2 Apr
2002
2 Apr
'02
10:05 a.m.
From: Ben Franchuk [mailto:bfranchuk@jetnet.ab.ca]
Now do you one with or with out TUBES?
Looking a list here http://members.iinet.net.au/~dgreen/timeline.html
1956 was a
great year for TUBE computers.
1960 was a great year Transistor computers. ( Hmm I could get a PDP-1 ) 
2 Apr
2 Apr
10:53 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas H. Quebbeman" <dquebbeman(a)acm.org>
To: "ClassicCmp List" <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 2:05 PM
Subject: RE: Computers Manufactured in 1986^H^H56
...snip...snip...snip...
> Well, for a birthyear computer, anyone
know where I
> can find a slightly-used IBM 709? I used to have the
> IBM 711 Card Reader and 716 Line Printer...
> <sob!>
> -dq
Birth year computers....
Hmmm. Well, I guess I'll have to look up the info on the
IBM 650...
Larger than a breadbox? (heh... :-)
A desk? (must be, the 1130 I used was large desk sized
but twice as tall...)
A house? (more like it, I'm sure...)
But wait! www.google.com enter IBM 650 and the first link is great:
http://www.users.nwark.com/~rcmahq/jclark/ibm650.htm
Heck, I could fit one in my garage -- it couldn't weigh more than
a few tons... Just need room for the O26 keypunch... And have
a larger electrical service put in... I'm sure someone has one in
their back yard that they would want to get rid of...
Bill
> I suppose to commemorate my birth, I'll need
to get an S-100 box
> of some sort, or possibly:
...snip...snip...snip
12:02 p.m.
> I suppose
to commemorate my birth, I'll need to get an S-100 box
> of some sort, or possibly:
...snip...snip...snip
>
> Well, for a birthyear computer, anyone know where I
> can find a slightly-used IBM 709? I used to have the
> IBM 711 Card Reader and 716 Line Printer...
>
> <sob!>
>
> -dq 
5:56 p.m.
--- jpero(a)sympatico.ca wrote:
PDP-8/M? Some early PDP-11 (/05?) Too early for the i4004. I do have
this TI 980A with 1972 stamped on a couple of the boards... it's 19"
wide, at least 10" tall and about 36" deep (about the same size as a
PDP-8/F, maybe a couple of inches taller) kinda typical of machines
of the day.
-ethan
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax
http://taxes.yahoo.com/
> > I
suppose to commemorate my birth, I'll need to get an S-100 box
> > of some sort, or possibly:
Well, i add to this pot:
My birth-year is 1972, in that era what typical 'puter small enough
to fit on desk or on floor (tower) and easy to ship? 
3 Apr
3 Apr
7 a.m.
Hi,
jpero(a)sympatico.ca said:
Well, i add to this pot:
My birth-year is 1972, in that era what typical 'puter small enough
to fit on desk or on floor (tower) and easy to ship?
All of a sudden I feel _very_ old ;-( There were no working electronic
computers when I was born...even Collosus was still a few months from
completion....
--
Cheers,
Stan Barr stanb(a)dial.pipex.com
The future was never like this!
> I suppose to commemorate my birth, I'll need
to get an S-100 box
> of some sort, or possibly:
...snip...snip...snip
>
> Well, for a birthyear computer, anyone know where I
> can find a slightly-used IBM 709? I used to have the
> IBM 711 Card Reader and 716 Line Printer...
>
> <sob!>
>
> -dq 
8:04 a.m.
Stan Barr wrote:
Hi,
jpero(a)sympatico.ca said:
Well, i add to this pot:
My birth-year is 1972, in that era what typical 'puter small enough
to fit on desk or on floor (tower) and easy to ship?
All of a sudden I feel _very_ old ;-( There were no working electronic
computers when I was born...even Collosus was still a few months from
completion....
Well you could go after the mechanical ones :)
--
Ben Franchuk - Dawn * 12/24 bit cpu *
www.jetnet.ab.ca/users/bfranchuk/index.html
> I suppose to commemorate my birth, I'll need
to get an S-100 box
> of some sort, or possibly:
...snip...snip...snip
>
> Well, for a birthyear computer, anyone know where I
> can find a slightly-used IBM 709? I used to have the
> IBM 711 Card Reader and 716 Line Printer...
>
> <sob!>
>
> -dq
9:17 a.m.
Hi,
Ben Franchuk <bfranchuk(a)jetnet.ab.ca> said:
Stan Barr wrote:
All of a sudden I feel _very_ old ;-( There were no working electronic
Finding one here in the UK would be difficult! We have a very nice
string (wire, actually..) and pulley tidal computer here in Liverpool.
It was computing tide table for countries all round the world until
replaced by an IBM 1130.
I remember dismantling a bomb-sight computer for parts in about 1958/9...
--
Cheers,
Stan Barr stanb(a)dial.pipex.com
The future was never like this!
computers when I was born...even Collosus was
still a few months from
completion....
Well you could go after the mechanical ones :) 
4 Apr
4 Apr
12:18 p.m.
You have the Kelvin? What a lovely surprise.
On Wed, 3 Apr 2002, Stan Barr wrote:
Hi,
Ben Franchuk <bfranchuk(a)jetnet.ab.ca> said:
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
Shady Lea, Rhode Island
"Casta est quam nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
Stan Barr wrote:
All of a sudden I feel _very_ old ;-( There were no working electronic
Finding one here in the UK would be difficult! We have a very nice
string (wire, actually..) and pulley tidal computer here in Liverpool.
It was computing tide table for countries all round the world until
replaced by an IBM 1130.
I remember dismantling a bomb-sight computer for parts in about 1958/9...
--
Cheers,
Stan Barr stanb(a)dial.pipex.com
The future was never like this!
computers when I was born...even Collosus was
still a few months from
completion....
Well you could go after the mechanical ones :) 
3 Apr
3 Apr
8:14 a.m.
Just out of curiosity, what was available in 1954? I probably coulfdn't
afford the power and a/c for all of the vacuum tubes.
James
Stan Barr wrote:
Hi,
jpero(a)sympatico.ca said:
Well, i add to this pot:
My birth-year is 1972, in that era what typical 'puter small enough
to fit on desk or on floor (tower) and easy to ship?
All of a sudden I feel _very_ old ;-( There were no working electronic
computers when I was born...even Collosus was still a few months from
completion....
>I suppose to commemorate my birth, I'll need to
get an S-100 box
>of some sort, or possibly:
>
...snip...snip...snip
>Well, for a birthyear computer, anyone know where I
>can find a slightly-used IBM 709? I used to have the
>IBM 711 Card Reader and 716 Line Printer...
>
><sob!>
>
>-dq
>
9:32 a.m.
Hi,
"James L. Rice" <jrice(a)texoma.net> said;
Just out of curiosity, what was available in 1954? I
probably coulfdn't
afford the power and a/c for all of the vacuum tubes.
The Ferranti Mercury for one.
Ferranti were experimenting with germanium transistors in computer
circuits around that time - or possible a year or two later.
Research that led to the Atlas, the fastest computer of its era...
--
Cheers,
Stan Barr stanb(a)dial.pipex.com
The future was never like this!
4 Apr
4 Apr
7:40 a.m.
Stan Barr wrote:
Hi,
"James L. Rice" <jrice(a)texoma.net> said;
One year later, 1955, you have the TRIDAC, an analog aeronatical
simulator that is claimed to be the first computer to use transistors.
Did Ferranti have anything to do with that project? There's only sketchy
information on the web about it that I could find with google.
jbdigriz
Just out of curiosity, what was available in 1954?
I probably coulfdn't
afford the power and a/c for all of the vacuum tubes.
The Ferranti Mercury for one.
Ferranti were experimenting with germanium transistors in computer
circuits around that time - or possible a year or two later.
Research that led to the Atlas, the fastest computer of its era...
7:53 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "James B. DiGriz" <jbdigriz(a)dragonsweb.org>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 11:40 AM
Subject: Re: Computers Manufactured in 1986^H^H56
Stan Barr wrote:
> Hi,
>
> "James L. Rice" <jrice(a)texoma.net> said;
>
>
>>Just out of curiosity, what was available in 1954? I probably coulfdn't
>>afford the power and a/c for all of the vacuum tubes.
>
>
> The Ferranti Mercury for one.
>
...snip...snip...snip...
Why I was speculating about the IBM 650...
According to http://members.iinet.net.au/~dgreen/timeline.html:
Year System Manufacturer Total Average
Installations Cost per
in the US System $
1954 MAGNEFILE B Electronics Corp. of America
1 20,000
JOHNNIAC The Rand Corporation 1
DYSEAC US Dept of Commerce 1
ALWAC II Alwac Computer Division, Hawthorne 2 50,000
CIRCLE Hogan Laboratories Inc. 2 80,000
MODAC 5014 Airborne Instruments Laboratory 1 85,000
MODAC 404 Airborne Instruments Laboratory 1 100,000
BENDIX D12 Bendix n.a. 55,000
BURROUGHS 204, Burroughs 112 200,000
& 205
IBM 650 RAMAC IBM 1500 182,000
LGP 30 General Precision 462 49,500
(Librascope Division)
1
WISC Univ. of Wisconsin 1
9:59 a.m.
Bill McDermith wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "James B. DiGriz" <jbdigriz(a)dragonsweb.org>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 11:40 AM
Subject: Re: Computers Manufactured in 1986^H^H56
I'm not sure if you're replying to me here, but I did find a picture of
the TRIDAC. It occupied a couple of buildings and included it's own
generating plant. Reminds me of the old satellite tracking station in
Rosman, NC., except smaller. Haven't figured out what all the pumps and
"synthetic gimbals" are for, but even if the electronics were
transistorized, it could pull some amps. Enough for several dozen 650's,
probably.
http://www.science.uva.nl/faculteit/museum/biganalog.html
jbdigriz
Stan Barr wrote:
...snip...snip...snip...
Why I was speculating about the IBM 650...
According to http://members.iinet.net.au/~dgreen/timeline.html:
Year System Manufacturer Total Average
Installations Cost per
in the US System $
1954 MAGNEFILE B Electronics Corp. of America
1 20,000
JOHNNIAC The Rand Corporation 1
DYSEAC US Dept of Commerce 1
ALWAC II Alwac Computer Division, Hawthorne 2 50,000
CIRCLE Hogan Laboratories Inc. 2 80,000
MODAC 5014 Airborne Instruments Laboratory 1 85,000
MODAC 404 Airborne Instruments Laboratory 1 100,000
BENDIX D12 Bendix n.a. 55,000
BURROUGHS 204, Burroughs 112 200,000
& 205
IBM 650 RAMAC IBM 1500 182,000
LGP 30 General Precision 462 49,500
(Librascope Division)
1
WISC Univ. of Wisconsin 1
Hi,
"James L. Rice" <jrice(a)texoma.net> said;
Just out of curiosity, what was available in 1954?
I probably coulfdn't
afford the power and a/c for all of the vacuum tubes.
The Ferranti Mercury for one.
9:37 a.m.
Hi,
"James B. DiGriz" <jbdigriz(a)dragonsweb.org> said;
Stan Barr wrote:
It wouldn't surprise me. Manchester University were early pioneers in
semiconducer applications. Ferranti were closely associated with them,
and Ferranti were heavily involved in military and aviation work.
See: http://www.science.uva.nl/faculteit/museum/biganalog.html
Ferranti were limited to convential alloy drift germanium transistors as
they couldn't persuade anyone to manufacture ones designed for digital
use. The Atlas used OC170s, which were designed for radio use, running
at 10MHz IIRC. Floating point multiply in 4.97 microseconds which was
pretty quick at the time!
I dismantled a Ferranti board circa 1962/3 to recover the transistors...
wish I'd kept the board now ;-(
--
Cheers,
Stan Barr stanb(a)dial.pipex.com
The future was never like this!
Hi,
"James L. Rice" <jrice(a)texoma.net> said;
One year later, 1955, you have the TRIDAC, an analog aeronatical
simulator that is claimed to be the first computer to use transistors.
Did Ferranti have anything to do with that project? There's only sketchy
information on the web about it that I could find with google. Just out of curiosity, what was available in 1954?
I probably coulfdn't
afford the power and a/c for all of the vacuum tubes.
The Ferranti Mercury for one.
Ferranti were experimenting with germanium transistors in computer
circuits around that time - or possible a year or two later.
Research that led to the Atlas, the fastest computer of its era... 
5 Apr
5 Apr
12:43 a.m.
Stan Barr wrote:
I dismantled a Ferranti board circa 1962/3 to recover
the transistors...
wish I'd kept the board now ;-(
Likewise, I dismantled a Leo board in about 1975 to recover several
GET111 germanium transistors. I still have the board and the
transistors.
--
John Honniball
coredump(a)gifford.co.uk
12:48 p.m.
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text
Size: 593 bytes
Desc: not available
Url :
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/attachments/20020406/b859b209/at…
1:52 p.m.
I dismantled a Ferranti board circa 1962/3 to recover
the transistors...
wish I'd kept the board now ;-(
Likewise, I dismantled a Leo board in about 1975 to recover several
GET111 germanium transistors. I still have the board and the
transistors.
9:57 a.m.
Stan Barr wrote:
It wouldn't surprise me. Manchester University were early pioneers in
semiconducer applications. Ferranti were closely associated with them,
and Ferranti were heavily involved in military and aviation work.
See: http://www.science.uva.nl/faculteit/museum/biganalog.html
I found that link the other day, and I'm trying to figure out how the
machine worked. I'm thinking the "synthetic gimbals" are used to
generate a resultant (hydraulic pressure, it looks like) from
aerodynamic forces on wings and control surfaces simulated by multiple
hydraulic circuits. The electronics would basically be mediating
controls and switchgear for the pumps, and not do any computation
proper, or at least not arithmetical computation. I could be wrong, in
fact I could be way off base, and I welcome correction, but this is
actually appears to be a mechanical, or hydraulic, analog computer.
Still very impressive.
Ferranti were limited to convential alloy drift
germanium transistors as
they couldn't persuade anyone to manufacture ones designed for digital
use. The Atlas used OC170s, which were designed for radio use, running
at 10MHz IIRC. Floating point multiply in 4.97 microseconds which was
pretty quick at the time!
I dismantled a Ferranti board circa 1962/3 to recover the transistors...
wish I'd kept the board now ;-(
Somewhere around here I have the remains of a GE intercom kit from that
era (62/63) with some of their first general purpose (I think) germanium
transistors.
jbdigriz
3 Apr
3 Apr
11:02 a.m.
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text
Size: 243 bytes
Desc: not available
Url :
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/attachments/20020403/3f441dd3/at…
2 Apr
2 Apr
4:45 p.m.
New subject: Computers Manufactured in 1986^H^H56^H^H66
--- Bill McDermith <bill_mcdermith(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas H. Quebbeman" <dquebbeman(a)acm.org>
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax
http://taxes.yahoo.com/
Well, for a birthyear computer, anyone know where
I
can find a slightly-used IBM 709? I used to have the
IBM 711 Card Reader and 716 Line Printer...
Birth year computers....
Hmmm. Well, I guess I'll have to look up the info on the
IBM 650...
Larger than a breadbox? (heh... :-)
A desk? (must be, the 1130 I used was large desk sized
but twice as tall...)
4:46 p.m.
New subject: Computers Manufactured in 1986^H^H56^H^H66
--- Bill McDermith <bill_mcdermith(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas H. Quebbeman" <dquebbeman(a)acm.org>
Oops... premature ejection...
For 1966, I probably have the only birth-year computer I'm going to
get - a PDP-8/S. Now all I need is a source of light bulbs to restore
the front panel.
-ethan
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax
http://taxes.yahoo.com/
Well, for a birthyear computer, anyone know where
I
can find a slightly-used IBM 709? I used to have the
IBM 711 Card Reader and 716 Line Printer...
Birth year computers....
Hmmm. Well, I guess I'll have to look up the info on the
IBM 650...
Larger than a breadbox? (heh... :-)
A desk? (must be, the 1130 I used was large desk sized
but twice as tall...) 
6:09 p.m.
On Tue, 2 Apr 2002, Bill McDermith wrote:
Birth year computers....
Hmmm. Well, I guess I'll have to look up the info on the
IBM 650...
Larger than a breadbox? (heh... :-)
A desk? (must be, the 1130 I used was large desk sized
but twice as tall...)
A house? (more like it, I'm sure...)
But wait! www.google.com enter IBM 650 and the first link is great:
http://www.users.nwark.com/~rcmahq/jclark/ibm650.htm
Heck, I could fit one in my garage -- it couldn't weigh more than
a few tons... Just need room for the O26 keypunch... And have
a larger electrical service put in... I'm sure someone has one in
their back yard that they would want to get rid of...
I think I know where you can get a 650. It won't be anything resembling
cheap, though.
Peace... Sridhar
8140
days inactive
8143
days old
21 comments
13 participants
participants (13)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
at258＠osfn.org -
bfranchuk＠jetnet.ab.ca -
bill_mcdermith＠yahoo.com -
coredump＠gifford.co.uk -
dquebbeman＠acm.org -
erd_6502＠yahoo.com -
jbdigriz＠dragonsweb.org -
jhellige＠earthlink.net -
jpero＠sympatico.ca -
jrice＠texoma.net -
stanb＠dial.pipex.com -
vance＠ikickass.org