Apollo Guidance Computer Part 13: The AGC passes self test under emulated memory

[@jull1234]

this is still the most epic series in the history of KZbin. Keep 'em coming!

[@rogermason1674]

I heartily endorse your comment; these videos of the Apollo AGC being debugged and in simulated operation ties together a lot of memories from my past. Watching the Apollo 11 mission happen live as a teenager, and then later on doing test and debug of wire-wrapped hardware as an IBM engineer. Great Stuff!

[@NicolajTopp]

Yes please!!!!!!

[@bobl78]

but there is one problem: What come after the AGC ? Almost impossible the finde something that is nearly a cool and fascinating

[@1944GPW]

The BBC are running a terrific podcast series '13 Minutes to the Moon' right now. Episode 5, 'The Fouth Astronaut' is about the AGC. In it, Ramon Alonso is reunited with his invention - the DSKY - in the basement of the MIT museum. Any search engine will find it, well worth listening to.

[@QuintinMassey]

I know! I’m addicted! Binge worthy content right here. K off to the next one, toddles ✌️

[@krnlg]

This whole series in incredible. The obvious expertise you guys have, the manufacturing of new parts, new test gear - and the fact it's all documented in such an accessible way by you guys as you're doing it. The fact you're basically pointing a camera at it and explaining and showing it as it happens makes it so much cooler than having some flashy documentary covering this. :) This computer is insanely awesome, a true piece of history, and you are doing it justice for sure.

[@Fake_Blood]

If we ever go to Mars we need to take Mike along for the ride. If anything fails, he'll just reverse engineer it. Seriously though, this is incredibly impressive work by the entire team.

[@juanjoalvarez3166]

Simply awesome! The AGC coming alive thanks to your interfaces and emulators, linking the old technology to modern laptops. I am very grateful for your efforts to teach us how it worked this top technology of the 60's. Hard and excellent work.

[@tedvanmatje]

There's nothing better than coming back from a long days slog at work, to sit down with a hot mug of Tea nato (black tea with milk and two spoons of sugar - nato standard brew) fire up youtube and to decompress to this! That point-to-point wiring is a soothing balm for the eyeballs isn't it? I was just thinking that a high-res poster of said wiring would sell like hot cakes and should be hung up in every workshop/living room/bed space/hallway/garage ;) As always: this series rocks! Thanks for posting and I'm looking forward to the next installment; which is a bloody understatement :)

[@michael_toms]

I know absolutely nothing about computers, but I find it just fascinating reviving Apollo equipment from the 1960's. Mike, you're just awesome, that you can get your head around solving problems, and thank you Marc for documenting the whole restoration. I'm just amazed!

[@Kae6502]

I watched the the moon landing and the moonwalk live as it happened when I was ten years old. And now I'm watching the restoration of an Apollo AGC, as it happens ,when I'm almost 60 years old! Thanks to the whole team from a very happy Space nerd! :)

[@taftr]

I sat in awe, at 8 years old, watching "one giant leap" on a black and white screen in 1969. I now sit in awe watching the restore and resurrection of one of the key components that got us there. I eagerly await your next video. Thank you for sharing your adventure with us.

[@timrb]

Mike is the real hero of the show.

[@bblod4896]

Use to wire wrap all my prototypes in the 70s. Taught my son how to wire wrap, he thought it was neater than soldering. Thanks for the video.

[@neilolif]

It is wonderful to see this 50 year old hardware functioning as if it was 1969!!!

[@USWaterRockets]

This is the video series that KZbin was invented for!

[@richardricci]

Another great episode! What I like the most: you can see that the channel is not there to make money, but out of pure passion. Now my only subscription on KZbin.

[@totolastico]

Vous nous tenez en haleine! j'attends ta prochaine vidéo avec impatience !

[@chrissavage5966]

Congratulations guys - a real milestone!!

[@alpcns]

You guys are Saints. This is epic, history in the making. We need a statue...with blinkenlights!

[@waheex]

really enjoyed this and I learned a lot about the hardware and gained a lot of respect for the original AGC designers and you guys for this refurb

[@Sixta16]

This is becoming beyond awwwwwwsome!

[@ShainAndrews]

Wow... didn't expect a post so late tonight. CONGRATS!!!! That is great progress!!!! I'm so excited for you guys!!!!

[@gcewing]

Hermetically sealed, to ensure the magic smoke stays inside.

[@maicod]

if the AGC's exterior starts glowing red you know what happened inside

[@chriholt]

This series just gets better and better!

[@soulrobotics]

5:20. Stop, deep breath, continue...in my professional life ,technician for a German company, the start up is always critical, and all my senses are enhanced, particularly the smell.

[@jackflash6377]

been there, done that. Praying for No smoke to escape, finger on the off switch. Adrenaline pumping, people watching. When it works.. sweet success!!

[@larryscott3982]

I hope that these vids can be combined into a single long vid. Perhaps NASA and Smithsonian could be interested enough to fund an anthology version. This is the definition of a labor of love.

[@VioletRene]

Right on!

[@VioletRene]

You guys amaze me! Looking forward to each video so please keep them coming ❤️ I repaired televisions for 20 years, but I have never seen anything as cool as this! 👏💋

[@DextersTechLab]

Stunning work, awesome to see the AGC actually running flight software.

[@ericschmitt5390]

You cats are awesome! The hard work and depth and knowledge are really fun to watch! Bravo!

[@BigDaddy_MRI]

This whole series is epic. You should make this a documentary for the History Channel. This is amazing. Simulating all the LM signals with a real simulator would be an amazing feat of engineering. Hope the memory repair goes well.

[@tomschmidt381]

Wow that is great progress, I love watching the series. As someone involved in electronics for decades the modern test set (three square inches plus laptop) vs the real NASA 60s set shows how dramatically electronics has advanced in 50 years.

[@slingshot1961]

That guy Mike is amazing.

[@brandona1370]

I LOVE what the team has accomplished! Incredible!

[@marcuswilson007]

It's wonderful to see the hardware working due to the fantastic work all of you have done. I work on microprocessor controlled and wired logic controlled equipment and I find the hardware and software of the AGC fascinating. Thank you for sharing this with us.

[@greentechnology3529]

"Kynar" and wire wrap connection. Beautiful memories of youth. :-)

[@r5o4m]

Keep the videos coming! Very cool!

[@alexpatton3524]

This should be in a museum, i'm surprised it isn't yet...

[@stargazer7644]

We don't need to put them all in museums.

[@kaboom555]

Dude you guys are AMAZING beyond belief, every single one of you involved in this project. Mike is a goddamn WIZARD. It actually makes me physically shaken every time you reach a milestone. THANK YOU for this series.

[@jackflash6377]

Wish I had a dollar for every wire wrap I've made. Another excellent video. Progress is amazing and exciting. Can't wait!!

[@justinhobart8747]

YES, BUILD A LM!!! 👍😃 🚀

[@SidneyCritic]

Not an actual LEM, but I remember when man stepped on the moon there was a cardboard LEM in the newspaper that you built. lol

[@chrismofer]

Marc is gunna need a closed loop gimbal to put that irig gyro in...

[@realshompa]

Yes. Let's build an LM and use this hardware to go to the moon (and prove the hoaxers wrong). Kickstarter? + SpaceX?

[@SidneyCritic]

@@realshompa If you think about it. it's the $1 parts that prove man walked on the moon. We have a AGC pin in front of us, and NASA would have ordered maybe 20,000. Like why would you make a small custom part of such low value if you are never going to use it. Wouldn't you just pocket the $s, and just say you made a part that no one will notice is not there. You had to build the big parts to fake it, but what was the purpose of building all the small insignificant parts if they were never needed.

[@allangibson8494]

Lets not get ahead of ourselves, start with the command module and go find Snoopy (same computer, different program).

[@Strothy2]

I'm so happy I found this series, I hope one day it will return to it's former glory :D

[@rsyoung01]

Awesome! Brings back the memories ... Sigh ...

[@lmerry213]

So exciting! Great work, fellas. I had the opportunity this past weekend to visit the Computer History museum and see the AGC components on display, among a million other awesome things! I can't wait to see the end result of this endeavor.

[@stephanweinberger]

who tf dislikes this? even if you're a moon hoaxer, restoring a historic computer is an epic achievement...

[@Oldtimerider]

Incredible! What an effort, and so cool to see that machine run!!

[@38911bytefree]

Brilliant work. Would be fanastic to Mike explain the some of the steps that let him develop all this incredible things.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

error 210: no spacecraft detected

[@Zerbey]

Let's just build a LM! Haha if anyone can do it you guys can. Loving this series, thank you for bringing this amazing computer back to life.

[@andersthorsen00]

So essentially you have a USB adapter on that Apollo computer! :) Impressive.

[@arf20]

My god, this is awesome, we are all waiting that rope memory repair!! This channel if full of dedication, like me, I'm building my own Z80 system as hobby, but that is not so much important as this AGC. I love you all Good luck with rope memory module

[@Maxxarcade]

Man this is exciting! And I love the blend of old and modern hardware. Imagine what our space program could do with today's technology.

[@nmccw3245]

Excellent work gentlemen. Time to track down and retrieve “Snoopy”.

[@nofider1]

One of, if not the most interesting channel on KZbin. Absolutely riveting stuff :-)

[@markwatson9816]

The look on Mike's face at 10:52 says it all!!

[@bjoernphotography]

Really unbelievable! Good work - that’s really impressive!

[@vincei4252]

Excellent stuff, Marc and crew. Looking forward to the next chapter!

[@simontay4851]

Mike is amazing figuring out that.

[@yorgle]

Once again; these episodes just put a huge smile on my face. I love the effort and work you've all done! This is awesomazing! Now I really want to make a USB DSKY keyboard... :D

[@osiris1802]

You guys are awesome! Thank you so much for providing this. Great work.

[@sylvain8601]

really impressive , great work

[@mspysu79]

Another great update on this awesome project!

[@clomb1234]

Fantastic. I look forward to each and every one of these videos.

[@rarrawer]

These videos are quite nice. I enjoy getting a glimpse into the technical wizardry you're doing to get thise old machinery running again.

[@whatchacookin1096]

Amazing guys, amazing.

[@SomeGuyInSandy]

Mike is amazing!

[@AlainHubert]

@0:42 will you look at all those wires !! Geez ! All those were installed by hand, one at a time (EDIT: corrected by Mike in the replies below)! And to think that there are still some idiots out there who think that we didn't go to the moon... Fascinating, captivating series ! Better than anything on Discovery Channel or National Geographic. Keep up the excellent work ! And most of all, thanks for sharing !

[@mikestewart8928]

Not installed by hand! These wires were all placed by a Gardner Denver Automatic Wire Wrap Machine. That machine took in a big punch card deck that specified the pins, level, and route for each wire. Only the copper power bus bars, little bits of insulation to hold down the wires, and some minor reworks were manually installed.

[@AlainHubert]

@@mikestewart8928 Thanks Mike for the correction/info. Still that's a lot of wires. I'd be very curious to see this Gardner Denver Automatic Wire Wrap Machine in action. Some sort of computer guided robot of some kind, similar to modern pick-and-place machines of today I assume ?

[@mikestewart8928]

@@AlainHubert The original documentary "Computer for Apollo" talks about the process, and shows a Block I backplane being wire wrapped: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3qlmYOprr52n68m15s

[@skfalpink123]

Outstanding and addictive viewing. Well done guys on some excellent work!

[@MikeKobb]

Awesome progress!!

[@atomikrobot300099]

Great work!

[@juliussokolowski4293]

May I suggest tha you get a microscope with a camera tap? There are some reasonably cheap ones and cameras with hdmi out and internal recording to sd card. Would be great to get some good close-up images! Keep up the great work! I’m rivited! Cheers!

[@laser-sj]

Brilliant... great work guys !

[@bambur1]

Wow , Hats off to you on an amazing project and skills !

[@longshot789]

Amazing work.

[@1944GPW]

Fantastic work!

[@keithglaysher737]

Magnificent! Just magnificent guys!

[@alancordwell9759]

Fantastic work guys, well done!

[@sautebroussailles]

That's better than watching Netflix !

[@nixxonnor]

Awesome work!!

[@givemeakawasaki]

Awesome Guys - Thanks for the awesome series! keep em coming! :-)

[@danyboy1477]

merci pour ces videos marc c'est tres instructif et tres interessant.

[@KamAbbott]

Just spectacular!

[@larryscott3982]

I thought the title was about Apollo 13? And it blew up. “This is part 14 of AGC restoration. There will be no part 13, we skipped it for obvious reasons.”

[@RobotnikPlays]

Whoa! You guys are amazing, keep up the good work!

[@Andrew_Sparrow]

Love this channel so much! 🤓🤓

[@vladpowert]

Amazing video!

[@marcelolopes1347]

Amazing job guys. Thanks a lot for sharing it.

[@rearspeaker6364]

back then- 20 pounds of cables- today, 4 wires- how progress flies!!!!

[@jackdaniels8898]

Great work guys. So exciting.

[@junuhunuproductions]

Kudos to Mike

[@littlejason99]

Awesome as always!

[@kiwidave72]

Well done guys. Awesome effort.

[@yannickberrios]

Great work!!!!!!!!!

[@FindLiberty]

APPROVED

[@voxsideres]

Quality content as always!

[@hoppend]

That is really awesome! I have been following along with the video’s and they are so comprehensive. Very cool to see. Keep up the work!

[@Elios0000]

IT LIVES!

[@michaelbeattie6953]

It really is a thing of beauty.

[@nephilimcrt]

Awesome stuff.

[@AnthonyHandcock]

Well done.

[@dr.strangelove5622]

Thanks guys for these videos. Why don't you guys build an LM emulator?😂 I don't know much as I am just a first year student of EEE. I understand your drive. To make the project work correctly and not sleeping until it is done. I participated in a technology fest of my small college last year. There I built a 4 bit full adder using TTL chips. Stood up many nights understanding datasheets of 74xx series chips (I learnt more from them than from any book), how they need big pull up and small pull down resistors, how floating inputs must be corrected and so on. Then I started developing my adder from scratch on paper. I was so excited when I saw on net that my logic circuit was correct!! The circuit didn't work properly due to loose wires, but it was an amazing journey. Then inspired by your SC/MP computer video, I decided to learn assembly language. So I built my own Kim UNO with custom key board, wires going everywhere. It worked!! And my first program was to add 15 and 1 and store the result at address 0000. These videos you make motivates me to make and learn stuff. And probably motivates others too. Amazing video!!! Keep on making more such series.

[@thettguy]

Wow. That is a landmark episode. I hope you had a beer on this day.

[@Tjousk]

Excellent

[@soulrobotics]

I already have my DSKY T-shirt,... but my sons call me Sheldon.. imagine the picture while i am among my scopes and instruments and boards, watching this series over an over again... I can wait for the Raytheon Big BBQ this July... hahahah