Computers
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/timeline.php?timeline_category=cmptr
ENIAC |
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Computers
In February, the public got its first
glimpse of the ENIAC, a machine built by
John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert that
improved by 1,000 times on the speed of
its contemporaries.
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Start of project: |
1943 |
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Completed: |
1946 |
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Programmed: |
plug board and
switches |
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Speed: |
5,000 operations
per second |
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Input/output: |
cards, lights,
switches, plugs |
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Floor space: |
1,000 square feet |
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Project leaders: |
John Mauchly and
J. Presper Eckert. |
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More from 1946 -->
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AVIDAC |
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Computers
An inspiring summer school on computing
at the University of Pennsylvania´s
Moore School of Electrical Engineering
stimulated construction of
stored-program computers at universities
and research institutions. This free,
public set of lectures inspired the
EDSAC, BINAC, and, later, IAS machine
clones like the AVIDAC. Here, Warren
Kelleher completes the wiring of the
arithmetic unit components of the AVIDAC
at Argonne National Laboratory. Robert
Dennis installs the inter-unit wiring as
James Woody Jr. adjusts the deflection
control circuits of the memory unit. |
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More from 1946 -->
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IBM´s SSEC |
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Computers
IBM´s Selective Sequence Electronic
Calculator computed scientific data in
public display near the company´s
Manhattan headquarters. Before its
decommissioning in 1952, the SSEC
produced the moon-position tables used
for plotting the course of the 1969
Apollo flight to the moon.
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Speed: |
50
multiplications per second |
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Input/output: |
cards, punched
tape |
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Memory type: |
punched tape,
vacuum tubes, relays |
| Technology: |
20,000 relays,
12,500 vacuum tubes |
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Floor space: |
25 feet by 40
feet |
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Project leader: |
Wallace Eckert |
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More from 1948 -->
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Wilkes with the EDSAC |
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Computers
Maurice Wilkes assembled the EDSAC, the
first practical stored-program computer,
at Cambridge University. His ideas grew
out of the Moore School lectures he had
attended three years earlier.
For programming the EDSAC, Wilkes
established a library of short programs
called subroutines stored on punched
paper tapes.
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Technology: |
vacuum tubes |
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Memory: |
1K words, 17
bits, mercury delay line |
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Speed: |
714 operations
per second |
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More from 1949 -->
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Manchester Mark I |
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Computers
The Manchester Mark I computer
functioned as a complete system using
the Williams tube for memory. This
University machine became the prototype
for Ferranti Corp.´s first computer.
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Start of project: |
1947 |
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Completed: |
1949 |
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Add time: |
1.8 microseconds |
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Input/output: |
paper tape,
teleprinter, switches |
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Memory size: |
128 + 1024
40-digit words |
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Memory type: |
cathode ray tube,
magnetic drum |
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Technology: |
1,300 vacuum
tubes |
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Floor space: |
medium room |
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Project leaders: |
Frederick
Williams and Tom Kilburn |
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More from 1949 -->
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ERA 1101 drum memory |
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Computers
Engineering Research Associates of
Minneapolis built the ERA 1101, the
first commercially produced computer;
the company´s first customer was the
U.S. Navy. It held 1 million bits on its
magnetic drum, the earliest magnetic
storage devices. Drums registered
information as magnetic pulses in tracks
around a metal cylinder. Read/write
heads both recorded and recovered the
data. Drums eventually stored as many as
4,000 words and retrieved any one of
them in as little as five-thousandths of
a second. |
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More from 1950 -->
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SEAC |
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Computers
The National Bureau of Standards
constructed the SEAC (Standards Eastern
Automatic Computer) in Washington as a
laboratory for testing components and
systems for setting computer standards.
The SEAC was the first computer to use
all-diode logic, a technology more
reliable than vacuum tubes, and the
first stored-program computer completed
in the United States. Magnetic tape in
the external storage units (shown on the
right of this photo) stored programming
information, coded subroutines,
numerical data, and output. |
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More from 1950 -->
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SWAC |
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Computers
The National Bureau of Standards
completed its SWAC (Standards Western
Automatic Computer) at the Institute for
Numerical Analysis in Los Angeles.
Rather than testing components like its
companion, the SEAC, the SWAC had an
objective of computing using
already-developed technology. |
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More from 1950 -->
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Pilot ACE |
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Computers
Alan Turing´s philosophy directed design
of Britain´s Pilot ACE at the National
Physical Laboratory. "We are trying
to build a machine to do all kinds of
different things simply by programming
rather than by the addition of extra
apparatus," Turing said at a
symposium on large-scale digital
calculating machinery in 1947 in
Cambridge, Mass.
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Start of project: |
1948 |
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Completed: |
1950 |
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Add time: |
1.8 microseconds |
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Input/output: |
cards |
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Memory size: |
352 32-digit
words |
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Memory type: |
delay lines |
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Technology: |
800 vacuum tubes |
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Floor space: |
12 square feet |
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Project leader: |
J. H. Wilkinson |
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More from 1950 -->
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MIT Whirlwind |
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Computers
MIT´s Whirlwind debuted on Edward R.
Murrow´s "See It Now" television series.
Project director Jay Forrester described
the computer as a "reliable operating
system," running 35 hours a week at
90-percent utility using an
electrostatic tube memory.
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Start of project: |
1945 |
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Completed: |
1951 |
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Add time: |
.05 microseconds |
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Input/output: |
cathode ray tube,
paper tape, magnetic tape |
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Memory size: |
2048 16-digit
words |
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Memory type: |
cathode ray tube,
magnetic drum, tape (1953 - core
memory) |
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Technology: |
4,500 vacuum
tubes, 14,800 diodes |
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Floor space: |
3,100 square feet |
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Project leaders: |
Jay Forrester and
Robert Everett |
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More from 1951 -->
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LEO
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Computers
England´s first commercial computer, the
Lyons Electronic Office, solved clerical
problems. The president of Lyons Tea Co.
had the computer, modeled after the
EDSAC, built to solve the problem of
daily scheduling production and delivery
of cakes to the Lyons tea shops. After
the success of the first LEO, Lyons went
into business manufacturing computers to
meet the growing need for data
processing systems. |
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More from 1951 -->
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UNIVAC I |
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Computers
The UNIVAC I delivered to the U.S.
Census Bureau was the first commercial
computer to attract widespread public
attention. Although manufactured by
Remington Rand, the machine often was
mistakenly referred to as the "IBM
UNIVAC." Remington Rand eventually sold
46 machines at more than $1 million
each.F.O.B. factory $750,000 plus
$185,000 for a high speed printer.
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Speed: |
1,905 operations
per second |
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Input/output: |
magnetic tape,
unityper, printer |
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Memory size: |
1,000 12-digit
words in delay lines |
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Memory type: |
delay lines,
magnetic tape |
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Technology: |
serial vacuum
tubes, delay lines, magnetic
tape |
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Floor space: |
943 cubic feet |
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Cost: |
F.O.B. factory
$750,000 plus $185,000 for a
high speed printer |
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Project leaders: |
J. Presper Eckert
and John Mauchly |
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More from 1951 -->
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von Neumann´s IAS |
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Computers
John von Neumann´s IAS computer became
operational at the Institute for
Advanced Studies in Princeton, N.J.
Contract obliged the builders to share
their designs with other research
institutes. This resulted in a number of
clones: the MANIAC at Los Alamos
Scientific Laboratory, the ILLIAC at the
University of Illinois, the Johnniac at
Rand Corp., the SILLIAC in Australia,
and others. |
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More from 1952 -->
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IBM 701 |
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Computers
IBM shipped its first electronic
computer, the 701. During three years of
production, IBM sold 19 machines to
research laboratories, aircraft
companies, and the federal government. |
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More from 1953 -->
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IBM 650 |
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Computers
The IBM 650 magnetic drum calculator
established itself as the first
mass-produced computer, with the company
selling 450 in one year. Spinning at
12,500 rpm, the 650´s magnetic
data-storage drum allowed much faster
access to stored material than drum
memory machines. |
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More from 1954 -->
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MIT TX0 |
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Computers
MIT researchers built the TX-0, the
first general-purpose, programmable
computer built with transistors. For
easy replacement, designers placed each
transistor circuit inside a "bottle,"
similar to a vacuum tube. Constructed at
MIT´s Lincoln Laboratory, the TX-0 moved
to the MIT Research Laboratory of
Electronics, where it hosted some early
imaginative tests of programming,
including a Western movie shown on TV,
3-D tic-tac-toe, and a maze in which
mouse found martinis and became
increasingly inebriated. |
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More from 1956 -->
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SAGE operator station |
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Computers
SAGE — Semi-Automatic Ground Environment
— linked hundreds of radar stations in
the United States and Canada in the
first large-scale computer
communications network. An operator
directed actions by touching a light gun
to the screen.
The air defense system operated on the
AN/FSQ-7 computer (known as Whirlwind II
during its development at MIT) as its
central computer. Each computer used a
full megawatt of power to drive its
55,000 vacuum tubes, 175,000 diodes and
13,000 transistors. |
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More from 1958 -->
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Computers
Japan´s NEC built the country´s first
electronic computer, the NEAC 1101. |
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More from 1958 -->
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IBM STRETCH |
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Computers
IBM´s 7000 series mainframes were the
company´s first transistorized
computers. At the top of the line of
computers — all of which emerged
significantly faster and more dependable
than vacuum tube machines — sat the
7030, also known as the "Stretch." Nine
of the computers, which featured a
64-bit word and other innovations, were
sold to national laboratories and other
scientific users. L. R. Johnson first
used the term "architecture" in
describing the Stretch. |
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More from 1959 -->
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DEC PDP-1 |
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Computers
The precursor to the minicomputer, DEC´s
PDP-1 sold for $120,000. One of 50
built, the average PDP-1 included with a
cathode ray tube graphic display, needed
no air conditioning and required only
one operator. It´s large scope intrigued
early hackers at MIT, who wrote the
first computerized video game,
SpaceWar!, for it. The SpaceWar!
creators then used the game as a
standard demonstration on all 50
computers. |
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More from 1960 -->
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IBM 1401 |
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Computers
According to Datamation magazine, IBM
had an 81.2-percent share of the
computer market in 1961, the year in
which it introduced the 1400 Series. The
1401 mainframe, the first in the series,
replaced the vacuum tube with smaller,
more reliable transistors and used a
magnetic core memory.
Demand called for more than 12,000 of
the 1401 computers, and the machine´s
success made a strong case for using
general-purpose computers rather than
specialized systems. |
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More from 1961 -->
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Clark with LINC-8 |
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Computers
The LINC (Laboratory Instrumentation
Computer) offered the first real time
laboratory data processing. Designed by
Wesley Clark at Lincoln Laboratories,
Digital Equipment Corp. later
commercialized it as the LINC-8.
Research faculty came to a workshop at
MIT to build their own machines, most of
which they used in biomedical studies.
DEC supplied components. |
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More from 1962 -->
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IBM System/360 |
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Computers
IBM announced the System/360, a family
of six mutually compatible computers and
40 peripherals that could work together.
The initial investment of $5 billion was
quickly returned as orders for the
system climbed to 1,000 per month within
two years. At the time IBM released the
System/360, the company was making a
transition from discrete transistors to
integrated circuits, and its major
source of revenue moved from
punched-card equipment to electronic
computer systems. |
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More from 1964 -->
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CDC 6600 |
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Computers
CDC´s 6600 supercomputer, designed by
Seymour Cray, performed up to 3 million
instructions per second — a processing
speed three times faster than that of
its closest competitor, the IBM Stretch.
The 6600 retained the distinction of
being the fastest computer in the world
until surpassed by its successor, the
CDC 7600, in 1968. Part of the speed
came from the computer´s design, which
had 10 small computers, known as
peripheral processors, funneling data to
a large central processing unit. |
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More from 1964 -->
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DEC PDP-8 |
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Computers
Digital Equipment Corp. introduced the
PDP-8, the first commercially successful
minicomputer. The PDP-8 sold for
$18,000, one-fifth the price of a small
IBM 360 mainframe. The speed, small
size, and reasonable cost enabled the
PDP-8 to go into thousands of
manufacturing plants, small businesses,
and scientific laboratories. |
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More from 1965 -->
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ILLIAC IV |
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Computers
The Department of Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency contracted with
the University of Illinois to build a
large parallel processing computer, the
ILLIAC IV, which did not operate until
1972 at NASA´s Ames Research Center. The
first large-scale array computer, the
ILLIAC IV achieved a computation speed
of 200 million instructions per second,
about 300 million operations per second,
and 1 billion bits per second of I/O
transfer via a unique combination of
parallel architecture and the
overlapping or "pipe-lining" structure
of its 64 processing elements.
This photograph shows one of the
ILLIAC´s 13 Burroughs disks, the
debugging computer, the central unit,
and the processing unit cabinet with a
processing element. |
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More from 1966 -->
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HP-2115 |
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Computers
Hewlett-Packard entered the general
purpose computer business with its
HP-2115 for computation, offering a
computational power formerly found only
in much larger computers. It supported a
wide variety of languages, among them
BASIC, ALGOL, and FORTRAN. |
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More from 1966 -->
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Ed deCastro and Nova |
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Computers
Data General Corp., started by a group
of engineers that had left Digital
Equipment Corp., introduced the Nova,
with 32 kilobytes of memory, for $8,000.
In the photograph, Ed deCastro,
president and founder of Data General,
sits with a Nova minicomputer. The
simple architecture of the Nova
instruction set inspired Steve Wozniak´s
Apple I board eight years later. |
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More from 1968 -->
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Apollo Guidance Computer |
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Computers
The Apollo Guidance Computer made its
debut orbiting the Earth on Apollo 7. A
year later, it steered Apollo 11 to the
lunar surface. Astronauts communicated
with the computer by punching two-digit
codes and the appropriate syntactic
category into the display and keyboard
unit. |
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More from 1968 -->
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Kenbak-1 |
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Computers
The Kenbak-1, the first personal
computer, advertised for $750 in
Scientific American. Designed by John V.
Blankenbaker using standard medium-scale
and small-scale integrated circuits, the
Kenbak-1 relied on switches for input
and lights for output from its 256-byte
memory. In 1973, after selling only 40
machines, Kenbak Corp. closed its doors. |
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More from 1971 -->
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HP-35 |
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Computers
Hewlett-Packard announced the HP-35 as
"a fast, extremely accurate
electronic slide rule" with a
solid-state memory similar to that of a
computer. The HP-35 distinguished itself
from its competitors by its ability to
perform a broad variety of logarithmic
and trigonometric functions, to store
more intermediate solutions for later
use, and to accept and display entries
in a form similar to standard scientific
notation. |
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More from 1972 -->
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TV Typewriter |
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Computers
The TV Typewriter, designed by Don
Lancaster, provided the first display of
alphanumeric information on an ordinary
television set. It used $120 worth of
electronics components, as outlined in
the September 1973 issue of Radio
Electronics. The original design
included two memory boards and could
generate and store 512 characters as 16
lines of 32 characters. A 90-minute
cassette tape provided supplementary
storage for about 100 pages of text. |
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More from 1973 -->
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Micral |
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Computers
The Micral was the earliest commercial,
non-kit personal computer based on a
micro-processor, the Intel 8008. Thi
Truong developed the computer and
Philippe Kahn the software. Truong,
founder and president of the French
company R2E, created the Micral as a
replacement for minicomputers in
situations that didn´t require high
performance. Selling for $1,750, the
Micral never penetrated the U.S. market.
In 1979, Truong sold Micral to Bull. |
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More from 1973 -->
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Xerox Alto |
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Computers
Researchers at the Xerox Palo Alto
Research Center designed the Alto — the
first work station with a built-in mouse
for input. The Alto stored several files
simultaneously in windows, offered menus
and icons, and could link to a local
area network. Although Xerox never sold
the Alto commercially, it gave a number
of them to universities. Engineers later
incorporated its features into work
stations and personal computers. |
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More from 1974 -->
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Scelbi 8H |
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Computers
Scelbi advertised its 8H computer, the
first commercially advertised U.S.
computer based on a microprocessor,
Intel´s 8008. Scelbi aimed the 8H,
available both in kit form and fully
assembled, at scientific, electronic,
and biological applications. It had 4
kilobytes of internal memory and a
cassette tape, with both teletype and
oscilloscope interfaces. In 1975, Scelbi
introduced the 8B version with 16
kilobytes of memory for the business
market. The company sold about 200
machines, losing $500 per unit. |
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More from 1974 -->
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MITS Altair |
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Computers
The January edition of Popular
Electronics featured the Altair 8800
computer kit, based on Intel´s 8080
microprocessor, on its cover. Within
weeks of the computer´s debut, customers
inundated the manufacturing company,
MITS, with orders. Bill Gates and Paul
Allen licensed BASIC as the software
language for the Altair. Ed Roberts
invented the 8800 — which sold for $297,
or $395 with a case — and coined the
term "personal computer." The machine
came with 256 bytes of memory
(expandable to 64K) and an open 100-line
bus structure that evolved into the
S-100 standard. In 1977, MITS sold out
to Pertec, which continued producing
Altairs through 1978. |
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More from 1975 -->
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Felsenstein´s VDM |
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Computers
The visual display module (VDM)
prototype, designed in 1975 by Lee
Felsenstein, marked the first
implementation of a memory-mapped
alphanumeric video display for personal
computers. Introduced at the Altair
Convention in Albuquerque in March 1976,
the visual display module allowed use of
personal computers for interactive
games. |
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More from 1975 -->
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Tandem-16 |
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Computers
Tandem computers tailored its Tandem-16,
the first fault-tolerant computer, for
online transaction processing. The
banking industry rushed to adopt the
machine, built to run during repair or
expansion. |
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More from 1975 -->
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Apple I |
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Computers
Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I, a
single-board computer. With
specifications in hand and an order for
100 machines at $500 each from the Byte
Shop, he and Steve Jobs got their start
in business. In this photograph of the
Apple I board, the upper two rows are a
video terminal and the lower two rows
are the computer. The 6502
microprocessor in the white package sits
on the lower right. About 200 of the
machines sold before the company
announced the Apple II as a complete
computer. |
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More from 1976 -->
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Cray I |
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Computers
The Cray I made its name as the first
commercially successful vector
processor. The fastest machine of its
day, its speed came partly from its
shape, a C, which reduced the length of
wires and thus the time signals needed
to travel across them.
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Project started: |
1972 |
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Project
completed: |
1976 |
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Speed: |
166 million
floating-point operations per
second |
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Size: |
58 cubic feet |
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Weight: |
5,300 lbs. |
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Technology: |
Integrated
circuit |
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Clock rate: |
83 million cycles
per second |
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Word length: |
64-bit words |
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Instruction set: |
128 instructions |
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More from 1976 -->
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Commodore PET |
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Computers
The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic
Transactor) — the first of several
personal computers released in 1977 —
came fully assembled and was
straightforward to operate, with either
4 or 8 kilobytes of memory, two built-in
cassette drives, and a membrane
"chiclet" keyboard. |
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More from 1977 -->
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Apple II |
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Computers
The Apple II became an instant success
when released in 1977 with it´s printed
circuit motherboard, switching power
supply, keyboard, case assembly, manual,
game paddles, A/C powercord, and
cassette tape with the computer game
"Breakout." When hooked up to a color
television set, the Apple II produced
brilliant color graphics. |
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More from 1977 -->
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TRS-80 |
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Computers
In the first month after its release,
Tandy Radio Shack´s first desktop
computer — the TRS-80 — sold 10,000
units, well more than the company´s
projected sales of 3,000 units for one
year. Priced at $599.95, the machine
included a Z80 based microprocessor, a
video display, 4 kilobytes of memory,
BASIC, cassette storage, and
easy-to-understand manuals that assumed
no prior knowledge on the part of the
consumer. |
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More from 1977 -->
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VAX 11/780 |
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Computers
The VAX 11/780 from Digital Equipment
Corp. featured the ability to address up
to 4.3 gigabytes of virtual memory,
providing hundreds of times the capacity
of most minicomputers. |
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More from 1978 -->
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Computers
IBM introduced its PC, igniting a fast
growth of the personal computer market.
The first PC ran on a 4.77 MHz Intel
8088 microprocessor and used Microsoft´s
MS-DOS operating system. |
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More from 1981 -->
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Osborne I |
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Computers
Adam Osborne completed the first
portable computer, the Osborne I, which
weighed 24 pounds and cost $1,795. The
price made the machine especially
attractive, as it included software
worth about $1,500. The machine featured
a 5-inch display, 64 kilobytes of
memory, a modem, and two 5 1/4-inch
floppy disk drives.
In April 1981, Byte Magazine Editor in
Chief Chris Morgan mentioned the Osborne
I in an article on "Future Trends in
Personal Computing." He wrote: "I
recently had an opportunity to see the
Osborne I in action. I was impressed
with it´s compactness: it will fit under
an airplane seat. (Adam Osborne is
currently seeking approval from the FAA
to operate the unit on board a plane.)
One quibble: the screen may be too small
for some people´s taste." |
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More from 1981 -->
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Apollo DN100 |
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Computers
Apollo Computer unveiled the first work
station, its DN100, offering more power
than some minicomputers at a fraction of
the price. Apollo Computer and Sun
Microsystems, another early entrant in
the work station market, optimized their
machines to run the computer-intensive
graphics programs common in engineering. |
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More from 1981 -->
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Computers
The Cray XMP, first produced in this
year, almost doubled the operating speed
of competing machines with a parallel
processing system that ran at 420
million floating-point operations per
second, or megaflops. Arranging two
Crays to work together on different
parts of the same problem achieved the
faster speed. Defense and scientific
research institutes also heavily used
Crays. |
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More from 1982 -->
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Computers
Apple introduced its Lisa. The first
personal computer with a graphical user
interface, its development was central
in the move to such systems for personal
computers. The Lisa´s sloth and high
price ($10,000) led to its ultimate
failure.
The Lisa ran on a Motorola 68000
microprocessor and came equipped with 1
megabyte of RAM, a 12-inch
black-and-white monitor, dual 5 1/4-inch
floppy disk drives and a 5 megabyte
Profile hard drive. The Xerox Star —
which included a system called Smalltalk
that involved a mouse, windows, and
pop-up menus — inspired the Lisa´s
designers. |
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More from 1983 -->
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Compaq PC clone |
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Computers
Compaq Computer Corp. introduced first
PC clone that used the same software as
the IBM PC. With the success of the
clone, Compaq recorded first-year sales
of $111 million, the most ever by an
American business in a single year.
With the introduction of its PC clone,
Compaq launched a market for
IBM-compatible computers that by 1996
had achieved a 83-percent share of the
personal computer market. Designers
reverse-engineered the Compaq clone,
giving it nearly 100-percent
compatibility with the IBM. |
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More from 1983 -->
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Apple Macintosh |
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Computers
Apple Computer launched the Macintosh,
the first successful mouse-driven
computer with a graphic user interface,
with a single $1.5 million commercial
during the 1984 Super Bowl. Based on the
Motorola 68000 microprocessor, the
Macintosh included many of the Lisa´s
features at a much more affordable
price: $2,500.
Apple´s commercial played on the theme
of George Orwell´s "1984" and featured
the destruction of Big Brother with the
power of personal computing found in a
Macintosh. Applications that came as
part of the package included MacPaint,
which made use of the mouse, and
MacWrite, which demonstrated WYSIWYG (What
You See Is What
You Get) word processing. |
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IBM PC Jr. |
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Computers
IBM released its PC Jr. and PC-AT. The
PC Jr. failed, but the PC-AT, several
times faster than original PC and based
on the Intel 80286 chip, claimed success
with its notable increases in
performance and storage capacity, all
for about $4,000. It also included more
RAM and accommodated high-density
1.2-megabyte 5 1/4-inch floppy disks. |
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More from 1984 -->
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Connection Machine |
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Computers
Daniel Hillis of Thinking Machines Corp.
moved artificial intelligence a step
forward when he developed the
controversial concept of massive
parallelism in the Connection Machine.
The machine used 16,000 processors and
could complete several billion
operations per second. Each processor
had its own small memory linked with
others through a flexible network that
users could alter by reprogramming
rather than rewiring.
The machine´s system of connections and
switches let processors broadcast
information and requests for help to
other processors in a simulation of
brainlike associative recall. Using this
system, the machine could work faster
than any other at the time on a problem
that could be parceled out among the
many processors. |
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More from 1986 -->
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Computers
IBM and MIPS released the first
RISC-based workstations, the PC/RT and
R2000-based systems. Reduced instruction
set computers grew out of the
observation that the simplest 20 percent
of a computer´s instruction set does 80
percent of the work, including most base
operations such as add, load from
memory, and store in memory.
The IBM PC-RT had 1 megabyte of RAM, a
1.2-megabyte floppy disk drive, and a
40-megabyte hard drive. It performed 2
million instructions per second, but
other RISC-based computers worked
significantly faster. |
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More from 1986 -->
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IBM PS/2 |
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Computers
IBM introduced its PS/2 machines, which
made the 3 1/2-inch floppy disk drive
and video graphics array standard for
IBM computers. The first IBMs to include
Intel´s 80386 chip, the company had
shipped more than 1 million units by the
end of the year. IBM released a new
operating system, OS/2, at the same
time, allowing the use of a mouse with
IBMs for the first time. |
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More from 1987 -->
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NeXT |
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Computers
Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, who left
Apple to form his own company, unveiled
the NeXT. The computer he created failed
but was recognized as an important
innovation. At a base price of $6,500,
the NeXT ran too slowly to be popular.
The significance of the NeXT rested in
its place as the first personal computer
to incorporate a drive for an optical
storage disk, a built-in digital signal
processor that allowed voice
recognition, and object-oriented
languages to simplify programming. The
NeXT offered Motorola 68030
microprocessors, 8 megabytes of RAM, and
a 256-megabyte read/write optical disk
storage. |
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More from 1988 -->
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