Hex

Hex is an elaborate, magic-powered calculating device housed at the Unseen University in Ankh Morpork.

Hex is a device unlike any other the Discworld has ever seen. Hex runs and evolves under the watchful eyes of apprentice wizard Ponder Stibbons, who is the machine's manager at the Unseen University in the city of Ankh-Morpork because he's the only one who understands what he's talking about.

Hex is activated by initializing the GBL, which Stibbons reluctantly admits means "pulling the Great Big Lever". This releases millions of ants into a network of glass tubes that make up the bulk of Hex, hence the sticker on Hex that reads "Anthill Inside". Hex "thinks" by controlling which tubes the ants can crawl through, thus allowing it to perform increasingly complex calculations if enough ants are provided.

Hex can be given input through a huge wooden keyboard, in analogue writing by means of a complicated mechanical eye designed by Hex itself, or vocally through an old hearing trumpet, and gives output by means of a quill on a hinged lever. It is all powered by a waterwheel covered in male sheep skulls.

There is also a mouse that has built its nest in the middle of Hex. It doesn't seem to do anything, but Hex stops working if it is removed. Hex also stops working (with the error message "Mine! Waah!") if the FTB (Fluffy Teddy Bear, a gift from the Hogfather) is removed. Stibbons is concerned by these signs that Hex might be alive, but insists that it only thinks it is.

Hex's long-term memory storage is a massive beehive contained in the next room. When it is particularly busy, an hourglass comes down on a spring.