20 Dec
2005
20 Dec
'05
4:04 a.m.
There is a fair amount of software available for your HP, contact me off
list...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brent Hilpert" <hilpert at cs.ubc.ca>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2005 4:58 PM
Subject: Re: Oldest machine
...not the earliest, but just for the record:
HP 2116C (1969/70)
Hardware is all functioning and I've written some programs and a
monitor/system for
it but I'd like to find original (period) software to run on it.
Jules Richardson wrote:
I suppose I'm just curious as to what systems
from the 1940's to 1970's
have
survived, as most of the talk on here seems to be of more recent (1970's
and
1980's) hardware and very little gets said about the earlier stuff.
This is partly why I collect 60s-era calculators. They are examples of
complex digital
systems (ALU,memory,I/O,control - everything but the
general-purpose/stored-program),
available in discrete and SSI implementations, but more available and
manageable
(size/weight/power) than full computer systems of the era.
Digital frequency counters from the 50s/60s also provide examples of early
digital technology, constructed using the same sorts of circuitry and
techniques as computers of the same era). I keep a couple of
vacuum-tube-based
digital counters around, along with discrete-transistor and SSI versions,
as comparable
examples of the generations of digital electronics.
HP tube counters seem to still be around in some quantity (vacuum-tube
counters
and logic,
not just NIXIE displays).