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Computer History
In the Beginning
1937-1942: Atanasoff-Berry
Iowa State University was the home of
the first electronic digital computer.
Main storage was a rotating drum with each bit stored in a capacitor
with dynamic refresh, backing storage was cards, into which holes were
burned by a spark gap!
1944-1946: ENIAC
The Ballistic Research Lab of the US Army sponsored the construction of the
first American vacuum-tube computer.
Mike Muus's History of Computing
Information has lots of wonderful material.
1959-1961: Rice Computer
Early 1960's: IBM 1401 Data Processing System
1961: IBM 7030 Stretch
Project Stretch created the second-generation mainframe computer.
http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/stretch/.
1963: IBM 7094 and CTSS
MIT's Compatible Time-Sharing System was written to run on
a (somewhat modified) IBM 7094.
http://www.multicians.org/thvv/7094.html
1964: IBM System/360
IBM's grand leap from 36 bits to 32 bits.
This website's comprehensive article about S/360.
1965: Multics
1966: PDP-8
While the large systems became multi-user, Digital Equipment Corp. was
trying to build a computer so inexpensive that it did not have to be shared.
-
Doug Jones' PDP-8 FAQ is a great overview of the accomplishments
of the PDP-8 family.
- pdp8.net is a live PDP-8/E connected
to the Internet.
- PDP8.COM is a private fan site.
(Last I checked, the content was gone, however).
Late 1960's: PDP-10 Family
Digital Equipment did their own successor to the IBM-709 series: The PDP-10
was a full-blown 36-bit mainframe with a time-sharing operating system
called TOPS-10. Along the way,
Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN - the ARPAnet people) designed
a virtual memory extension and an operating system called TENEX.
Eventually,
Digital bought it and integrated it with
their own system, producing TOPS-20.
1970: PDP-11
Digital followed the success of the PDP-8 family up with the 16-bit
PDP-11 family. The first PDP-11/20 was shipped in
1970, and 30 years later, new PDP-11s are still being built and sold.
1978: VAX
The VAX filled the gap in Digital's product line
between the PDP-11 and the PDP-10 families.
Eventually, it was replaced by the Alpha series of servers and workstations.
The major survivors
Virtual Collections
-
Forest Edge Software and eVAX
- emulation.net: Emulators for the Mac OS
- D Bit: the Ersatz-11
Emulate any PDP-11 model on your Pentium, and attach Qbus or Unibus
peripherals via bus adapter that plugs into PCI.
An emulated PDP-11/93 makes a very nice home for
RSX-11M-PLUS.
-
PDP-11 Freeware CD's
- Fundamental Software, Inc.
IBM has the P/390: An S/390 CPU chipset on a PCIbus card that
lets software developers run a fairly slow VM/390 on an OS/2
based server. Fundamental Software has FLEX-ES, a production
load capable plug-compatible mainframe running on a Unix-based
Pentium-class machine. Recognized by IBM's software licensing
administration as a plug-compatible mainframe. A 400MHz
Pentium-II could be an 8-MIPS 3080. Fundamental Software
will configure the system to run at the speed of your old
mainframe, so you don't have to upgrade your software
license when you downsize the CPU box!
- Hercules-390 is a freeware
emulator that runs on a Linux Pentium.
Unsorted Links
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Add more VAX stuff and streamline the PDP11 page.
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Added links from my bookmaarks file.
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Updated Multics links.
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Fix some broken links.
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Add link to Hercules.
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Revision 1.8 1999/12/16 07:22:08 lars
Added PDP8.
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Add Rice Institute Computer.
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Add lots of details about operating systems.
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Added links.
Revision 1.4 1999/11/08 16:46:33 lars
More computer history links.
Revision 1.3 1999/09/23 06:56:02 lars
Move links from bookmark file intop relevant pages.