is causing its own edge on the shadow, basically. Diffused ones wouldn't do that, or maybe you'd have to put a diffuser over the whole thing, for a lighting panel.
You need wide angle diffused LEDs for that. High brightness LEDs are often narrow angle.
The SMD mini-supercomputers work very well off lithium ion batteries. I have one going on my desk now.
An excellent use for "street lithium" salvaged from certain recreational devices.
Use a BMS though. Some LEDs, esp red and amber, will stay lit below minimum safe voltage.
I never knew Kane (evilution) made these, good work 🙂
It sort of looks like a Tesseract. Pretty neat!
With your hexagon board, could you do all one colour, BUT, have three controls for intensity, to make it look like a cube?
It might work.
Oh look, what a surprise, Evilution’s store has temporarily closed due to demand! 😂
The BigClive effect strikes again…!!!
thats perty fast soldering there those are cool looking
It would be great to see if you could run "Game of Life" on these boards
You should try an experiment where you have the hexaputer on a live stream, versus a static LED array of the same size. And see how it affects the file.
a random mix of slow and fast flashing LEDs could be pretty
Moar litez!
These are great, but my fave is the hexputer although the cube computer is a close second!
Oh these are neat! They're giving me ideas for a new bike light. I don't like the regular blinking bike lights, and while I did build some real powerful non-blinking ones, I do find them boring. If car drivers can ride around with all sorts of aftermarket headlights (which are very much illegal around here, but the cops don't seem to care), I should be allowed to ride around with a pair of supercomputers on my bike.
Looks to me the Nostromo Mother contains also some hexputers. One could decorate one's bathroom with these panels and then just sit there asking deep questions about meaning of life and our current course.
Thanks, Clive... I now have a sudden urge to dig out my Betamax recorder and "Blake's 7" tapes... 😁😆
The Post Apocalyptic Inventor did something similar as a desk ornament (for a sci-fi desk) with color-changing LEDs.
Reminds me fondly of the Altair days...
I saw a neat project back in the 1980s in radio electronics (or another) where someone did one of these panels but with counter chips (flasher LEDs not there yet) and made a neat altair looking panel, thing is he use an inverter on a couple LEDs so it never be fully dark
CHUNG..CHUNG.. CHUNG!! WORKING!!!!! All it needs is that synthesized voice..
Very Nice!!!! So Simple!!! A suggestion to the manufacturer... I noticed a distinct lack of holes near the cable connections for a strain relief. Two 1/8" or 9/64" holes right next to each other would make a great attachment for a 4" zip tie. Even one 9/64" hole would do, feed it through the single hole, around the wire, and back out, zipping to itself and the zip tie head holds it from going through the hole.
Love the project, just ordered the yellow hexputer myself.
Red To Red and Black to Black and blew to pieces well it usually does for me ! I remember making something similar in the eighties with a bunch of led and a 4017 555
It looks like there is one LED in an outside row (excluding the border row) that is not seated as well as the other LEDs. You can see it in the far right row at 13:49.
After watching the Patreon version of this video, I bought 2 of the larger mouse ones in green, because this gives the best simulation of the HPE SGI 8600 Supercomputer cluster networking and compute blade indicator lights which I work on.
A project idea might be to have a multi-colour version of your channel logo for your live streams. It could sit above your head and have shimmering eyes and a shimmering beard? Alternatively, you could make a sign with the word 'live' underneath your logo maybe even featuring an electric blue lightning bolt. Awesome effects in this video and really simple to do.
I like the idea that the LEDs are not flashing, but are actually mincing. If you watch them closely, it looks more like they are scurrying around the PCB. I’m not sure why the word mincing is so funny, but it always used to tickle me when I walked along Mincing Lane in London, heading towards Greggs for some quality nutritious sustenance. I thought the word might have had in origins in Polare, but I can find no proof of this. Nonetheless I shall adopt it for this context in future
Nice niceeeee!!!! got to get a couple of these if there's any left!!
Spotted a couple out of alignment at 13:45 - on the right side, near the edge! (one red and one white) hope you discovered them later!
if you host yourself; signing a certbot cert is pretty easy to get the https going =)
Big Clive loves him some LEDs 🤩
The cube one is very cool! I’m tempted to make a 3D cube version because.. reasons.. lol. Are there any sellers on eBay for the LEDs? I can only seem to find the clear ones not diffused 🤔
Putting LEDS into a CNC drilled sheet of black PVC would be great. Pick your (round) LED diameter, glue them in get wiring/soldering. 3D printing might be a decide idea too but I'd do high in-fill, only do pilot holes to still gently drill the final LED holes.
It would be nice to see that with a USB socket because the tiny soldered USB wires are somewhat fragile.
I feel like any of these would be a great tool to stare into to turn my brain off. Gonna order the SMD one in amber 💛
Lovely Clive! Very Awesome, Mouse! - will this Timing start a new trend? .... _perhaps seen in the next feature_
Just to be pedantic, at 13.48 I noticed 1 LED appeared high, first white column 2 or 3 from the top 😁, I might gat one of the Hexputers just to get back into the flow of soldering as I am so out of practice now😁
Fun project, I will have to download your zip files, thank you Clive (once again)
What resistors were used on the hexputer? Evolution shut down his orders, but I managed to score my own LED's and whip op my own gerber file. I just need to know the value.
1000 ohms.
A supercomputer with mixed LEDs blinking at different rates would be more like those in old movies.
Ordered a hexaputer - I suspect the 5k minimum order of leds will no longer be a problem
Dear Clive, if i could i would buy you a beer.
RBG slow color changing diffused LEDs would yield a unique result as well. 😊👍
It's nice but very subtle.
You could make a monster display with larger flashing 'pixels' using 3 ordinary red leds and the flashing one in series positioned in 2x2 running from 12v with approx 220ohm resistor
Is it known what determines the blink period? For example if the period varies by LED you could rig up a microcontroller to measure current and use that to get a precise measurement of blink period. Do that with a bunch of them and line them up by blink period and I bet you'll get a cool chaser effect. Could be nice to combine with the more random look, maybe on the borders...
I would love to see a kit and build by you. Of a firework 🎆
Exploding in LEDs. Set up like the hexagon you showed in this video.
Small, Medium and Large.
good idea to use the LEDs from old LED bulbs (the good ones)
Newage Lava Lamp with 92% less chance of burning your house down. Could watch that for hours but my eyes'd go hexagonal.
Ever done one of the led cube's?.Some have thousands ofnleds
I like addressable ones more. This is just a blinky LED on any DIY PCB or even no PCB like true cubes.
I was always enamored by the text LED signs in stores through the 80s and 90s, but could never afford one. I feel like this would be an excellent experiment in charlieplexing, with a fast microcontroller and standard LEDs, to build such a sign in one of these form factors. Try finding THAT in the 80s. 😁
Sure wish I had that Hexputer right now. I have to integrate multitudes of hexadecimal integers by Monday….
It also looks bad ass, in a Klingon kind of way.
good for Star Trek themed room decor :D
I demand the long-form original video! :)
Can you make one of these boards using the LED's from a TV remote? Will a cell phone camera see a light filled room?
It would need custom made flashing infrared LEDs.
What price can you expect for a board to be made and LEDs for the hexagonal in the UK?
I noticed in his last video, Techmoan looked like he had a hex computer that crashed. I don't know if it was actually a hex computer, but all the LEDs just stayed on like his computer froze.
Slow RGB colour change.
"Twenty-four minutes to put them in. One second to remove them all again!" ;-)
You know, I saw these behind you a couple days ago, and was tempted to ask about them. Thanks...!!
I have a couple of those older high-voltage 'plasma' displays, the disc with the 'Lightning'....of course, no LED's involved there.
I did build some 52 LED small displays like this, double-sided board, but no plated through holes, be very attentive when soldering...
Always fascinated by your projects. Have you ever done a video on Gerber files for ordering PCBs? I'm bewildered by the all of the .G** files that someone gave me as a zip file. Do I just send the zip file to the PCB manufacturer? Do they know what to do with that, without me having to specify any other parameters?
It's usually one file per layer. So copper, resist, screenprint, outline and holes for a single sided PCB.
@@bigclivedotcom Thanks for your reply. Looking at the contents of the zip file makes more sense now.
Feels familiar, And was a great video.
I suppose the inherent variation in the resistors and LEDs would cause the randomness. Figure a 5% 100 Ohm resistor can be from 95 to 105 Ohms.
It's mainly the manufacturing tolerance in the chips themselves. The capacitance values are tiny and affected by the layer deposition.
Not mastered time-lapes yet then Clive? Awesome project though :)
thanks for the links Clive.
FYI LED #18 was sticking up higher than the rest!
Instead of using all those resistors, isn't it easier to use a low voltage power supply and skip the resitors?
Almost a million subs. How you feel about that, Clive?
It's a while away yet.
What would it look like, if you added morphing Led's? Give it a go?
The slow ones appear in a hexputer in the Techmoan ultrasonic record washer video.
The Hexputer reminds me of Zen from Blake`s 7