The Atlas Computer
The Atlas was the fourth computer system to be designed and built at The University of Manchester. Previous experimental systems had led to the development of three commercial computers: the Ferranti Mark I, the Ferranti Mercury and the Metropolitan Vickers MV950.
The Manchester Atlas input area in 1962, from the Ferranti Atles brochure.
The Manchester Atles in use Alan Davies at the contral canale, the feed store d
and Anita Payne at one of the Ampex tape decks
The Atlas was perhaps the crowning glory of these machines. - a supercomputer that incorporated numerous fundamental inventions. Upon its release, it was one of the most powerful in the world for its users.
KILBURN'S SUPERCOMPUTER
After the development of 'The Baby' and Mark I, Tom Kilburn had become the leader of the University's computer design team. In preparation for the design of the Atlas he consulted users of high-performance scientific computing, putting him in an ideal position to design a machine that maximised the power delivered to scientific users.
Three Atlas machines were produced between 1962 and 1964-the first for The University of Manchester, the second for the University of London (jointly funded by British Petroleum) and the third for the National Institute for Research in Nuclear Science at the Atlas,
Computer Laboratory in Chilton, Oxfordshire.
In the early 1960s a variation called Atlas 2 was developed by the University of Cambridge and Ferranti. Three Atlas 2 machines were operational-one at Cambridge University (TITAN, 1963), one at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment in Aldermaston (1963) and one at the Cambridge CAD Centre (1966).
MICROSECOND MACHINE
The Atlas was referred to as a 'microsecond machine', with register access in 0.7μs and floating point add, multiply and divide in 1.59μs, 4.97 us and 10.66μ - 29.8μs respectively. It had a 96 kB core memory (RAM) and 576 kB of drum memory on four drums.
The Atlas achieved its power thanks to the inclusion of fast germanium transistors, fast addition and multiplication circuits, a fast fixed store and-perhaps most significantly-virtual memory.
The basic research for the Atlas computer was conducted between 1957 and 1959 in what is now the Zochonis Building at the University. The Manchester Ferranti Atlas was housed there upon installation, providing high-performance computing to both academic and industrial users from its inauguration day on 7 December 1962 until 30 September 1971, when it was shut down. By this time the University's next generation MU5 computer was nearing completion. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_%28computer%29
The Atlas Computer
The Atlas was the fourth computer system to be designed and built at The University of Manchester. Previous experimental systems had led to the development of three commercial computers: the Ferranti Mark I, the Ferranti Mercury and the Metropolitan Vickers MV950.
The Manchester Atlas input area in 1962, from the Ferranti Atles brochure.
The Manchester Atles in use Alan Davies at the contral canale, the feed store d
and Anita Payne at one of the Ampex tape decks
The Atlas was perhaps the crowning glory of these machines. - a supercomputer that incorporated numerous fundamental inventions. Upon its release, it was one of the most powerful in the world for its users.
KILBURN'S SUPERCOMPUTER
After the development of 'The Baby' and Mark I, Tom Kilburn had become the leader of the University's computer design team. In preparation for the design of the Atlas he consulted users of high-performance scientific computing, putting him in an ideal position to design a machine that maximised the power delivered to scientific users.
Three Atlas machines were produced between 1962 and 1964-the first for The University of Manchester, the second for the University of London (jointly funded by British Petroleum) and the third for the National Institute for Research in Nuclear Science at the Atlas,
Computer Laboratory in Chilton, Oxfordshire.
In the early 1960s a variation called Atlas 2 was developed by the University of Cambridge and Ferranti. Three Atlas 2 machines were operational-one at Cambridge University (TITAN, 1963), one at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment in Aldermaston (1963) and one at the Cambridge CAD Centre (1966).
MICROSECOND MACHINE
The Atlas was referred to as a 'microsecond machine', with register access in 0.7μs and floating point add, multiply and divide in 1.59μs, 4.97 us and 10.66μ - 29.8μs respectively. It had a 96 kB core memory (RAM) and 576 kB of drum memory on four drums.
The Atlas achieved its power thanks to the inclusion of fast germanium transistors, fast addition and multiplication circuits, a fast fixed store and-perhaps most significantly-virtual memory.
The basic research for the Atlas computer was conducted between 1957 and 1959 in what is now the Zochonis Building at the University. The Manchester Ferranti Atlas was housed there upon installation, providing high-performance computing to both academic and industrial users from its inauguration day on 7 December 1962 until 30 September 1971, when it was shut down. By this time the University's next generation MU5 computer was nearing completion. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_%28computer%29