Retro pc and equipment .-.

Starting this reto journey i would like to inform you that if you want to buy something from the reviews please dont hesitate to contact me by email. theretrospheres@gmail.com there is a good chance if i dont have it i could find it. kind regards to all and enjoy this blog !

Lets start with a small journey back in time , just for you to see were it all started .
In the early pre 20th century the need of humans for calculating more efficiently , lead them in creating simple mechanical systems such as the abacus - 


in the first half of the 20th century, analog computers were considered by many to be the future of computing. These devices used the continuously changeable aspects of physical phenomena such as electricalmechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved, in contrast to digital computers that represented varying quantities symbolically, as their numerical values change. As an analog computer does not use discrete values, but rather continuous values, processes cannot be reliably repeated with exact equivalence, as they can with Turing machines.

there where many attempts since the early 30s to develop a electronic computer . The first ones were designed in 1938-1940 and were able to calculate in a 32 bit prossesor . One of the early problems was the huge size ( usualy the were as big as a truck) and the huge cost .
The first commercial computer was the Ferranti Mark 1, built by Ferranti and delivered to the University of Manchester in February 1951. It was based on the Manchester Mark 1. The main improvements over the Manchester Mark 1 were in the size of the primary storage (using random access Williams tubes), secondary storage (using a magnetic drum), a faster multiplier, and additional instructions. The basic cycle time was 1.2 milliseconds, and a multiplication could be completed in about 2.16 milliseconds. The multiplier used almost a quarter of the machine's 4,050 vacuum tubes (valves).[103] A second machine was purchased by the University of Toronto, before the design was revised into the Mark 1 Star. At least seven of these later machines were delivered between 1953 and 1957, one of them to Shell labs in Amsterdam.

Defining characteristics of some early digital computers of the 1940s (In the history of computing hardware)
NameFirst operationalNumeral systemComputing mechanismProgrammingTuring complete
Arthur H. Dickinson IBM (US)Jan 1940DecimalElectronicNot programmableNo
Joseph Desch NCR (US)March 1940DecimalElectronicNot programmableNo
Zuse Z3 (Germany)May 1941Binaryfloating pointElectro-mechanicalProgram-controlled by punched 35 mm film stock (but no conditional branch)In theory (1998)
Atanasoff–Berry Computer (US)1942BinaryElectronicNot programmable—single purposeNo
Colossus Mark 1 (UK)February 1944BinaryElectronicProgram-controlled by patch cables and switchesNo
Harvard Mark I – IBM ASCC (US)May 1944DecimalElectro-mechanicalProgram-controlled by 24-channel punched paper tape(but no conditional branch)Debatable
Colossus Mark 2 (UK)June 1944BinaryElectronicProgram-controlled by patch cables and switchesIn theory (2011)[119]
Zuse Z4 (Germany)March 1945Binary floating pointElectro-mechanicalProgram-controlled by punched 35 mm film stockYes
ENIAC (US)July 1946DecimalElectronicProgram-controlled by patch cables and switchesYes
ARC2 (SEC) (UK)May 1948BinaryElectronicStored-program in rotating drum memoryYes
Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (Baby) (UK)June 1948BinaryElectronicStored-program in Williams cathode ray tube memoryYes
Modified ENIAC (US)September 1948DecimalElectronicRead-only stored programming mechanism using the Function Tables as program ROMYes
Manchester Mark 1 (UK)April 1949BinaryElectronicStored-program in Williams cathode ray tube memory and magnetic drum memoryYes
EDSAC (UK)May 1949BinaryElectronicStored-program in mercury delay line memoryYes
CSIRAC (Australia)November 1949BinaryElectronicStored-program in mercury delay line memoryYes
here are some information from wikipedia -

That was a brief history of computers.



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