Tutorial BasicComputer

This tutorial will demonstrate how to build a simple computer.

The first step is getting all the materials: you'll need a Basic Case, a Basic Screen, a Keyboard, a Basic Graphics Card, a CPU, some RAM, a Power Converter and lastly, some power source. We'll use a BuildCraft Stirling Engine in this example.

Important: as of 1.2.2 it is no longer necessary to have a power converter in such a setup. Computer cases and server racks can also directly accept power since that version.

Now place them like in this image: Note that you can actually place them in any configuration you wish, as long as the blocks are next to each other.

Make sure your energy source actually produces energy and feeds it into the converter (e.g. when using Thermal Expansion energy cells make sure the right faces emit power).

Now open the inventory of the Basic Case you just placed and insert the graphics card, CPU and the RAM into it:

After you've done that, press the power button (the big button in the middle of the GUI). And that's it, you should have a running computer!

The most direct (but in the long run suboptimal) way of playing around with it is via the Lua interpreter. Type lua and hit enter to open it. When you're done, press Ctrl+C do quit it (or Ctrl+D if the prompt is empty). Another useful key combination is Ctrl+Alt+C, which lets you break out of sleeps. For example, if you started something like while true do os.sleep(1) end, that's the key combination that'll break that loop. Alternatively just turn it off and on again.

Next up: writing programs.