16 Dec
1998
16 Dec
'98
4:09 p.m.
Hi Doug and all,
At 12:50 AM 12/16/98 -0600, you wrote:
On Tue, 15 Dec 1998, dave dameron wrote:
O.K. :-) Well, I guess your museum will be that much more appealing. I have
seen ads for many other computer kits, most have no name so I cannot
describe them. The Digicomp I and Geniac seem to be more known.
And yes, I would eliminate "logic trainers" too. I even saw a 74181 wired
with input switches and output lamps. The time to assemble it would vastly
exceed the time to exercise the 16 or so demo's!
Others are very simple, such as the 3 potentiometer "3 dialer" analog
"computers". I still have one I built in Jr. high school. (About age 14).
I was looked through some older magazines and
found another computer kit
from about 1959, 1960, a full page ad for the "geniac". It has 6 dials, each
with 16 sets of radial holes. It's cost was US$19.95 and made in Mass. My
guess is it was electro-mechanical, but could not tell any more from the ad.
The ad said it could play "Nim", but that doesn't seem to be that unusual.
Has anyone seen one or knows what it did?
Geez, Dave, you're stealing all of my thunder. Can't you wait until I
open up my museum of personal computing? :-)
The GENIAC was designed by Edmund Berkeley in 1955 and sold by his buddy
Oliver Garfield until the late 50's. Thomas Haddock calls the GENIAC the
first pc. He was close, but wrong.
A nice guy by the name of Tom Boyko has a GENIAC (please, dealers, don't
bug him about selling it):
Here are some pics of the manual:
http://www.Tom.Boyko.com/comp.htm
A lot of other interesting systems, too.
And here's an excellent Usenet account of how the GENIAC works:
http://www.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=213505518
This info is interesting. He made a card reader to input "Monopoly" data. So
it appears to be 6 rotary switches made on the panel. Up to 6 poles, 16
position each. Amazing what could be "programmed"! Changing the "hard
wired"
connections may be a chore if its wires under the screw terminals, did not
notice any place for a sort of a breadboard or "patch panel" to do this, or
that one would fit the scope of it anyway.
Thanks for all the information.
-Dave