The “human computers” who operated ENIAC have received little credit
From the abacus to the IBM personal computer, calculating devices have come a long way. Let's take a look through the history of these machines and the remarkable progress that came with the 20th century.
80 MB for under $12,000?
Imagine that the first computers filled the whole room. Now, we have computers so small that they can be put in our pockets. Explore the evolution of computers and find out what technological achievements allowed them to become as powerful as they are now.
Even terug in de geschiedenis om te zien of deze baantjes je bekend voorkomen.
From the abacus to the IBM personal computer, calculating devices have come a long way. Let's take a look through the history of these machines and the remarkable progress that came with the 20th century.
Analytical Engine, generally considered the first computer, designed and partly built by the English inventor Charles Babbage in the 19th century. The Analytical Engine was to be a general-purpose, fully program-controlled, automatic mechanical digital computer.
In 2009, English scientist Stephen Wolfram started a website--an "answer" engine--to redefine how information is gathered on its greatest-ever conduit. In this timeline, he catalogs "how our civilization has systematized knowledge, and gradually made it amenable to automation. This is about data and how it came to be the way it is in our world." Click to launch a 22,000 year tour through the history of data.
BoingBoing has a great gallery containing 101 computer system and game ads from the past. Enjoy your trip down nostalgia lane and for you kids that...
Most celebrities take style tips from designer magazines and other Hollywood icons, but these stars thought to take an even more unique route! Think they pulled it off?
Before the Internet, there was ARPANET. Based on a governmental initiative, ARPANET built the World Wide Web from the ground up.
Hollerith is a name that you'll come across if you study computer science. Several concepts have been named after Herman Hollerith who invented an automated punch card tabulating machine. Herman Hollerith was one of the founders of a company that later became IBM. Hollerith's invention lead to the punched cards which were a big part of the day to day work of early professional computer programmers. Herman Hollerith was born on February 29th 1860 in Buffalo, New York. Yes, he had a leap day birthday, so we thought we'd better cover him today or we would have to wait another 4 years! We think it's important that kids understand the history of computing. Most western kids today grow up with internet at home and access to mobile technology. We've previously written about key tech innovators such as Ada Lovelace, George Boole, Grace Hopper and Thomas Edison. Hollerith originally invented his punch card machine for accurate data handling for the US census. (There had been punched cards before in use in weaving looms and musical instruments.) IBM progressed the use of punch card based machines and early general purpose computers were programmed with punch cards. Thanks to Hollerith, early computer programmers were able to capture their programs on physical punched cards that could be fed into a computer. This meant that programs could be prepared in advance and modified by adding, removing or physically editting cards. Punch Card Early computer programmers didn't have the benefit of being able to run their code immediately. They would have to write the whole thing and then submit it when they got a slot on a computer. It was very annoying if it had a bug. Throughout my career I met lots of people who had used punched cards in their job. The legacy of punched cards was very strong in the layout of the FORTRAN programming language that I used in one of my early jobs. If you want to see a punch card preparation machine then watch Bubble Whiting's fantastic demonstration and explanation of how she used one in her job: In this video Professor Brailsford explains how punch cards, or Hollerith cards, work and shares his experience of using them: In these days of fantastic browser based coding sites for kids, Hollerith cards look really hard work! But they were a significant step towards coding becoming accessible.
One of only ten surviving Kenbak-1 personal computers from 1971 was knocked down at auction for €34,000 (US$36,500) last weekend.
'How it Works' - The Computer. 1971 Ladybird book.
For 30 years the IBM PC has dictated our digital lives. It has been a wild ride, but is it now time for the PC to step aside and let the tablets in?
The Computers, which work with the natural phenomena and physical values like frequency, earthquake, volcano, water flow, current flow etc, are known as analog computers. They are based on continuous changing values or voltage levels. These types of computers are used in scientific work, commercial and personal purpose. Examples of analog computer some of its characteristics are presented below: 1. Based on continuous varying data. 2. Measure only natural or physical values. 3. Used for special purpose. 4. Generally, no storage facility is available because they work on real time basis. If provided, then only a little amount of storage is available in it. 5. Accuracy of these types of computers is very less because of noise and Filtering facility. Increasing accuracy is costly. 6. Output of that signal sis also not well known by general public because They are in form of wave lines, curved lines or grapes. 7. The wave form of analog signals is represented in figure below. 1.1o.2.2 Digital Computer: - These computers are based on discrete quantities and are represented with binary numbers. They are based on binary digits. Binary system is such system of numbering in which only 2 digits are used 0 and 1. Meaning of 0 is either OFF; FALSE, NO etc and 1 is ON, TRUE, YES etc. So the basic principle of these computers is either present or absence of electrical pulses in the signals, Examples of these computers are IBM PC, Apple/Macintosh etc. Some major characteristics of these computers are listed below: 1. Based on discrete data which are not continuous with time. 2. Based on principle of logic 1 and 0 (high and low voltage). 3. Used for general purpose. 4. They are more reliable because of less noise and filtering facility. 5. It has large memory capacity because the calculations are to be stored internally for future use and re-programming. 6. It is multipurpose and programmable, so, it is of high cost and faster Processing. 1. Signal representation of digital pulses is shown in figure below. 1.10.2.3 Hybrid Computers Hybrid means combination or cross-link of two or more types. So, as the name suggests, it is combination of analog and digital computers. It can perform the works done by analog computers as well as digital computers, examples of these types of computers are: computers used in hospitals, computers used in jet planes etc. The best example of hybrid device is Modern. It consists of both analog and digital parts. Some other major characteristics of these computers are presented below. 1. Combination of good qualities of analog as well as digital computer. 2. Can process both continuous and discrete data. It has capacity to convert one type of data into another. 3. These are special purpose machine. 4. Mostly used in airplanes, hospitals etc. 5. High cost. c) On the basis of brand - IBM Computer IBM, which was established by Dr. Herman Holleith in 1923 AD, is the largest computer manufacturing company in the world till today. It was leading the market of mainframe and PCs. Nowadays it uses the processors, multimedia devices and some other hardware parts developed by some other companies like Intel but use the principle of its own. So, all the computers developed by IBM company are called IBM computers, it has two categories; a) IBM PC and b) IBM compatible. The computers developed by IBM company itself are called branded or IBM PC. Computers which are developed or assembled by other companies using the parts and principle of IBM PCs are called IBM compatibles. So, IBM compatibles are also called duplicate of IBM PCs. - Apple/Macintosh Computer: - Apple Corporation was established in 1970 AD in USA. By far it has gone much forward and produced PCs with good qualities and user friendly. So, all the computers that are developed by Apple Corporation are called Apple/ Macintosh (Mac) computers. These computers are architecturally totally different. Software made of IBM's not only hardware part, but their software architecture is also totally different. Software made for IBM PC can't be run in Macintosh or vice versa. Floppy disks or hard disks formatted in one can't be recognized by other. Before 2006 they used power PC processor like G3, but nowadays they are using Intel processor. d) On the basis of model - XT Computer: - XT (eXtra Technology) Computers are the old technology computers with much slower processing speed (not more than 4.77 Mhz). Advanced GUI based software like (Windows) can't be run in these computers. Everything was based on text based system. Serial number of processors was like 8086, 8088 which were developed bye Intel and were 16 bit world length. Complex calculation and large processing couldn't be done. I/O devices were not flexible and faster. - AT Computer: - AT (Advanced Technology) computers are the new technology computers. They are faster in processing than XT and can run any type of software whether that is text based or GUI based. Serial number of processors is 80286, 80386, 80486, Pentium1, Pentium 2 etc. Any type of complex and long processing can be done depending on the capacity of the computers. I/O devices are interactive, flexible and faster. Word length exceeds 16 bits. Co-processors are used to help the main processors for complex mathematics. - PS/2 Computer: - Actually, these are not totally different models of computers but are refinement of AT computers. These models were built after 1990s and mostly used in laptop computers. Rechargeable and battery operated systems with faster and flexible I/O devices are some important characteristics of these computers. OS/2 operating system was used at the beginning but now-a-days, windows operating system is leading. e) On the basis of purpose - General purpose Computers: - The computers that can be used for verities of purpose are called general purpose computers. The general purpose computers can be used for word processing, spread sheet applications, multimedia applications, publications etc. The desktop computers are considered as the general purpose computers because they can be used for verities of applications. - Specific purpose Computer: - The Computers that are used for some specific applications are called specific computers. The computers that are used to control the traffic light, the single chip computers used in automatic systems such as microwave oven, television set, automatic air conditioning systems and many other automatic systems are specific purpose computers. They are called specific purpose computer because they are used for one or some limited purpose. i) George Boole: One of the greatest achievements of 19th century was the discovery of mathematical logics called 'Boolean Algebra'. He studied and presented the symbolic logics which are the foundation of modern computers. His logics provided basic idea of presenting the electric circuits with binary inputs (0 or 1) and its output. (J) Dr. Herman Hollerith: He was a census statistician in Us bureau of statistics. He is remembered in the history of computers for the following contributions: Operating system Definition The operating system is defined as set of programs that control the entire operation of the computer such as handling inputs/Output operation, user request, interrupts etc the operating system manages the resources of a computer system and schedules its operation. It is a master supervisory program which provides a friendly interface for the user to interact with the computer and its peripherals and different application software as well as an environment for program to execute. Types of operating systems Based on the technological development operating system can be divided as follows:
University of Pennsylvania, the 1950s.
Learn about the 5 generations of computers (1st through 5th) & major technology developments from 1940 to 2021.
Some users gave it the acronym CADET: "Can't Add, Doesn't Even Try."
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Computers, and technology in general, have come a long way in today’s world. The modern world is actually shaped and defined through the usage of computers, those neat little gadgets that do the hard work for you. Modern computers are also perfectly capable of entertaining, organizing, reminding, even surprising you. That wasn’t always the case. Here is glimpse of the history of computers and their humble beginnings. These computers may not have been as powerful as modern computers, but they’re old black and white photos are intriguing nevertheless. If for no other reason, then because those old computers were capable of filling a whole room with their robust circuitry. Enjoy these old photos of the first generation of computers. AVIDAC, Argonne’s first digital computer, began operation in January 1953. It was built by the Physics Division for $250,000. Pictured is pioneer Argonne computer scientist Jean F. Hall. The CSIRAC was Australia’s first computer. The name stands for CSIR originally stood for “Council for Scientific and Industrial Research”. This name was in effect from 1926 to 1949. The computer history at NTNU is much older than the computer departments. The very first computer at NTNU was called DIANA, or DIfferential ANAlysator. This was an analog electronic computer built by Jens Glad Balchen and the Division of Cybernetics in the years between 1952 and 1955. A press conference for what is considered the first computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC), was held at the University of Pennsylvania on February 1, 1946. The machine (shown here with a technician) took up an entire room, weighed 30 tons and used more than 18,000 vacuum tubes to perform functions such as counting to 5,000 in one second. ENIAC, costing $450,000, was designed by the U.S. Army during World War II to make artillery calculations. The development of ENIAC paved the way for modern computer technology–but even today’s average calculator possesses more computing power than ENIAC did. First ever apple computer running windows. This is an Apple II with a monochrome screen and PC emulator hardware installed. The board was called the 88 Card, “the only fully functional 8088 processor for the Apple II personcal computer. A man and woman working at a Ferranti Pegasus computer. This computer was a classic 1950s/1960s mainframe installation, taking up the majority of space in a room. First hard disk. The rotating drum technology allowed ERA to deliver the world’s first production stored-program computer (ATLAS – ERA 1101) to a customer site in October 1950. The engineers making the installation delivery to the National Security Agency predecessor were Frank Mullaney and Jack Hill. As shown in the photo below, these drum products came in various sizes. They were first used in several classified processors, then in the early 1100 computer series and the UNIVAC SS-80 and SS-90 computers. Dr. Cohen and Sid Rubens are credited with patenting the rotating magnetic drum. The drum development engineers and management shown in this early 50’s photo, left to right are: William Keye, Arnold Hendrickson, Robert Perking, Frank Mullaney, Dr. Arnold Cohen, and John ‘Jack’ Hill. The first ever computer in Latvia was developed and made at the start-up Institute of Electronics and Computer Science in early sixties. No computers were made industrially in USSR at that time. Therefore successful completion of that project certainly represented a significant achievement. Built on a lot of vacuum tubes, the computer actually worked well and was used for supporting research activities for several years till the time when it became possible to replace it by a more powerful industrially made computer. IBM 701. IBM’s first computer. Introduced in 1952, the 701 was designed for scientific work and research, which later led to the development of the high-level FORTRAN language. Nineteen machines were built, a record volume for such a machine in that era. Its internal memory contained 2,048 36-bit words of electrostatic memory and 8,192 words of magnetic drum memory (see early memories). It used magnetic tapes for storage and was one of the first machines to use plastic-based tapes instead of metal tapes. See IBM 650 and IBM 1401. At General Electric’s Aircraft Jet Engine Plant in Evendale, Ohio, this 1954 photo shows GE manager Herbert Grosch explaining the 701 to Ronald Reagan. Reagan was a TV personality for GE at the time. Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA. A computer manufacturer founded in 1970 by Dr. Gene Amdahl, chief architect of the IBM System/360. In 1975, Amdahl installed its first IBM-compatible mainframe, the 470/V6. In 1979, Amdahl left the company he founded to form Trilogy, which tried without success to make the world’s largest chip based on wafer scale integration.
The world's oldest original working digital computer has been brought back to life and is going on display at a British computer museum, officials said.
