19 Oct
1998
19 Oct
'98
10:54 a.m.
Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)freegate.com> wrote:
Back to classic computers, it has been said, perhaps
apocryphylly(sp?),
that "My laptop has more computer power than NASA used to put men on the
moon." While it may be true, I've never actually seen a description of the
computer resources available to NASA between 1962 and 1969. Does anyone on
the list have that information?
About 18 months ago I was in one of those "Giant Book Sale" places in
Colorado, and stumbled onto a big pile of what looked like oversize paperback
coffee-table books titled _Computers in Space: Journeys with NASA_ by James
E. Tomayko. I was somewhat surprised to discover that the book actually had
quite good technical content; for instance, it contained the first
sufficiently detailed description of core rope memory (also known as wire
braid memory or transformer memory) that I'd found. Rich and I bought the
entire stack and gave them out to people as gifts. Unfortunately the book is
now out of print.
However, the same author wrote a report for NASA on the same subject, which
is available online:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/computers/Compspace.html
And it's not apochryphal. Your laptop has many times more computing power
than the ground-based systems and the on-board computers put together.
Eric