Stable signal converters

Post by **dvgrn** » April 8th, 2017, 9:49 am

There's been some experimentation recently on the Construction Practice thread with building stable circuitry to efficiently synchronize multiple signals for a construction recipe. Goldtiger997 pointed out that this has resulted in a big increase in the number of known G-to-X converters -- input is a glider, output is some other type of traveling signal, usually a spaceship. X-to-Gs have also been cropping up, and occasional X-to-Ys (e.g., output being a Herschel or R-pentomino or whatever, which can then be converted into a glider or any other signal type).

I've maintained an unreasonable interest in these things for a long time -- over a decade by now, it appears. That linked article talks about five interchangeable types of signals, with explicitly constructed stable G-to-X and X-to-G converters.

If we count the *WSSes separately, as we probably should, that was eight stable-circuitry signal types known in 2007 -- glider, LWSS, MWSS, HWSS, Herschel, 2c/3 diagonal wire, swimmer.

Here's an updated list, which I'll try to keep updated based on any future improvements, or reminders about existing technology, that show up on this or other threads.

See also Goldtiger997's LifeWiki table, which will probably be somewhat more up to date sometimes, but the historical series of improvements is less visible.

Work in progress. More links and dates to be added. Donations gratefully accepted.
Up-to-date re: replies in this thread as of 4 November 2024.

Spaceships, from Goldtiger997's list:

glider
most recent: Bandersnatch June 2020, syringe May 2015, Snark April 2013.
LWSS
most recent: Stable LWSS pseudo-Heisenburp November 2019, G-to-LWSS Oct 2015, codeholic's 45-degree L|MWSS-to-G reflector Oct 2015, ]smaller faster G-to-LWSS December 2023, 135-degree LWSS-to-G June 2024.
MWSS
most recent: MWSS Heisenburp July 2021, MWSS Heisenburp June 2020, G-to-MWSS March 2020, G-to-MWSS June 2017, H-to-MWSS, G-to-MWSS and alternate G-to-MWSS Oct 2015, codeholic's 45-degree L|MWSS-to-G reflector Oct 2015, Sokwe's 135-degree MWSS-to-G reflector July 2013, original MWSS Heisenburp April 2010.
HWSS
most recent: G-to-HWSS Apr 2017, HWSS-to-G Oct 2015, HWSS-to-H repeat time 407, August 2018,
repeat time 290, June 2020, stable HWSS Heisenburp repeat time 1392, June 2020.
OWSS/flotillas including HWSS
Heisenburp, repeat time 1384, June 2020.
universal *WSS-to-G
Universal with any input phase (can move *WSS 1 cell forward, still works) repeat time 588, 8 June 2020, repeat time 1178 1 June 2020, half-universal repeat time 497 Oct 2015; pre-Snark-and-syringe version July 2009.
escorted OWSS
recipe and p120 gun by Dieter Leithner, 5 November 1994, no converter constructed yet
Big A
recipe and guns, August 2009, no X-to-Big-A converter constructed yet. Big A to LWSS, June 2020.
Sidecar
most recent: G-to-sidecar and sidecar-to-HWSS Apr 2017, sidecar-to-G May 2016
2-engine Cordership
glider-to-Cordership repeat time 556, August 2018, and repeat time 458, September 2018
3-engine Cordership
most recent: G-to-Cordership Feb 2017, Cordership-to-swimmer Oct 2008.
4-engine extendable Cordership
most recent: Adjustable glider-to-Cordership, previous discussion,
4-in-a-row Cordership (p192)
most recent: G-to-4IRC September 2020,
6-engine Cordership
most recent: G-to-6-engine-Cordership (in progress), 6-engine Cordership eater and Heisenburp Cordership-to-G Nov 2016
Coe Ship
most recent: G-to-Coe, Coe-to-LWSS and Coe-to-G Apr 2017
ecologist
Ecologist-to-H and ecologist-to-G, October 2023; G-to-ecologist March 2018
space rake
glider-to-space-rake mentioned in passing, completed April 2018
Loafer
most recent: G-to-loafer May 2018, G-to-loafer July 2017, G-to-loafer Mar 2017, loafer-to-B and loafer-to-G March 2013, more loafer-to-Gs June 2024.
25P3H1V0.1
most recent: G-to-25P3H1V0.1 Dec 2017; 11-cell 25P3H1V0.1-to-G, 44-tick repeat time, February 2016.
25P3H1V0.2
partial glider synthesis, Dec. 2017;
25P3H1V0.2-to-G Mar 2017
Weekender
most recent: G-to-weekender-to-G Feb 2017
2c/5 spaceship
dart
dart eater 2014, by codeholic (keeps getting rediscovered); dart-to-glider converter December 2014; current smallest dart gun February 2015.
crab
most recent: crab-to-G May 2016, G-to-crab May 2019.
B29
25-glider synthesis Jan 2016
15-glider synthesis, Oct 2024
X66
13-glider synthesis, Mar 2015
half-X66 with HWSS
half-X66 with HWSS to clean HWSS, March 2018
Pushalong 1
Pushalong 1 to MWSS, October 2023 or earlier; 77-glider synthesis, June 2015
30P5H2V0
65-glider synthesis, Jan 2015; partial p480 gun Apr 2017; complete p960 gun; no glider-to-30P5H2V0 yet.
30P5H2V0-to-glider repeat time 242, June 2020.
30P4H2V0.4
85-glider synthesis, Sep 2015
Pufferfish spaceship
[60-glider synthesis Feb 2015 is best effort so far, opportunity for variable length/min population...]
copperhead
most recent: copperhead-to-gliderOctober 2020, glider-to-copperhead August 2018, copperhead-to-glider April 2016
fireship
most recent: glider-to-fireship March 2019, fireship-to-glider April 2016, composite fireship-to-copperhead June 2018, previous composite fireship-to-copperhead June 2017.
spider
most recent: spider-to-glider converter, March 2019, some potential Heisenburps in previous post; glider synthesis of spider March 2019; glider-to-spider converter March 2020.
46P4H1V0
G-to-46P4H1V0 converter, October 2019
27P4H1V1.1
Most recent: 31-glider 27P4H1V1.1 recipe, December 2019, G-to-27P4H1V1.1 December 2019.
64P2H1V0
64P2H1V0-to-G October 2019.
Anura (313P7H3V0)
Anura to G, December 2020.
257P7H3V0
257P7H3V0 to G, January 2021.
SSOL (self-synthesizing oblique loopship)
SSOL to G, August 2021.
waterbear/Demonoid/HBK/Caterloopillar/Centipede/Gemini/Caterpillar
-- let's just leave G-to-those-monsters as "technically possible"...!
Sir Robin and minstrels:
Sir Robin to glider, with or without attached minstrels: Goldtiger997's Amazing 2 in 1 Reusable Multipurpose Minstrel Remover and Detector™ -- which currently supports "all minstrels that are made up of only errant, lightweight, heavyweight, wandering, and pi minstrels".
glider to Sir Robin: not even vaguely on the far horizon yet, except on April Fool's Day

Other signals and methods:

lightspeed telegraph (orthogonal beehive wire)
G-to-lightspeed, lightspeed-to-G -- see Calcyman's stable-telegraph.mc in Golly's Online Archives > Very Large Patterns
2c/3 diagonal signal wire
G-to-2c/3 July 2020, G-to-2c/3 September 2017, 2c/3single-to-2c/3double and 2c/3single/double-to-G (decades old, in Golly 3.1+); modernized 2c/3single-to-2c/3double and 2c/3single/double-to-G July 2018, mostly by Goldtiger997... single 2c/3 to glider, April/July 2020, 2c/3 to glider, repeat time 708 July 2024, several other improvements in the Faster 2c/3 wires thread starting in March 2024
c/2 diagonal signal wire
140 gliders to c/2 signal, October 2018; partial recipe provided for c/2 signal to glider
c/12 swimmer
G-to-swimmer and swimmer-to-G Mar 2017. See also swimmer-to-G Apr 2009, convertible to swimmer-to-H by adding a Snark.
G-to-X via highway robber
863-tick recovery with better clearance, June 2020; 951-tick Competent Highway Robber G-to-G, and also 886-tick Awkwardnessful Highway Robber Gang G-to-G-to-G (has to work in teams of two) -- March 2015. Repeat time 878 found by chris_c a little later, rewired by Entity Valkyrie to avoid the need for a second highway robber.
pseudo-Heisenburp G-to-X
Recovery time 4359, November 2011. No complete rebuild with post-Snark technology known. (?)
stable B-heptomino tracks by Guam Dec 2011, simsim314 Apr 2015, AbhpzTa July 2016 (no Herschels)
LWSS-on-LWSS:
LWSS-on-LWSS-to-H, July 2021.
pi heptomino conduits
no stable signal loops currently known
traffic jam signal loops
p25N loops known; stable Heisenburp for passing traffic jam April 2017, glider-to-TJ April 2019, stable traffic jam corners (November 2024)
[?]

Active reactions in known circuitry -- any of these can be converted to any other

R (R-pentomino)
B (B-heptomino)
H (Herschel)
C (century)
P (pi)
Q (queen bee)
W (wing)
G (glider)
E (E-heptomino) -- Until 2024 some potential conduits with E-heptomino inputs and outputs were known, but nothing that allowed a signal to get to an E and back again. That changed with the discovery of HRx93E (October 2024).
G0, G2, G4, G5, G6, G13, etc. (various tandem-glider signals, see the Elementary Conduits collection)

Hopeful candidates:

D (dove)
This seemed so promising that it even made it to the list on the first page of the Elementary Conduits thread, and the LifeWiki says it's a "recognized conduit object" -- but I don't think we quite have multiple workable X-to-D and D-to-Y conduits yet (?).
LoM
five different stable glider-to-5c/9 converters, but there isn't any known way to get a signal out of a 5c/9 wire, with the nearest miss being via a 2c/3 wire, but that would be very slow and expensive even if it was repeatable. Also some other unproven converters scattered around the Elementary Conduits thread.
5c/9
See above.
U-turner: See, e.g., this post. There are a lot of ways to get from a U-turner to something else, but few ways to get from an arbitrary input signal to a U-turner.
2-glider octomino, Iwona active region: See, e.g., this post

Goldtiger997 · Post by **Goldtiger997** » April 8th, 2017, 10:50 pm

dvgrn wrote:...list:
glider
most recent: Snark and syringe, Apr 2013 and May 2015...

Nice list, the links are very helpful. However, I think you missed copperhead.

Since I recently made the G-Coe Ship, I decided to make a Coe Ship-G.
First I found this one: