|
PB 250
The PB 250 (later Raytheon 250) was a general-purpose computer introduced in 1960 by the Packard Bell Corporation. Design The word size was 22 bits and the memory could be expanded to a maximum of 16,000 words. The performance was 40,000 operations per second. It had the ability to operate as an I/O processor in tandem with another computer; at the time this was considered a "radically new feature" for a less expensive system. The Central Computer weighed . The design started in November 1959. The computer was intended as a component in special purpose systems, for example, to control electric power plants. The logic design has similarities with the Bendix G-15 computer, which in turn was based on Alan Turing’s Pilot ACE. The circuits were derived from the TRICE digital differential analyzer. People involved in development: *Max Palevsky – general manager, started the development process. *Stanley Frankel – consultant on the design of the computer logic *Robert Beck – de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as Computer program, programs. These programs enable computers to perform a wide range of tasks. A computer system is a nominally complete computer that includes the Computer hardware, hardware, operating system (main software), and peripheral equipment needed and used for full operation. This term may also refer to a group of computers that are linked and function together, such as a computer network or computer cluster. A broad range of Programmable logic controller, industrial and Consumer electronics, consumer products use computers as control systems. Simple special-purpose devices like microwave ovens and remote controls are included, as are factory devices like industrial robots and computer-aided design, as well as general-purpose devi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Console Terminal
A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. The teletype was an example of an early-day hard-copy terminal and predated the use of a computer screen by decades. Early terminals were inexpensive devices but very slow compared to punched cards or paper tape for input, yet as the technology improved and video displays were introduced, terminals pushed these older forms of interaction from the industry. A related development was time-sharing systems, which evolved in parallel and made up for any inefficiencies in the user's typing ability with the ability to support multiple users on the same machine, each at their own terminal or terminals. The function of a terminal is typically confined to transcription and input of data; a device with significant local, programmable data-processing capability may be called a "smart terminal" or fat client. A term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hybrid Computer
Hybrid computers are computers that exhibit features of analog computers and digital computers. The digital component normally serves as the controller and provides logical and numerical operations, while the analog component often serves as a solver of differential equations and other mathematically complex problems. The first desktop hybrid computing system was the Hycomp 250, released by Packard Bell in 1961. Another early example was the HYDAC 2400, an integrated hybrid computer released by EAI in 1963. In the 1980s, Marconi Space and Defense Systems Limited (under Peggy Hodges) developed their "Starglow Hybrid Computer", which consisted of three EAI 8812 analog computers linked to an EAI 8100 digital computer, the latter also being linked to an SEL 3200 digital computer. Late in the 20th century, hybrids dwindled with the increasing capabilities of digital computers including digital signal processors. In general, analog computers are extraordinarily fast, since they are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturn 1
The Saturn I was a rocket designed as the United States' first medium lift launch vehicle for up to low Earth orbit payloads.Terminology has changed since the 1960s; back then, 20,000 pounds was considered "heavy lift". The rocket's first stage was built as a cluster of propellant tanks engineered from older rocket tank designs, leading critics to jokingly refer to it as "Cluster's Last Stand". Its development was taken over from the Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1958 by the newly formed civilian NASA. Its design proved sound and flexible. It was successful in initiating the development of liquid hydrogen-fueled rocket propulsion, launching the Pegasus satellites, and flight verification of the Apollo command and service module launch phase aerodynamics. Ten Saturn I rockets were flown before it was replaced by the heavy lift derivative Saturn IB, which used a larger, higher total impulse second stage and an improved guidance and control system. It also led the way ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory
The Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory (WANL) was a division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Established in 1959 to develop nuclear space propulsion technologies for the government, the lab was located, for most of its history, in the paradoxically small town of "Large" along Pa. Rte 51, about south of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA. The site is not far from the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin, which Westinghouse operated during the same time and later. Town of Large, Pennsylvania Historical Note: The Large site is that of the former Large Distillery, founded by Jonathan Large (1794-1862), who came to the area as a child in 1797 after the Whiskey Rebellion. The distillery originally produced Monongahela rye whiskey, which was a local favorite. Management of the distillery later passed to Jonathan's son, Henry, who ensured the distillery's success by making "Large Monongahela Rye Whiskey" a national brand. Eventually, the Large Distiller ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Process-oriented Programming
Process-oriented programming is a programming paradigm that separates the concerns of data structures and the concurrent processes that act upon them. The data structures in this case are typically persistent, complex, and large scale - the subject of general purpose applications, as opposed to specialized processing of specialized data sets seen in high productivity applications (HPC). The model allows the creation of large scale applications that partially share common data sets. Programs are functionally decomposed into parallel processes that create and act upon logically shared data. The paradigm was originally invented for parallel computers in the 1980s, especially computers built with transputer microprocessors by INMOS, or similar architectures. Occam was an early process-oriented language developed for the Transputer. Some derivations have evolved from the message passing paradigm of Occam to enable uniform efficiency when porting applications between distributed memory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Assembly Language
In computer programming, assembly language (or assembler language, or symbolic machine code), often referred to simply as Assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence between the instructions in the language and the architecture's machine code instructions. Assembly language usually has one statement per machine instruction (1:1), but constants, comments, assembler directives, symbolic labels of, e.g., memory locations, registers, and macros are generally also supported. The first assembly code in which a language is used to represent machine code instructions is found in Kathleen and Andrew Donald Booth's 1947 work, ''Coding for A.R.C.''. Assembly code is converted into executable machine code by a utility program referred to as an ''assembler''. The term "assembler" is generally attributed to Wilkes, Wheeler and Gill in their 1951 book ''The Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elliot 803
The Elliott 803 is a small, medium-speed transistor digital computer which was manufactured by the British company Elliott Brothers in the 1960s. About 211 were built. History The 800 series began with the 801, a one-off test machine built in 1957. The 802 was a production model but only seven were sold between 1958 and 1961. The short-lived 803A was built in 1959 and first delivered in 1960; the 803B was built in 1960 and first delivered in 1961. Over 200 Elliott 803 computers were delivered to customers, at a unit price of about £29,000 in 1960 (roughly ). Most sales were of the 803B version with more parallel paths internally, larger memory and hardware floating-point operations. The Elliott 803 was the computer used in the ISI-609, the world's first process or industrial control system, wherein the 803 was a data logger. It was used for this purpose at the US's first dual-purpose nuclear reactor, the N-Reactor. A significant number of British universities had an Elli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flexowriter
The Friden Flexowriter produced by the Friden Calculating Machine Company, was a teleprinter, a heavy-duty electric typewriter capable of being driven not only by a human typing, but also automatically by several methods, including direct attachment to a computer and by use of paper tape. Elements of the design date to the 1920s, and variants of the machine were produced until the early 1970s; the machines found a variety of uses during the evolution of office equipment in the 20th century, including being among the first electric typewriters, computer input and output devices, forerunners of modern word processing, and also having roles in the machine tool and printing industries. History Origins and early history The Flexowriter can trace its roots to some of the earliest electric typewriters. In 1925, the Remington Typewriter Company wanted to expand their offerings to include electric typewriters. Having little expertise or manufacturing ability with electrical appliance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Packard Bell Corporation
Packard Bell Corporation (also known as Packard Bell Electronics or simply Packard Bell) was an American electronics manufacturer founded in 1933 by Herb Bell and Leon Packard. Initially they produced radios, but expanded into defense electronics during World War II. After the war, they began manufacturing other consumer electronics, including television sets. In 1957, the company became involved in the manufacture of scientific and military computers. Industrial conglomerate Teledyne Technologies acquired the business in 1968. In 1986, Israeli investors bought the name for a newly formed personal computer manufacturer, Packard Bell. History Founder Herb Bell Herb Bell had been in radio electronics since 1926, when he had formed a partnership with an engineer named Neff. Bell wanted to expand from manufacturing in a one-car garage to a larger facility to increase production, but Neff disagreed and the partnership ended. In 1928, Bell formed a new venture with Edward Jackso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanley Frankel
Stanley Phillips Frankel (1919 – May, 1978) was an American computer scientist. He worked in the Manhattan Project and developed various computers as a consultant. Early life He was born in Los Angeles, attended graduate school at the University of Rochester, received his PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and began his career as a post-doc student under J. Robert Oppenheimer at University of California, Berkeley in 1942. Career Frankel helped develop computational techniques used in the nuclear research taking place at the time, notably making some of the early calculations relating to the diffusion of neutrons in a critical assembly of uranium with Eldred Nelson. He joined the T (Theoretical) Division of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos in 1943. His wife Mary Frankel was also hired to work as a human computer in the T Division. While at Los Alamos, Frankel and Nelson organized a group of scientists' wives, including Mary, to perform som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
