Blog
Slideshow: Looking back at early computers
Kristin Lewotsky
11/20/2012 1:08 AM EST
Systron Donner analog computer
This solid-state analog computer could solve complex equations but was limited to about three digits of precision. It would have used a ±10 V voltage range to cover the range of numbers desired. The sections, which correspond roughly to the different colors on the patch panel, include op amps that can perform addition, subtraction, integration, and differentiation. By wiring a number of those in a row using the ports in the colored areas, users could perform simulations, solve systems of equations, run interpolations, etc. The array of black dials at the bottom could be used to set constants.
Next: Packard Bell PB250
This solid-state analog computer could solve complex equations but was limited to about three digits of precision. It would have used a ±10 V voltage range to cover the range of numbers desired. The sections, which correspond roughly to the different colors on the patch panel, include op amps that can perform addition, subtraction, integration, and differentiation. By wiring a number of those in a row using the ports in the colored areas, users could perform simulations, solve systems of equations, run interpolations, etc. The array of black dials at the bottom could be used to set constants.
Next: Packard Bell PB250
|
|
|
|
|
Navigate to related information
Thomas.Kite
11/20/2012 3:50 PM EST
Um, what exactly does the third sentence of this caption mean?
Sign in to Reply
tb1
11/20/2012 9:39 PM EST
Do you mean this?
"remind us just how amazing smart phones are"
Smart phones, which cost a few hundred $ and fit in your pocket, are about 1000 times faster than even the fastest machine in the article, with 100 to 1000 times the amount of memory and storage, for a tiny fraction of the cost and size. It is pretty mind boggling when you think about it.
Sign in to Reply
tb1
11/20/2012 9:41 PM EST
(and I didn't even mention the communications capabilities).
Sign in to Reply
Battar
11/22/2012 2:12 AM EST
We had 2 PDP-11 computers at a facility I worked at. When the time came to replace them, in the later 80'2, we had a DEC technician, who happened to be an ex-employee of ours, come to dismantle them. I saw him pick up a screwdriver and remove the front panel (switched and blinking lights) from one them. Whatcha doin', I asked, souvenier to keep, he said. So I picked up screwdriver. I still have the panel from the second PDP at home. Anyone remember Varian computers? We had one of those too.
Sign in to Reply
John_Galt
11/23/2012 11:55 AM EST
I have about 50 PDP-8s in my lab...well, they're Intersil IM6100s - a 40 pin DIP CMOS version of the PDP-8 from the late '70s. I designed an industrial digital pyrometer called "Digicon" with them back in the day. I kept a couple of tubes of the chips and from time-to-time have made some demonstration projects for the younger set. A 12 bit word with a 4096 word memory page, 8 basic instructions, 2 registers (really one, the accumulator) no stack (stores return address in the first word of the subroutine)- can you get any more "RISC" than that? TAD, ISZ, DCA, JMS - it's all good.
Sign in to Reply
cr0sh
3/7/2013 9:59 PM EST
Would you be willing to sell one of those chips - to a fellow old computer collector?
Sign in to Reply
SylvieBarak
11/26/2012 8:49 AM EST
I still remember how blown away I was when I got my first Pentium.... the Pentium 75.... oh man. Those were the days!
Sign in to Reply
Anatole Besplemennov
11/29/2012 12:51 AM EST
Our PDP-11 had from 56 KBytes to 248 KBytes of memory. RT-11, RSX-11 where the best Op systems I ever met. Three engineers simultaneously worked with graphic terminals in the CAD system. Macro-11, Fortran, K-52 text editor where Great!
Java and "smart" phones - the're colorful and are for child games, not for science.
Don't believe? Read the link: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ThePerilsofJavaSchools.html
Sign in to Reply
Kristin Lewotsky
11/29/2012 2:53 AM EST
If you got a kick out of this slideshow, I just posted one on the Memory Designline on the history of memory.
Sign in to Reply
Karen Watkins
12/1/2012 2:21 PM EST
As author mentions above, if u liked this 13-slide HISTORY OF COMPUTERS, her 7 slides with captions on HISTORY OF MEMORY are also great fun. MEMORY segment easy to find if cut and paste link below. Very good stuff - NOT the usual industry dusty ole pix or stale captions: fresh time capsules. Enjoy!
http://www.eetimes.com/design/memory-design/4402296/Slideshow--A-brief-history-of-memory?pageNumber=1&Ecosystem=memory-design
Sign in to Reply
David Ashton
12/4/2012 2:26 PM EST
GREAT article Kristin, thanks. As a techie, I worked in a university Engineering faculty once and learned FORTRAN there, which involved punching cards on something identical to or very similar to slide 11. Makes me feel old...
The Memory one's also good, thanks again.
Sign in to Reply