HP Forum Archive 18

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our heritage... Message #1 Posted by Don Shepherd on 3 Sept 2008, 9:51 a.m. Ad for IBM computers from Time magazine in 1953. Note "3 kinds of memory" includes cathode ray tubes! Interesting how far we have come from then.

Re: our heritage... Message #2 Posted by PeterP on 3 Sept 2008, 10:17 a.m., in response to message #1 by Don Shepherd cool!

Something I don't understand Message #3 Posted by Frank Boehm (Germany) on 3 Sept 2008, 11:13 a.m., in response to message #1 by Don Shepherd Advertising suggests a cathode ray tube (which looks like a Braun tube) as "memory". I absolutely have no idea how to create a storage solution from one of these tubes, I only used them for "display" purposes. Or is this simply a mess created by the ad department, which mistook a vacuum tube for a cathode ray tube?

Re: Something I don't understand Message #4 Posted by Bill (Smithville, NJ) on 3 Sept 2008, 11:17 a.m., in response to message #3 by Frank Boehm (Germany) Frank, See following link on Cathod Ray Tube Memory: Cathod Ray Tube Memory Bill Smithville, NJ

Thanks Message #5 Posted by Frank Boehm (Germany) on 4 Sept 2008, 3:59 a.m., in response to message #4 by Bill (Smithville, NJ) Very interesting, something like an optical delay line memory. I wonder if this didn't suffer from screen burn in after a short while.

Re: Thanks Message #6 Posted by Eric Smith on 4 Sept 2008, 7:51 p.m., in response to message #5 by Frank Boehm (Germany) Yes, there was phosphor burn, but not enough to interfere with the normal operation of the tube. They were never very reliable, even prior to phosphor burn. At one point IBM was in the process of replacing all of the Williams Tube memory of the 701 and 702 computers at customer sites with core memory, due to the unreliability of the Williams Tube memory, and other engineers at IBM were designing Williams Tube memory into the next-generation 704 and 705 computers, because at the time it was less expensive than core memory. When Watson learned of this, he commented something to the effect of it being the most ridiculous decision he'd ever heard of, using something known not to work because it was less expensive than the alternative that did work.

Re: Thanks Message #7 Posted by Paul Brogger on 5 Sept 2008, 4:17 p.m., in response to message #6 by Eric Smith Quote: ... the most ridiculous decision ... using something known not to work because it was less expensive than the alternative that did ... Thank goodness that, in our age of enlightened product management, we don't have to experience anything like that anymore. Edited: 5 Sept 2008, 4:20 p.m.

Re: our heritage... Message #8 Posted by Bill (Smithville, NJ) on 3 Sept 2008, 11:14 a.m., in response to message #1 by Don Shepherd Hi Don, Pretty neat. Do you know what year that ad is from? I remember reading about how they used a Cathod Ray tube for memory storage. I believe it had to be constantly refleshed, but was supposed to be really fast. The other strange memory device was the Mercury Delay Line storage that was used in the Edvac (pre-univac) computers. I read a story where they would leak, and sometimes there would be great pools of mercury on the floor. A link to the Mecury Storage: Mercury Delay Line A great book to read on early computers is "From Dits to Bits: A Personal History of the Electronic Computer" by Herman Lukoff. He was one of the engineers on the EDVAC and Univac. Bill Smithville, NJ Edited: 3 Sept 2008, 11:24 a.m.

Re: our heritage... Message #9 Posted by George Bailey (Bedford Falls) on 3 Sept 2008, 11:30 a.m., in response to message #8 by Bill (Smithville, NJ) Quote: Do you know what year that ad is from? Quote: from Time magazine in 1953

Re: our heritage... Message #10 Posted by Bill (Smithville, NJ) on 3 Sept 2008, 11:34 a.m., in response to message #9 by George Bailey (Bedford Falls) Quote: from Time magazine in 1953 Boy, do I have egg on my face Bill Smithville, NJ Edited: 3 Sept 2008, 11:35 a.m.

Re: our heritage... Message #11 Posted by Diego Diaz on 3 Sept 2008, 3:32 p.m., in response to message #10 by Bill (Smithville, NJ) Great ad by the soul of my "ferrite core"!! ;-)) I'm also impressed to see IBM logo in solid red. Does someone knows when did it turn blue-lined? Thanks for sharing this! Diego.

Re: our heritage... Message #12 Posted by Arne Halvorsen (Norway) on 6 Sept 2008, 4:25 p.m., in response to message #8 by Bill (Smithville, NJ) Thx for the book tip, I am a sucker for computer history book, had not this on the radar. While out of print, thx God for Amazone support for use book sellers, long time actual I bought a new book through them.

Re: our heritage... Message #13 Posted by Karl Schneider on 4 Sept 2008, 12:15 a.m., in response to message #1 by Don Shepherd Quote: Interesting how far we have come from then Perhaps we've regressed... our cherished calculators can't come anywhere near those processing speeds for arithmetic (16+ kflops for addition; 2+ kflops for multiplication)... unless those were integer-math operations. ;-) Seriously, Don, thanks for posting the interesting historical material. Let's also remember that mainframes were still a mainstay in the 1980's. -- KS

Re: our heritage... Message #14 Posted by Palmer O. Hanson, Jr. on 4 Sept 2008, 9:20 p.m., in response to message #1 by Don Shepherd The RemRand 1103 that we used for a computer programming course at the University of Minnesota in 1960 used a bank of CRT's backed up by a magnetic drum for bulk storage. It was possible to see if your programn was running correctly if you knew how to "read" the CRT display. That was helpful because the only input per se was a paper tape which the user then took to a flexowriter to get a printout.

Re: our heritage... Message #15 Posted by Alvar Kusma on 7 Sept 2008, 9:01 a.m., in response to message #14 by Palmer O. Hanson, Jr. Yet another old type of memory - Magneto-restriction delay line, this time in calculator. Scroll page down for picture and description. Edited: 7 Sept 2008, 9:04 a.m.

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