8 Apr
1999
8 Apr
'99
11:26 a.m.
I saw a hardcover book from 1957 at the used
bookstore, that discussed
digital computer circuits, and had chapters on vacuum tube logic circuits,
corememory circuits, some transistor circuits, etc. If this is something
that someone here is dieing to have, perhaps because you're designing
a vacuum tube computer circuit, just let me know and i'll try to get it
before someone else does ;)
In fact, my plan is to build a tube computer someday soon. What was the
title of the book, and how much was it selling for?
21 Jul
21 Jul
2:37 p.m.
At 06:26 PM 4/8/99 -0500, Lawrence wrote:
Well, several people have asked about this book. Its "Digital Computer
components & circuits" by R. K. Richards, 1957, reprinted 1958. He says
its a companion book to his "arithmetic Operations in Digital Computers",
which the bookstore also has, but thats just a general boolean-logic type
of book.
Anyways, the used bookstore wants $15 for it. Perhaps I should see about
photocopying this.
chapters:
1 History & Introduction
2 Diode switching circuits
3 Vacuum tube systems of circuit logic
4 Transistor systems of circuit logic
5 magnetic core systems of circuit logic
6 Large capacity storage: non-magnetic devices
7 Storage on a magnetic surface
8 Magnetic core storage
9 Circuits and tubes for decimal counting
10 Miscellaneous components and circuits
11 Analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters
-Lawrence LeMay
I finally found one locally through www.bookfinder.com and would recommend it.
Note there is about a 10 to 1 price range there.
Chapter 4 is split between point contact and junction transistors. There is
a large section on core storage, including some configurations to
non-destructively readout the data by applying a field 90 deg. from the
normal toroidal one and looking for any sense output. None of these
configurations were used outside of a lab.
There were many unusual bistable elements discussed. One unusual one is a
ferroresonant bistable circuit. A series LC circuit is excited by AC above
the resonant frequency and the inductor is saturable. If saturation is
started, the inductance drops, the resonant frequency is increased, the
current is increased and this continues until the circuit "flips". I don't
understand how this would work if the current drops to zero every half
cycle, but it apparently worked:
Beckman Instruments sold these under tha name "Ferristor".
I wish there were some photographs in the book, both of some of the
devices, and even the packaging of the circuits for, say, an IBM 604 computer.
-Dave
6:38 p.m.
At 09:37 PM 7/21/99 +0000, you wrote:
At 06:26 PM 4/8/99 -0500, Lawrence wrote:
I also recently a copy (around $15.00) by searching A.B.E.
http://whipper.abebooks.com/abep/il.dll?ph=1
I also managed to locate the companion "Arithmetic Operations..." which
is a fascinating book for describing 1957 technologies. Definitely
recommend these to anyone interested in tube and very early solid state
computers.
I found it interesting that this book is the ONLY book I have that
includes Edmund Berkeley's "Giant Brains" in it's bibliography.
"Brains"
is *definitely* a book to add to your library, as well. Easy on the
hardware descriptions, but Berkeley was visionary in fortelling the
day-to-day uses of computers, writing when computers were mostly relays
and the *really advanced* computers had tubes.
BTW, A.B.E. is an association of small book sellers, not a seller itself.
But their network seems to be extended to a lot of small bookstores. Your
actual purchase is transacted with a specific member bookstore. Consequently
you get to search the shelves of some really neat stores - the kind that
would have old dusty books such as the above. And the prices are usually
very fair. I've not bought through bookfinder, but I suspect A.B.E. is
similar, judging by the look of their web pages.
Gary
Well, several people have asked about this book. Its "Digital Computer
components & circuits" by R. K. Richards, 1957, reprinted 1958. He says
its a companion book to his "arithmetic Operations in Digital Computers",
which the bookstore also has, but thats just a general boolean-logic type
of book.
snip
>
>-Lawrence LeMay
>
3:34 p.m.
Hi Gary and all,
At 11:38 PM 7/21/99 -0700, Gary wrote:
I also managed to locate the companion "Arithmetic
Operations..." which
is a fascinating book for describing 1957 technologies. Definitely
recommend these to anyone interested in tube and very early solid state
computers.
I found it interesting that this book is the ONLY book I have that
includes Edmund Berkeley's "Giant Brains" in it's bibliography.
"Brains"
is *definitely* a book to add to your library, as well.
Yes, I noticed that reference as well, but haven't found it yet.
Easy on the
hardware descriptions, but Berkeley was visionary in
fortelling the
day-to-day uses of computers, writing when computers were mostly relays
and the *really advanced* computers had tubes.
BTW, A.B.E. is an association of small book sellers, not a seller itself.
But their network seems to be extended to a lot of small bookstores. Your
actual purchase is transacted with a specific member bookstore. Consequently
you get to search the shelves of some really neat stores - the kind that
would have old dusty books such as the above. And the prices are usually
very fair. I've not bought through bookfinder, but I suspect A.B.E. is
similar, judging by the look of their web pages.
www.bookfinder.com is a collection of several book seller networks and
includes www.abebooks.com.
-Dave
9290
days inactive
9394
days old
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