1950s Computer
A 1950s computer is a computer that was built by a company called Engineering Research Associates (ERA). They developed the Atlas computer and sold it to the US Navy. The Atlas used a rotating cylinder coated with ferromagnetic material with read/write heads in fixed positions to store information. The company also sold the computer commercially.
The ES 24
The ES 24 was a 1950s computer developed by German computer pioneer Heinz Nixdorf. It’s name translates to “electronic balancer.” It had several hundred vacuum tubes that added and subtracted numbers stored on punch cards. Today, the ES 24 is a museum piece at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
The Ferranti Mark 1
The Ferranti Mark I computer was a very early computer. The original design was a very primitive one, with a single drum, but the machine improved over time. At first, the capacity was only about 16,000 words, but later it increased to 36,000 words. The first machines were sold to the Universities of Manchester and Toronto. Later, improvements included an improved design for the multiplier. These improvements improved the computer’s speed significantly, even in scientific applications.
A sales brochure for the Mark 1 computer is included in the Mark 1 Literature. This brochure shows the machine, neatly packaged, and has a layman’s manual. It also lists useful computer functions such as the ability to solve chess problems. There are even sections on computer diagnostics and programming aids. The Ferranti Mark 1’s sales brochure contains many facts and figures.
The Ferranti Mark 1 computer was created by Ferranti, a company based in the United Kingdom. It was based on the Manchester Mark 1 computer, which was created by Freddie Williams and Tom Kilburn at the University of Manchester. It was the world’s first stored programme computer. The Mark 1 went on to become the first commercial computer.
The Mark 1 was not the only computer to be made by Ferranti. They also built the Mercury model, which was a commercial version of the Mark I. The Mercury version had more modern features than the Mark I, including a floating-point unit and more solid-state components. The Mercury computer was sold 19 times before Ferranti decided to move on to a different design.
The EDSAC
In the 1950s, the EDSAC was one of the earliest electronic data processing systems. It was introduced in 1949 and ran its first program on May 6. It was pressed into service to aid research at the University of Michigan, where it served for nine years, until it was replaced by a more advanced model, the EDSAC 2.
The EDSAC was built on a modular design, and it covered 20 square meters (215 square feet). It was constructed using thermionic valves and was comprised of over three thousand discrete components. It was organized in 12 racks of fourteen chassis of various designs, and was two meters high.
The EDSAC was a practical computer from the very start, and real scientists actually used it to solve problems. Andrew Herbert, a computer scientist and former chairman of Microsoft Research for EMEA, is currently working on a project to recreate the EDSAC in a working form.
The project’s aim is to re-run the EDSAC as it did in the 1950s and to showcase the pioneering efforts of British scientists and engineers in the early years of computing. The team will collect and assemble archival material related to the EDSAC and re-engineer it to suit modern standards. The goal is to build the system as authentic as possible, taking into account the availability of parts and modern safety standards.
The EDSAC 1950s computer was based on a series of thermionic valves, which had become common in early computers and advanced radar systems. The EDSAC’s 3,000 valves were arranged in twelve racks. The computer’s memory consisted of mercury-filled vacuum tubes. The computer operated around the clock for nine years, and engineers were available to provide technical support.
The TX-0
The TX-0 was a computer that went through a number of changes. The first modification increased its programmability. It also left space for later expansion of memory and added thirteen bits of addressing. It was used to develop a number of groundbreaking computing advances, including text editors and debuggers.
The design of the TX-0 computer was also a prototype for interactive computing systems. Anyone from MIT could access it. However, the TX-0’s display was too small for creating a user-friendly experience. To address this problem, DEC donated the PDP-1 to MIT, which had a more advanced display than the TX-0. As a result, TMRC hackers were able to use lessons learned from programming the TX-0 to create the first computer game.
The TX-0 was the first programmable transistor computer. It was built at MIT from 1955 to 1957. It used 3,600 Philco high-frequency surface-barrier transistors to process data. It was capable of handling a wide range of functions and was often used for basic engineering and science applications. It also became a platform for pioneering computer research and the emergence of the computer “hacker” culture.
The TX-0 was also part of the research that was taking place in artificial intelligence. The computer was even able to write simple western plays. It was featured on the 1961 CBS television documentary “The Thinking Machine” and John Pfeiffer wrote a book by the same name in 1962.
The IBM 701
The IBM 701 was an early computer, manufactured in 1950s. It was the first mass-produced, commercially-available scientific computer. Prior to its release, IBM produced only large-scale electronic computers for specific companies, such as research facilities or atomic research laboratories. The 701 was designed and manufactured in record time, with less than two years from “first pencil to paper” to installation. It was the first of the pioneering IBM 700-series computers, and was used by several government agencies, including the United States Weather Bureau and the Department of Defense.
The IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine was originally named the Defense Calculator and was first made available to the public on April 29, 1952. It was the first machine to use the stored program concept. However, it only had a small amount of memory and relied on paper tape to control its programs. It also had an arithmetic unit adapted from the 603 that operated at electronic speeds.
The IBM 701 computer’s memory was constructed with vacuum tube logic circuitry and electrostatic storage. The memory, which was a set of 72 Williams tubes, had a capacity of 2048 words of 36 bits each. The system could be upgraded to 4096 words with the use of magnetic core memory. However, the system required periodic refresh cycles.
The Whirlwind
The Whirlwind computer was the first electronic digital computer to use magnetic core memory. It was first brought online in 1949 and continued to evolve for several years. The Whirlwind’s unique design influenced many later systems, including the SAGE air defense computer. The computer was designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Construction began in 1947, and the Whirlwind became operational in early 1950. The computer’s first memory used electrostatic storage tubes, but later used magnetic tape and drums.
The Whirlwind’s design made it one of the most powerful computers of its time. It used more than 5,000 vacuum tubes and took up two floors of the Barta Building at MIT. Its unique design was made to maximize the amount of floor space available and access to components. The computer’s hardware was arranged in 98 racks in the second-floor computer room and another eighteen racks in the control room.
The Whirlwind project received funding from the Office of Naval Research in 1947. At that time, more than a hundred people worked on it. The budget was close to $3 million and represented about 20 percent of the ONR’s total research budget. Although the project was unsuccessful, the computer continued to work as a digital computer until May 29, 1959.
The Whirlwind’s words were small and were designed for real-time computing. The internal memory of the machine was made up of two-hundred sixteen-bit words.
