non-binary hardware

[Roy Smith]

mouse at mcgill-vision.UUCP (der Mouse) writes:
> By the way, does anyone know of a non-mechanical digital calculator or
> computer that isn't essentially binary?

	There are of course, lots of BCD and similar machines around.
Mostly older ones, but even a few new machines (mostly hand-held
calculators and the like).  But, BCD is really binary underneath in that
the actual logic signals are binary, so I don't think that really answers
der Mouse's question.

	I vaugely remember reading about a new RAM technology in which each
memory cell stored one of 4 different voltage levels.  This was converted
on-chip to two convention binary bits.  Unfortunately, I can't remember
anything about it other than a nagging suspicion that I probably read about
it in either IEEE Transactions on Computers or IEEE Spectrum somewhere in
the past year.  On the other hand, my brain could be playing tricks on me.

	The bottom line is that digital and binary are essentially
synonymous, although I suppose in theory you could define digital as
discrete and have trinary, etc. logic.  No, Tri-State (probably a tm of
somebody) doesn't count.
-- 
Roy Smith, System Administrator
Public Health Research Institute
{allegra,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers}!phri!roy -or- phri!roy at uunet.uu.net
"The connector is the network"