2 Mar
1999
2 Mar
'99
3:44 p.m.
Hi Doug and all,
At 09:55 PM 3/2/99 -0500, Doug wrote:
Please scan it. If it could be automated with relays as the "automatic"
switches,
it must look similar to Simon, as you mentioned.
-Dave
On Tue, 2 Mar 1999, Dave Dameron wrote:
I could have. I think I mentioned it
about last July when Tony mentioned
the book
Automatic Digital Computers, by M.V. Wilkes. I am looking for any other books
mentioned then and up to now. My list is getting longer.
It was me for one who mentioned it before.
Oh, yeah. Did you tell me about this at TRW? The drum was a metal can with contacts to 20 or
so flashlight lamps.
Segments of the drum were covered up with tape so various lamps were lit
as one rotated the drum. The lamps were instructions for you to switch
the various knife switches, you rotated the drum to see the steps to
take.
Ah, that must be what Derek meant. I didn't really look at the drum
section, so I assumed it was magnetic.
Shortly after reading this book, I went to pick up my mail. As fate would
have it, a friend from NY sent me a computer brochure. It was for an
educational computer from 1969. I swear it has the same attributes as the
computer described in this book, but in a much more polished form. I'll
scan a pic this week. It's really an amazing coincidence: same drum, same
simulated core, simular looking ALU, ....