Historical computers...

Title says it all
Message
Author
User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Historical computers...

#1 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Oct 04, 2020 12:14 pm

I know that there are one of two here who might find this interesting and who may have suggestions of their own. I haven't included abacusses, tabulators (with a hat tip to Martin Hollerith) and so on and have arbitrarily started after the Second World war thus excluding pioneers from all over the world including luminaries such as Luigi Federico Menabrea, Joseph Marie Jacquard, Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace (whose name graced the computer language I used to program in) and so many others including the Polish bombas and Turing et al's bombes, Von Neumann and so on.

Being an Anglophile I would like to start with the Manchester Mark 1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Mark_1
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: Historical computers...

#2 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Oct 04, 2020 1:36 pm

TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 12:14 pm
I haven't included abacusses, tabulators (with a hat tip to Martin Hollerith) @-)

Being an Anglophile I would like to start with the Manchester Mark 1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Mark_1
Herman Hollerith of course!
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
ian16th
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 10029
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:35 am
Location: KZN South Coast with the bananas
Gender:
Age: 87

Re: Historical computers...

#3 Post by ian16th » Sun Oct 04, 2020 1:49 pm

Cynicism improves with age

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: Historical computers...

#4 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Oct 04, 2020 2:29 pm

ian16th wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 1:49 pm
LEO
Teashops and confectionaries... :)

The first commercial/business computer.

Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

G-CPTN
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 7595
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 11:22 pm
Location: Tynedale
Gender:
Age: 79

Re: Historical computers...

#5 Post by G-CPTN » Sun Oct 04, 2020 2:39 pm


User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: Historical computers...

#6 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Oct 04, 2020 2:51 pm

G-CPTN wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 2:39 pm
I remember Lyons 'Corner Houses'.
True love. Oh Ms Nippy... =))

July-1939-Lyons-Cafe-Ludgate-799x1024.jpg
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
ian16th
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 10029
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:35 am
Location: KZN South Coast with the bananas
Gender:
Age: 87

Re: Historical computers...

#7 Post by ian16th » Sun Oct 04, 2020 3:19 pm

Back on thread, IBM System/360.
Cynicism improves with age

G-CPTN
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 7595
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 11:22 pm
Location: Tynedale
Gender:
Age: 79

Re: Historical computers...

#8 Post by G-CPTN » Sun Oct 04, 2020 3:24 pm

CALL 360.
System 7.

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: Historical computers...

#9 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Oct 04, 2020 3:28 pm

ian16th wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 3:19 pm
Back on thread, IBM System/360.
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
ian16th
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 10029
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:35 am
Location: KZN South Coast with the bananas
Gender:
Age: 87

Re: Historical computers...

#10 Post by ian16th » Sun Oct 04, 2020 5:41 pm

The first one I worked on!

Cynicism improves with age

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: Historical computers...

#11 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:18 pm

G-CPTN wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 3:24 pm
CALL 360.
System 7.
System 7, a machine for the "real time wallahs" in industrial control with most of the development occurring on a System 360 and the binary object code being transferred to System 7.

I did some similar analog system control (hydro lab) monitoring work in 6502 assembler on a 64 KB BBC micro linked by UART port to an IBM AS/400.
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
ian16th
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 10029
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:35 am
Location: KZN South Coast with the bananas
Gender:
Age: 87

Re: Historical computers...

#12 Post by ian16th » Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:30 pm

TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:18 pm
G-CPTN wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 3:24 pm
CALL 360.
System 7.
System 7, a machine for the "real time wallahs" in industrial control with most of the development occurring on a System 360 and the binary object code being transferred to System 7.
Host Program Preparation Facility, HPPF, for the S/7 was available on the IBM S/360 and IBM 1800.

Program Prep could be done on a S/7 if it had sufficient memory and a disk drive.

Program preparation was often a much bigger task than the application that the S/7 was bought to do.

Program compilation and Link Editing are both intensive tasks.
Cynicism improves with age

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: Historical computers...

#13 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:36 pm

Those IBM series history videos are superb.

Fro the who want to live the halcyon IBM System/370 years there is the Hecules emulator... :)

The Hercules System/370, ESA/390, and z/Architecture Emulator

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_(emulator)
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: Historical computers...

#14 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:54 pm

TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 2:29 pm
ian16th wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 1:49 pm
LEO
Teashops and confectionaries... :)

The first commercial/business computer.

LEO
As a South African chauvinist I must point out that one of the LEO's early programmers ended up living and working in South Africa.

Leo Fantl

Harry Brindley is a Saffer, now living in the USA...

Harry Brindley.JPG
https://slapphappe.files.wordpress.com/ ... letter.jpg
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: Historical computers...

#15 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:15 pm

ian16th wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:30 pm
TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:18 pm
G-CPTN wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 3:24 pm
CALL 360.
System 7.
System 7, a machine for the "real time wallahs" in industrial control with most of the development occurring on a System 360 and the binary object code being transferred to System 7.
Host Program Preparation Facility, HPPF, for the S/7 was available on the IBM S/360 and IBM 1800.

Program Prep could be done on a S/7 if it had sufficient memory and a disk drive.

Program preparation was often a much bigger task than the application that the S/7 was bought to do.

Program compilation and Link Editing are both intensive tasks.
Talk of the IBM System 7 brought to mind the IBM System 1 which in turn brought to mind Don Estridge RIP

Don Estridge

Delta Air Lines Flight 191
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
ian16th
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 10029
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:35 am
Location: KZN South Coast with the bananas
Gender:
Age: 87

Re: Historical computers...

#16 Post by ian16th » Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:32 pm

TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:15 pm


Talk of the IBM System 7 brought to mind the IBM System Series/1 which in turn brought to mind Don Estridge RIP

Don Estridge

Delta Air Lines Flight 191
Cynicism improves with age

User avatar
ExSp33db1rd
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 3229
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 1:51 am
Location: Lesser Antipode
Gender:
Age: 89

Re: Historical computers...

#17 Post by ExSp33db1rd » Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:49 pm

I still have my E6B Dead Reckoning Navigational Computer mark 4. Made by the London Name Plate Manufacturing Company.

Well, It's labelled Computer, so it must be one !

User avatar
ian16th
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 10029
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:35 am
Location: KZN South Coast with the bananas
Gender:
Age: 87

Re: Historical computers...

#18 Post by ian16th » Sun Oct 04, 2020 9:09 pm

ExSp33db1rd wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:49 pm
I still have my E6B Dead Reckoning Navigational Computer mark 4. Made by the London Name Plate Manufacturing Company.

Well, It's labelled Computer, so it must be one !
Too true.
The Lincoln's I worked on at Lindholme, c1954, had a Bomb Sight Computer!
Cynicism improves with age

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: Historical computers...

#19 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Oct 04, 2020 9:20 pm

ExSp33db1rd wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:49 pm
I still have my E6B Dead Reckoning Navigational Computer mark 4. Made by the London Name Plate Manufacturing Company.

Well, It's labelled Computer, so it must be one !
Tis a mechanical analogue computer tis true.
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

jimtherev
Station Padre
Station Padre
Posts: 1417
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 4:40 pm
Location: A country mouse in Derbyshire
Gender:
Age: 85

Re: Historical computers...

#20 Post by jimtherev » Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:06 pm

Harwell had a LEO - or something very close to one - and my then fiancée wrote programs for it in '58 or '59 it must have been. Being low-priority - fast breeder reactors were still a bit in the future - she could only get machine time after 22:00, so we used to schlep in together for a few hours whilst the programs ran. Nice and quiet & not much to do - well, not computing, anyway.
Eventually skirted staff were banned from the computer suite: the fashion was then for wide-skirted 'frocks' with lots of petticoats, and so much static electricity was there that the machine frequently crashed. (Crashed quite often without human interference, for that matter) And so, since she was of the persuasion which would not wear trousers, our happy midnight hours ceased.
Other abiding memory was the ferrite core store - all 16k of it - which occupied a portable building about 20 ft by 10 ft.

Post Reply