View allAll Photos Tagged minicomputer
A Teletypewriter with a paper tape reader and punch included. One of the commonest computer terminals of the 1960s or 70s.
Another item I owned some years ago, together with the PDP-8 and various other old minicomputers.
[Photo from bytecollector.com]
Uploaded for the Control Panel group. Rather poor and old photo taken with my first ever digicam. Will see if I can get some better ones. The panel is from a NORD-10
The front layout is not as in the manual, which shows the lights-and-switches panel at the bottom. This machine was modified by Philips to have a mains switch and neon indicator on the front of the transformer chassis, so the blank panel (with 2 holes drilled) was put on that area.
So there was once a company in Manly, Sydney, Australia who made minicomputers. The Model 8000 appears to have 64k memory, but none of the other options.
I’ll be showing a real 1972 era, PDP-11/05 minicomputer that has a CPU built up from TTL logic chips with magnetic core memory running RT-11. Also, I’ll have a PiDP-11/70 working replica of the PDP-11/70 running RSX11M+. Both systems will have terminals to allow the demonstration of their operating systems and software.
Original Photo: 2008 Focalization PaD - Day 353 | 50D_02509.jpg
All your data are belong to us.
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile storage device which stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. Strictly speaking, "drive" refers to a device distinct from its medium, such as a tape drive and its tape, or a floppy disk drive and its floppy disk. Early HDDs had removable media; however, an HDD today is typically a sealed unit (except for a filtered vent hole to equalize air pressure) with fixed media.
The first hard drive (the IBM 305 RAMAC) was introduced in 1956 as data storage for an IBM accounting computer. It required 50 24-inch disks to store 5MB of data and cost roughly $35,000 a year to lease - or $7,000 per megabyte per year. For years, hard disk drives were confined to mainframe and minicomputer installations. Vast "disk farms" of giant 14- and 8-inch drives costing tens of thousands of dollars each whirred away in the air conditioned isolation of corporate data centers.
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If you would like to use this image without paying anything, e-mail me and ask. I'm generally willing to share.
KONOMARK - Most Rights Sharable. Just ask me.
Stealth Computer's new Rugged, Fanless Waterproof PC, Model: WPC-525F. A Robust Mobile PC for Harsh Environment Applications.
Sealed to IP67/NEMA 6 specifications. The new Stealth WPC-525F is a rugged PC that is completely water-tight, surviving liquids, chemicals, dust and dirt intrusion and meeting IP67/NEMA 6 environmental specifications.
For more information:
Two DATAMAX minicomputers, from the days when computers were made in Australia, some time last century...
Our Smallest Full Featured Mini PC Ever!
Simply amazing! - The most processing power in the smallest package Stealth has ever produced. Utilizing Intel's Mobile Core 2 Duo Processors the LPC-100 delivers the ultimate in small form factor performance. The LPC-100 Mini PC is an excellent choice for industrial and commercial applications which include, Embedded Control, Digital Signs, Interactive Kiosks, Thin-Clients, and Human/Machine Interface applications.
Barely larger then a deck of playing cards (4.0" x 6.1" x 1.45") the LPC-100 ultra Mini PC provides CPU performance, I/O connectivity, graphics performance and hard drive space typically found in large PC systems. The LPC-100 operates from an external 12VDC power adapter (included) or can be connected to an external DC source making it ideal for mobile and remote applications.
For more info and full datasheet specs:
The Lisa had well-designed internals — you can tell it was put together by minicomputer people. The back comes off with two thumb screws (in the background), and the whole cage comes out for maintenance and expansion.
For Harry Potter Night the Exeter Library Coding Club wrote a program for their version of an automatic sorting hat for the Sorting Ceremony. Depending on which colour light flashed when pressed the name of the chosen house boomed out of the speakers.
Model: LPC-100M, Vehicle / Mobile Ultra Small Mini PC - Rear View with
ExpressCard
For more information and complete datasheet specs on this model, click here:
Neiman Marcus 'Kitchen Computer', a Honeywell minicomputer in a fancy case. None were believed to ever have been sold and they would have been pretty impractical anyway since the only user interface was toggle switches. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeywell_316
It's a minicomputer (mainframe, more like) running a game called Spacewar. I think it may be a PDP-1
This was way before Pong, one of the first video games anyone could play. You drive a spaceship and try to shoot the other spaceship.
East Coast Vintage Computer Festival, July 2001
Massachusetts
Diefenbunker: Canada's Cold War Museum
Meet the Honeywell DPS-6 Minicomputer known as:
"Myrtle"
Nobody knows how "Myrtle" came by her name, but she monitored and controlled the Bunker's environmental conditions from the mid-1980's to shutdown in 1994.
In case of a nuclear explosion, Myrtle would have closed all the building's air vents in 1/3rd of a second (300) milliseconds) thus sealing the building against air-born radiation contamination.
The Honeywell DPS-6 would have cost about $100,000 in 1986 dollars. It used the GCOS-6 operating system and could support up to 160 remote terminals.
PASSWORD FOR FRED ONLY. EXCELDOC ABC 1234.
OTTAWA SEMI-AUTOMATIC EXCHANGE (OSAX)
Inevitably, computerization replaced earlier communications technologies. The OSAX computers were cutting edge and top secret in the early 1980s.
The original Burroughs 4800 mainframe computers, similar to the ones here, were enormous, both in terms of size and relative processing power. They handled more than 100,000 messages per month, and connected the Bunker to Canadian and allied military bases around the globe.
The room rests on a raised platform. Underneath, cables connect the computers and a ventilation system cools the hard-working equipment. Once the doors are closed, the OSAX is what the military calls a "TEMPEST room", shielded from floor to ceiling in metal to prevent electronic eavesdropping.
The computers' sole connection to the outside world was via secure optic fibre; data was stored on large magnetic tapes. The average smartphone has more computing power-but just try to get a signal in the Bunker.
Teletype machines were also in use in OSAX. Starting in the early 1990s, large computers were phased out in favour of PCs.
“…there were a lot of places in here that were restricted... OSAX was the most restricted area."
Janet Puddicombe, Teletype Operator/Communicator
(1981-1987)
The Data General Nova 1200 - core memory minicomputer. I programmed one of these (in Basic, via an ASR 33 Teletype) while in high school.
Computer Control Company DDP-116 (http://www.computingheritage.org/ddp116/), the first 16-bit minicomputer.
The 74181 is a bit slice arithmetic logic unit (ALU), implemented as a 7400 series TTL integrated circuit. The first complete ALU on a single chip, it was used as the arithmetic/logic core in the CPUs of many historically significant minicomputers and other devices.
Galaxy was one of the first coin-operated video games. Using a DEC PDP-11/20 minicomputer, designers Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck produced a reprogrammed version of the classic SpaceWar! game. The original machines were installed in Stanford University's Tressider Student Union in September 1971 and quickly became tremendously popular. From 1972 to 1979, Tressider had a second version fo the game, featured here, that could include up to four displays. Galaxy was re-installed at the Stanford in William Gates Computer Science Building from 1997 to 2000.
Model: LPC-100M, Vehicle / Mobile Ultra Small Mini PC - Rear View
For more information and complete datasheet specs on this model, click here:
Our Smallest Full Featured Mini PC Ever!
Simply amazing! - The most processing power in the smallest package Stealth has ever produced. Utilizing Intel's Mobile Core 2 Duo Processors the LPC-100 delivers the ultimate in small form factor performance. The LPC-100 Mini PC is an excellent choice for industrial and commercial applications which include, Embedded Control, Digital Signs, Interactive Kiosks, Thin-Clients, and Human/Machine Interface applications.
Barely larger then a deck of playing cards (4.0" x 6.1" x 1.45") the LPC-100 ultra Mini PC provides CPU performance, I/O connectivity, graphics performance and hard drive space typically found in large PC systems. The LPC-100 operates from an external 12VDC power adapter (included) or can be connected to an external DC source making it ideal for mobile and remote applications.
For more info and full datasheet specs:
An example of a Interface Message Processor (IMP) from Bolt Beranek and Newman, one of the first routers on the ARPANET in 1969. It housed a Honeywell minicomputer with 12k words of memory.
Autonetics, Minuteman I Guidance Computer, c. 1962
Memory: 5,454 (11-bit) Drum
Speed: 12,800 Add/s
Cost: $234,000
“This section of a Minuteman I missile guidance computer is a 24-bit serial minicomputer that controlled an on-board inertial guidance system. Previous missiles were guided by ground-based computers that communicated using a radio link, but since atomic explosions in the atmosphere could disrupt radio communications there was a need to develop a computer small enough to be housed in the rocket itself. The computer also performed diagnostic checks on the rocket system as it waited in the launch silo.”
Computer History Museum
Mountain View, CA
(7146)
I’ll be showing a real 1972 era, PDP-11/05 minicomputer that has a CPU built up from TTL logic chips with magnetic core memory running RT-11. Also, I’ll have a PiDP-11/70 working replica of the PDP-11/70 running RSX11M+. Both systems will have terminals to allow the demonstration of their operating systems and software.
Exeter Library holds a Raspberry Pi Jam on the 1st Saturday of every month 10am - 12 noon. The library sets up some Raspberry Pi mini computers for people to use. People also contribute to the session by bringing their own Raspberry Pi's and controlled vehicles.
I had a new macro lens and I just started playing around with it. This is the CPU chipset plus memory controller from a Data General MV/7800 minicomputer (c. 1986)
So it had a “System Processing Unit” which consisted of 3 NMOS chips:
Microsequencer
CPU
FPU
Cycle time was 320 ns (I think that’s 3MHz)
I/O controller for Burst Multiplexor Channel (BMC) in CMOS – that would be the one w/o the heatsink. This was basically the interface for disk.
I/O controller for data channel and programmed I/O (NMOS) This was the interface used by networking cards and the like.
Memory controller was an ECL chip from Moto.
The system had 2MB or 4MB options for on-board memory.
On the left a 7978 tape drive. The CPU box in the center looks like a HP3000 950. The 950 was HP's first commercial RISC minicomputer implemented in NMOS-III (?). The HP-UX version is the computer that saved HP and launched HP on the road to becoming the biggest computer company in the world. Also ran MPE-XL (later MPE-iX) for commercial customers.
This photo is konomarked ("Most Rights Sharable").
If you would like to use this image without paying anything, e-mail me and ask. I'm generally willing to share.
KONOMARK - Most Rights Sharable. Just ask me.
other photos:
www.flickr.com/photos/cshym74/3568661267/
www.flickr.com/photos/cshym74/3624712544/
Kitchen Computer, Neiman Marcus, 1969.
"The Kitchen Computer was featured in the 1969 Neiman Marcus catalog as a $10,600 tool for housewives to store and retrieve recipes. Unfortunately, the user interface was only binary lights and switches. There is no evidence that any Kitchen Computer was ever sold. Inside was a standard Honeywell 316 minicomputer, billed as the first 16-bit machine at that price from a major computer manufacturer."
Computer History Museum
Mountain View, CA
(7098)
Pretty much identical to the 21MX I used at Conoco
www.hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?class=3&cat=33
(from earlier HP System)
My first real programming job was at Conoco from 1979-1981.
I was involved in the development of 8086 SBC based systems for offshore gas rigs in the Viking field.
The existing systems were based around HP computers, in particular:
- HP 3000 (mark I)
- HP 2100 and 21MX minicomputers
I did a lot of maintenance programming on these machines.
Fortran on the onshore based HP 3000 (which lived in our computer room at Theddlethorpe in Lincolnshire)
and assembler for the core stack based 2100s offshore.
I spent a lot of time with these machines.
I would fly offshore with paper tape versions of the software (and sometimes smaller paper tape patches).
The HP 1000s shown were the later version of the 21MX machines renamed but basically looked identical.
The core stack based 2100s were older and had illuminated push button front panels instead.
I entertained the offshore engineers by programming a ‘Cylon’ light sequence on the front panel in one version.
I also wrote a Fortran Lunar Lander game to keep the night shift operators entertained on the 3000 onshore.
Interesting aside - We had one of the few early Series 1 3000s in the UK.
The front panel switches (16 of them) were marked out in groups of 3 as we mainly used octal.
However the original panel was grouped from the most significant end so someone had tippexed in the correct grouping from the least significant end :-) .
Andika Triwidada is one of Indonesian's important figures in IT milestone. His early steps were surrounded by "dinosaurs", ranging from mainframes to minicomputers, various operating systems, made him a geek having a broad spectrum about IT, before jumping into full system administrator, infrastructures, then security experts.
It is very rare opportunity to meet him together with his family (especially his wife) in public IT gathering, so this was an exceptional moment when Andika's family went for Loedroek ITB gala-show last Sunday.
I requested a special shot, and asked a permission to publish as well. Unfortunately, I did not yet set my tripod up, the result is not so sharp.
This is one of my valuable collections, recording friends with his/her family.
My first real programming job was at Conoco from 1979-1981.
I was involved in the development of 8086 SBC based systems for offshore gas rigs in the Viking field.
The existing systems were based around HP computers, in particular:
- HP 3000 (mark I)
- HP 2100 and 21MX minicomputers
I did a lot of maintenance programming on these machines.
FORTRAN on the onshore based HP 3000 (which lived in our computer room at Theddlethorpe in Lincolnshire)
and assembler for the core stack based 2100s offshore.
I spent a lot of time with these machines.
I would fly offshore with paper tape versions of the software (and sometimes smaller paper tape patches).
The HP 1000s shown were the later version of the 21MX machines renamed but basically looked identical.
The core stack based 2100s were older and had illuminated push button front panels instead.
I entertained the offshore engineers by programming a ‘Cylon’ light sequence on the front panel in one version.
I also wrote a FORTRAN Lunar Lander game to keep the night shift operators entertained on the 3000 onshore.
Interesting aside - We had one of the few early Series 1 3000s in the UK.
The front panel switches (16 of them) were marked out in groups of 3 as we mainly used octal.
However the original panel was grouped from the most significant end so someone had tippexed in the correct grouping from the least significant end :-) .
I think this machine was used by Shell. The Line-printer looked similar to the one we had as well.
This minicomputer can be part your child’s workstation to carry out his/her task of learning and tapping. In other words this leaptop looks like a laptop which is featured with tapping alphabets along with tracing the picture denoting that alphabet. For example, when a child is taps “L”, one will see a picture of lion simultaneously. Other than benefit of writing, a child can sing along 16 songs and melodies which are played from this leaptop and learn animal names too. Also a customized feature is in-built which can spell the name of child. Lastly, this compact & portable, kid-friendly and organically shaped replica of real laptop can result a perfect tool in a child’s development and for learning stage. Secondly, the whole world is now into laptop and computers, to connect with each other for accomplishment of their goal, so why not the little one does the groundwork from now by working on his/her own laptop.