this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2026
28 points (88.9% liked)
Technology
81534 readers
4451 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Not really…? You should read the article.
It's not a very long article and it doesn't really explain anything, it just says that it's been done. But I don't really understand how that runs a game boy game?
"also altered a Game Boy emulator to implement the ALU instructions using compass and straightedge operations"
The title is a lie. It's using a computer as usual, with extra steps - instead of using the CPU as intended it simulates the mentioned tools/techniques
I just don't understand how you can use a compass and straight edge to emulate an instruction set. The article just doesn't explain it; it's just like, "Of course this is a thing."
It's basically a self-defined system of arithmetic, with no actual numbers. e.g. rather than 1 + 2 = 3, you have [radius of unit circle A] + [radius of 2 unit circle B] = [length of 3 unit line C]. I'll confess I don't totally understand how you can extend that to the point that it can correctly implement RSA, but I believe it can be done based on other achievements with unquantified geometry I've witnessed in the past.
For example, this excellent video about constructing flags using only the shape drawing tools of PowerPoint without ever applying external measurements to the shapes.