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this reminds me, one of my stupid TODO items I still haven't gotten to is to build a water-based network https://twitter.com/11rcombs/status/1149219046598086656
not by the "obvious" way of just running electricity through the water, but by encoding data into water pressure.
you'd have two pipes running between the two computers, and you'd have pumps and pressure/flow-rate sensors on each end.
you'd have two pipes running between the two computers, and you'd have pumps and pressure/flow-rate sensors on each end.
they'd be preferably looped together so you wouldn't need more and more water, but you would modulate when the pump is on vs off and detect that on the other end, by the flow rate or pressure change.
water isn't that compressible, so there wouldn't be TOO MUCH of a delay/distance correlation, but there'd be some. I really doubt it'd be that fast of a method, but that's definitely not the point :)
of course once that works, you could get stupider with it.
Why bother with pressure/flow when you could do something sillier?
why not have a salinity sensor, and to encode data you add or don't add salt to it?
Why bother with pressure/flow when you could do something sillier?
why not have a salinity sensor, and to encode data you add or don't add salt to it?
this gives me a fun idea: transmitting data using bubbles: https://twitter.com/ctdnoah/status/1322575386522386438
then you don't need to move the water, so you don't need more water, you just need to inject air into it, and detect when the bubble arrives somehow (probably pressure sensors again)
the fun design problem is that your network has to be uphill, both ways.
so it'd pretty much only work if you had both computers at the same level, and had a crossed set of tilted tubes.
You'd want to use transparent plastic of course, because it'd look awesome
You'd want to use transparent plastic of course, because it'd look awesome
highly accurate scientific diagram of what I'm talking about
alternative stupid idea for bubbles:
instead of bubbles, get little plastic beads that are hollow, so they float. release them into the tubes, and have optical sensors to determine the color of bead released
instead of bubbles, get little plastic beads that are hollow, so they float. release them into the tubes, and have optical sensors to determine the color of bead released
a black bead came through? that's a zero.
a white bead came through? ahh, a 1!
a white bead came through? ahh, a 1!
the bonus over other bad solutions in this thread is that it's timing-independent, so you could release beads in groups.
you also could expand it beyond binary: you'd just need more bead colors
you also could expand it beyond binary: you'd just need more bead colors
anyway obviously a big part of why this would be an amusing thing to build is because you'd have an internet that was literally made of tubes
you could also run the bead idea backwards, without the water... just use a marble toy.
hang on taking notes and headed to the toy store
this toy came up when I was searching for a marble run toy.
which gives me a fun idea for an alternate option:
a hot wheels network!
You could encode data into different hot wheels cars
which gives me a fun idea for an alternate option:
a hot wheels network!
You could encode data into different hot wheels cars
an amusing thing to do would be to figure out a way to automatically attach some kind of storage to the cars.
obviously being me, I think Floppies, but I imagine a hot wheel card could hold a microSD card pretty well
obviously being me, I think Floppies, but I imagine a hot wheel card could hold a microSD card pretty well
and if you had a decently fast microSD card and could automatically read and write to it at each end, you could actually have a pretty decent bandwidth.
terrible latency, of course, but decent bandwidth.
terrible latency, of course, but decent bandwidth.
you know what they say: never underestimate the bandwidth of a hot wheels car with a 1 terabyte microSD card glued to the top
oh this would simplify things
@DJSnM wondered about microSD-bullets, which is an interesting idea (I think you'd need shotgun cartridges?) but I think this might be simplifyable: just use bullets. https://twitter.com/DJSnM/status/1322584025291132928
you FM encode data into the stream of bullets, by having an automatic (not in that way) gun, and an impact sensor at the target.
With a decent rifle you could transfer bits pretty fast and far.
With a decent rifle you could transfer bits pretty fast and far.
and you'll have invented the most American type of network possible
stupid alternate idea: don't worry about timing, but magnetize/demagnetize the bullets.
the only problem is that you might reach the Curie point of the bullet during firing, and that would demagnetize them
