9 Dec
1998
9 Dec
'98
6:55 p.m.
On Wed, 9 Dec 1998, Aaron Christopher Finney wrote:
And the 1/3 part is in the form of the
"electronic" computer I'm building
from the January 1960 issue of Electronics Illustrated...(flip-flops,
light-bulbs, and a rotary phone dial - woo-hoo!) I'm about 1/3
completed...
One of my favorite early personal computers! I regret that the designer
didn't give it a name, though. Specs:
Name: "Electronic Computer"
Intro: Jan 1960
Price: approx $35
Technology: discrete transistors
Memory: 6 bits
Input: rotary telephone dial
Clock speed: as fast as you can dial
Output: 12 incandescent lights
Programming language: patch cords
The author describes how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide on this
box, but it's really more of a calculator than a computer since it doesn't
have control logic or a clock.
I hope to do a web page some day that describes this machine and several
other home computers from the 1950's and 1960's.
-- Doug