Computer History Museum, Mountain View

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photo by Donald Kinney
Hey, all of you geeks, with a little help from Wikipedia I could probably fake this, but if you need a real explanation of magnetic core memory, I'm going to have to send you over to:
http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/navy-core-memory-desc.html



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I always wonder about the people who sat at these machines, flipping switches and keeping an eye on the dials...   Did they have grumbly bosses and nit-picking co-workers?   Was their dream-job that of processing data?   What else would they have rather been doing -- and why weren't they doing it -- and did they ever do it?



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And sometimes I wonder if those operators ever saw the beauty of the design -- all as clean and functional as possible -- and all those colorful flashing lights to watch...   Just like Christmas!



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Way back in the early '60's my father worked as an accountant for the Monterey Public Schools, and I remember him having to attend a week-long IBM "boot camp" where they gave an overview and explained how to use the new electronic data processing equipment that the school district had just purchased.

The computer room at Monterey Schools was large, with large and very expensive machines sorting punch-cards and spewing out long ribbons of wide green-bar paper.   I clearly remember the "programmer" wiring up boards with wire jumpers -- his programs looked like spaghetti when he was finished.



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During WWII the Germans used mechanical devices to encrypt their radio messages.   The best known of these machines is the Enigma, which was initially invented in 1918 for commercial applications.

To assure success, on land, sea and air, the Germans needed the fastest and most secret communications system available for the time period.   The Enigma cipher machine, designed to protect the secrecy of business messages, was adapted for the purposes of combat.   Additional refinements to the machine, during the war increased its complexity, thus making the messages harder and harder to decipher.

In fact, the German Navy started buying Enigma machines as early as 1925 and the Germany Army following shortly thereafter.   The Germans placed a great deal of confidence in the Enigma, believing it to be completely unbreakable.   It wasn't...



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The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor or maybe rumored to be named after the "pet rock" fad) was designed by Chuck Peddle.   It was first presented at the January, 1977, Winter Consumer Electronics Show and later at the West Coast Computer Faire.

The Pet Computer also ran on the 6502 chip, but it cost only $795, half the price of the Apple II.   It included 4 kb of RAM, monochrome graphics and an audio cassette drive for data storage.

Included was a version of BASIC in 14k of ROM. Microsoft developed its first 6502-based BASIC for the PET and then sold the source code to Apple for AppleBASIC.   The keyboard, cassette drive and small monochrome display all fit within the same self contained unit.



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Woz and Steve showed the prototype Apple I, mounted on plywood with all the components visible, at a meeting of a local computer hobbyist group called "The Homebrew Computer Club" (based in Palo Alto, California).

A local computer dealer (The Byte Shop) saw it and ordered 100 units, providing that Wozniak and Jobs agreed to assemble the kits for the customers.   About two hundred Apple Is were built and sold over a ten month period, for the superstitious price of $666.66.

In 1977, Apple Computers was incorporated and the Apple II computer model was released.   The first West Coast Computer Faire was held in San Francisco the same year, and attendees saw the public debut of the Apple II (available for $1298).

The Apple II was also based on the 6502 processor, but it had color graphics (a first for a personal computer), and used an audio cassette drive for storage.   Its original configuration came with 4 kb of RAM, but a year later this was increased to 48 kb of RAM and the cassette drive was replaced by a floppy disk drive.
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/01/26/steve-jobs-introduce.html



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The "Crown Jewell" as you walk in the door of the Computer History Museum is an exact copy of Difference Engine No. 2, built faithfully to the original drawings of Charles Babbage, circa 1850's.

It consists of 8,000 parts, weighs five tons, and measures 11 feet long.   A lecture and fascinating demonstration of the Difference Engine is given at 2PM.

Here is a great video on the Babbage Difference Engine:
http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/

Here is an overview of the Compuer History Museum on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6zeq-dD5dI

Admission to the Computer History Museum is FREE -- (they have a lot of wealthy backers, donors, and corporate sponsors).


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Memory -- Computer History Museum, part 2 of 2

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As one might expect, the first exhibit at Computer History Museum is about recorded memory. Every thing from ancient incised clay tablets to the modern miniature flash memory that I use in my camera.



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Building short and long-term memory with more capacity and speed, yet physically smaller, has always been the challenge. Transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, and resonant coils have shrunk in size, while power requirements have diminished as well.



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A book of functions for calculating, perhaps, the variables of a curve. Or the change in velocity of an object. Or maybe calculations on the rising and setting of the sun. Working it all out by hand was a very arduous task.



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The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom, invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801. The loom is controlled by punched cards with punched holes, each row of which corresponds to one row of the design. Multiple rows of holes are punched on each card and the many cards that compose the design of the textile are strung together in order.
(((source:  Wikipedia)))



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And now, back home from Computer History Museum... That's the spinning memory I use for backup. It sits on top of my 4-3/4 year old MacPro. They're MercuryElite 1-TB external hard-drives in a mirrored RAID configuration.

The calendar is by one of my favorite photographers--Marty Knapp of Point Reyes Station. And yes, I probably should get his new calendar because I seem to be stuck on October of last year. (I've shown the calendar out of focus to avoid copyright issues)


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Computer History Museum -- part 1 of 2

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UNIVAC console at Computer History Museum.

UNIVAC-1 was the first commercial computer made in the United States. The main memory consisted of tanks of liquid mercury implementing delay line memory, arranged in 1000 words of 12 alphanumeric characters each. The first machine was delivered on 31 March 1951.

UNIVAC is the name of a business unit and division of the Remington Rand company formed in 1950. In 1955 Remington Rand merged with Sperry Corporation. UNIVAC is an acronym for UNIVersal Automatic Computer.



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Machines need our input as variables, and we need a method to decipher their calculations and logic. And what could be more fun than reading rows and rows of counters that look like clocks, day after day...



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Tape. Yes I remember tape. My Spanish lessons in high-school were tangled in Scotch magnetic tape. Didn't make my life much easier. I still don't speak much Spanish--not to imply that tape was the culprit.



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The MITS Altair 8800 was a microcomputer design from 1975 based on the Intel 8080 CPU and sold by mail order through advertisements in Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics and other hobbyist magazines. The designers hoped to sell only a few hundred build-it-yourself kits to hobbyists, and were surprised when they sold thousands in the first month.

The Altair also appealed to individuals and businesses who just wanted a computer and purchased the assembled version. Today the Altair is widely recognized as the spark that led to the microcomputer revolution of the next few years: The computer bus designed for the Altair was to become a de facto standard in the form of the S-100 bus, and the first programming language for the machine was Microsoft's founding product, Altair BASIC.
(((source:  Wikipedia)))



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In the 1970s Commodore was one of many electronics companies selling calculators designed around Dallas-based Texas Instruments (TI) CPU chips. However, in 1975 TI increased the price of these components to the point where the chip set cost more than an entire TI calculator, and the industry that had built up around it was frozen out of the market.

Commodore responded to this by searching for a chip set they could purchase outright. They quickly found MOS Technology, who were in the process of bringing their 6502 microprocessor design to market, and with whom came Chuck Peddle's KIM-1 design, a small computer kit based on the 6502. At Commodore, Peddle convinced Jack Tramiel that calculators were a dead-end. In September 1976 Peddle got a demonstration of Jobs and Wozniak's Apple II prototype, when Jobs was offering to sell it to Commodore, but Commodore considered Job's offer too expensive. Tramiel demanded that Peddle, Bill Seiler, and John Feagans create a computer in time for the June 1977 Consumer Electronics Show, and gave them six months to do it. Tramiel's son, Leonard, helped design the PETSCII graphic characters and acted as quality control. The result was the first all-in-one home computer, the PET, the first model of which was the PET 2001. Its 6502 processor controlled the screen, keyboard, cassette tape recorders and any peripherals connected to one of the computer's several expansion ports. The PET 2001 included either 4 KB (2001-4) or 8 KB (2001-8) of 8-bit RAM, and was essentially a single-board computer with discrete logic, driving a small built-in monochrome monitor with 40×25 character graphics. Designed on an appliance computer philosophy similar to the original Macintosh the machine also included a built-in Datassette for data storage located on the front of the case, which left little room for the keyboard. The data transfer rate to cassette tape was 1500 baud, duplicated for safety, giving an effective rate of 750 baud. The computer's main board carried four expansion ports: extra memory, a second cassette tape recorder interface, a parallel port and an IEEE-488 port.

The PET 2001 was announced at the Winter CES in January 1977 and the first 100 units were shipped later that year in October. However, the PET was back-ordered for months and to ease deliveries, early in 1978 Commodore decided to cancel the 4 kB version.

Although the machine was fairly successful, there were frequent complaints about the tiny calculator-like keyboard, often referred to as a "chiclet keyboard" because the keys resembled the gum candy. This was addressed in upgraded "dash N" and "dash B" versions of the 2001, which put the cassette tape recorder outside the case, and included a much larger keyboard with a full stroke motion. Internally a newer motherboard was used, along with an upgrade from static RAM to dynamic RAM and 8, 16, or 32 KB, known as the 2001-N-8, 2001-N-16 or 2001-N-32, respectively.

Sales of the newer machines were strong, and Commodore then introduced the models to Europe. The result was the CBM 3000 series ('CBM' standing for Commodore Business Machines), which included the 3008, 3016 and 3032 models. Like the 2001-N-8, the 3008 was quickly dropped.
(((source:  Wikipedia)))


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Computer History Museum, Mt. View, California

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I visited two years ago but since then the Computer History Museum has been expanded into a fabulous journey though advancements in the science of numbers, including differential equations used in calculating rates of change -- predicting where a rocket is going to hit, for instance.



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I never worked in the field of electronics, but that doesn't mean I didn't spend two years in junior college studying the subject.   And those were the days before calculators took over so we still used slide-rules for math.

And of course, the first thing you learn about punch cards is do not fold, spindle, or mutilate.



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Hands up if you remember vacuum tubes.   Oh, the warm glow of the illuminating tubes -- listening to Vince Guaraldi or maybe some Roland Kirk late on a Saturday evening.   Wondering if I was EVER going to find love.

But vacuum tubes was the way it was done before transistors took over, allowing everything to scale down in size.   Even my nonexistent love life. (((Oh don't worry about me -- eventually I fell in love with a cat)))



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You'll see a lot of spaghetti at the museum.   Wiring can get quite complex.



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An early plotter.   It made precise curves using a complex system of gears.



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And a plotter of a later date with a few more bells and whistles.

Stop by tomorrow and I'll have more.



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for just a brief moment

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A twist of the z-o-o-m...
All very mysterious to me--and probably just a bit t-o-o much fun.



photo by Donald Kinney

And to figure it all out, perhaps we will need a set of clocks...
[at Computer History Museum in 2011]



photo by Donald Kinney

As for order--we have many mysterious ways to make the numbers line up.
[at Computer History Museum in 2011]


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

Computer History Museum, part 2 of 3

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Personally I rarely played Pong -- although Pong (and Pac-Man) seemed to be all the rage back in the 1970's and 1980's.   It cost a quarter to play, and in those days quarters didn't come easy.

Pong (marketed as PONG) is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics.   While other arcade video games such as Computer Space came before it, Pong was one of the first video games to reach mainstream popularity.   The aim is to defeat the opponent in a simulated table tennis game by earning a higher score.   The game was originally manufactured by Atari Incorporated (Atari), who released it in 1972.   Pong was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell.   Bushnell based the idea on an electronic ping-pong game included in the Magnavox Odyssey, which later resulted in a lawsuit against Atari.   Surprised by the quality of Alcorn's work, Atari decided to manufacture the game.

Pong quickly became a success and is the first commercially successful video game, which led to the start of the video game industry.   Soon after its release, several companies began producing games that copied Pong's gameplay, and eventually released new types of games.   As a result, Atari encouraged its staff to produce more innovative games.   Several sequels were released that built upon the original's gameplay by adding new features.   During the 1975 Christmas season, Atari released a home version of Pong exclusively through Sears retail stores.   It was also a commercial success and led to numerous copies.   The game has been remade on numerous home and portable platforms following its release.   Pong has been referenced and parodied in multiple television shows and video games, and has been a part of several video game and cultural exhibitions.
[ source: Wikipedia ]



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This is magnetic memory -- and a charge can be induced (or not be induced) and later retrieved (or not retrieved) from each one of those tiny doughnut shaped ferrite cores.   Someone with the patience-of-Job carefully wove this early example together by hand.



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Everybody has secrets.   Secrets are important.   Knowing the other guy's secrets can be very advantageous when you're trying to win a war or something.

German Enigma code machine
Like other rotor machines, the Enigma machine is a combination of mechanical and electrical subsystems. The mechanical subsystem consists of a keyboard; a set of rotating disks called rotors arranged adjacently along a spindle; and one of various stepping components to turn one or more of the rotors with each key press. The stepping component varies slightly from model to model. Most often the right-hand rotor steps once with each key stroke, and other rotors step occasionally. The continual movement of the rotors results in a different cryptographic substitution after each key press.

The mechanical parts act in such a way as to form a varying electrical circuit; the actual letter substitution is indicated electrically.   When a key is pressed, the circuit is completed; current flows through the various components in their current configuration and ultimately lights one of the display lamps, indicating the output letter.   For example, when encrypting a message starting ANX…, the operator would first press the A key, and the Z lamp might light, so Z would be the first letter of the ciphertext.   The operator would next press N, and then X in the same fashion, and so on.
[ source: Wikipedia ]



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photo by Donald Kinney

The MITS Altair 8800 was a microcomputer design from 1975 based on the Intel 8080 CPU and sold by mail order through advertisements in Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics and other hobbyist magazines.   The designers hoped to sell only a few hundred build-it-yourself kits to hobbyists, and were surprised when they sold thousands in the first month.   The Altair also appealed to individuals and businesses who just wanted a computer and purchased the assembled version.   Today the Altair is widely recognized as the spark that led to the microcomputer revolution of the next few years: The computer bus designed for the Altair was to become a de facto standard in the form of the S-100 bus, and the first programming language for the machine was Microsoft's founding product, Altair BASIC.
[ source: Wikipedia ]



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The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International.   A top-seller in the Canadian and United States educational markets, it was Commodore's first full-featured computer, and formed the basis for their entire 8-bit product line, including the Commodore 64.
[ source: Wikipedia ]

Stop by tomorrow and I'll have more.



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Pin-ball Expo at Marin Civic Center

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Old school pinball machines are pretty much relegated to history -- god, do I feel old.   But I felt like a little kid again when I was bouncing off over 400 vintage pin-ball machines Sunday afternoon at Pin-ball Expo at the Marin Civic Center exhibition hall.

There is an organization working to establish a permanent Pin-ball Museum right here in Marin County.





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They were charging an arm and a leg for admission, but play on all machines was free -- theoretically, at 25 cents per game, 100 games would cover admission.   I only shot one game -- I'm not a very good pinball player -- but I DID manage to shoot lots of photos.



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OXO (also known as Noughts and Crosses) is a tic-tac-toe computer game made for the EDSAC computer in 1952.   It was written by Alexander S. Douglas as an illustration for his Ph.D. thesis on human-computer interaction for the University of Cambridge.   OXO was the first digital graphical game to run on a computer.

This pin-ball back-glass has nothing to do with the EDSAC computer, although the game does have a very high-tech tic-tac-toe theme.

The simulation was played using a rotary telephone controller, and was designed for the world's first stored-program computer.   OXO is often listed as the first computer game.

In OXO the player played against the computer, and output was displayed on the computer's 35×16 pixel cathode ray tube.   The source code was short, yet it played a perfect game of noughts and crosses.   OXO did not have widespread popularity because the EDSAC was a computer unique to Cambridge.     source: Wikipedia



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Even though they aren't lit very evenly, pin-ball back-glasses are easy to shoot, but trying to get shots of the bumpers and ball-bouncers is difficult because of the odd angle and limited depth of field.   An overhead shot would have solved the problem but I didn't get permission to bring my ladder.



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Super Straight eh?   Well folks, come back tomorrow and I'll show you some really sexy pinball back-glasses.


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Google has rules

^ ^ ^ Please let me know if you know what this is all about.



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Oh, getting kicked out of places I'm not supposed to be is nothing new to me -- so when the rather mellow security guards at Google Headquarters in Mountain View escorted me out on Wednesday it was just another rather mellow adventure...

Like I mentioned to Photowannabe Sue the other day, they didn't taze or pepper-spray me, or anything.   They didn't want to know who I was, and the guy wouldn't even take my card -- they aren't allowed to accept anything from strangers...



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Anyway I had fun mingling with the lunch-bunch soaking up some sun and mulling over the problems of work and/or cutting loose with wild stories about this and that...



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On the good side -- Google cares about expectant mothers...

On the bad side -- rumors abound that Google spies on us, amassing lengthy records of our innermost thoughts and motivations.   My file is probably pretty boring...



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So, next time you're in Mountain View visiting the Computer History Museum, drive farther down that road and stop by Google.   Be a bit more discrete than me with my obvious camera, and you probably will be able to get away with a bit of discretionary trespassing.


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interesting patterns

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The mosaic (above) is the base of a rather colorful obelisk hidden away in a rather obscure part of Maritime Plaza.



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These two designs are from the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.   More on my visit to that fabulous place later...




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Computer History Museum, part 3 of 3

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Computers are great at drawing lines and one of their first applications beyond number crunching was generating mechanical drawings.   Architects do very little pencil sharpening these days.



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Crank up "Offering A" or crank up "Offering B" -- THAT is the question...



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Oh, it's all very small, but the trace patterns of circuit boards have gotten even tinier in the past 40 years or so.



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Best way to approach a machine like this might be to READ the instruction manual.



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Computers and the things they do.   Allowing us to live beyond our wildest expectations.   Who would have thunk that we would be sending email in the blink of an eye.   Or spending our money so easily with just a click.   And of course, lets not forget (((Don))) to do our TurboTax again this year...



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