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Jan 1, 1300
Abacus (PreComputers/machines)
-Calculating board is another word for this machine.
-First invented by Chinese people.
-Was first used in China. link -
Period: Jan 1, 1300 to
History of Computers
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HP 200A Audio Oscillator (PreComputers/Machines)
-becomes a popular piece of test equipment for engineers
-used as sound effects generators for the 1940 movie "Fantasia" that Walt Disney Pictures made. link -
The Complex Number Calculator (PreComputers/Machines)
-this machine was used as the first demonstration of remote access computing link -
Bombe (PreComputers/Machines)
-mechanical means of derypting Nazi military communications during WWII
-it improved the intelligence gathering and processing capabilities of Allied forces link -
Z3 Computer (Early First Computers / devices)
-was an early computer built by German engineer Konrad Zuse
-Using 2,300 relays, the Z3 used floating point binary arithmetic and had a 22-bit word length
-was destroyed in a bombing raid of Berlin in late 1943 http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?category=cmptr -
Atanasoff-Berry Computer (Early First Computers / devices)
-was at the center of a patent dispute relating to the invention of the computer link -
Harvard Mark-1 (PreComputers/Machines)
-was a room-sized, relay-based calculator
-had a fifty-foot long camshaft that synchronized the machine’s thousands of component parts
-sed to produce mathematical tables but was soon superseded by stored program computers link -
Colossus (Early First Computers / devices)
-was designed to break the complex Lorenz ciphers used by the Nazis during WWII
-reduced the time to break Lorenz messages from weeks to hours link -
IAS Computer (Early First Computers / devices)
- became operational at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton
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TX-2 at MIT ( Computer going on internet)
-can use to write Sketchpad
-made everyone on the globe is interconnected
-can access programs and data at any site from anywhere http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/ -
Semi Automatic Ground Environment ( Computer going on internet)
-fully deployed as the North American early warning system
-used to direct air defense
-provides experience in the development of the SABRE air travel reservation system and later air traffic control systems http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/ -
SYNCOM ( Computer going on internet)
-the first synchronous communication satellite http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/ -
PDP-8 ( Computer going on internet)
-the first commercially successful minicomputer
-Small enough to sit on a desktop http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/ -
UNIX (O/S evolution)
-later released as C source code to aid portability
-still widely used on network and Internet servers http://trillian.randomstuff.org.uk/~stephen/history/timeline-OS.html -
Intel 4004 (Processor evolution)
-first single-chip microprocessor
-Adrdressable Memory 640 bytes
-originally designed to be used in Busicom calculator http://www.slideshare.net/meetdevraj/timeline-of-processors -
Intel 8008 (Processor evolution)
-First 8-bit processor
-Addressable memory 16KB
-originally intended for use in Datapoint 2200 microcomputer lnik -
IBM's 3370 (Data Storage advances)
-uses seven 14-inch platters to store 571MB
-the first drive to use thin-film heads link -
ST-506 drive and interface (Data Storage advances)
-used in all early microcomputer implementations link -
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Ethernet adapter card ( Cloud computing)
-fast, inexpensive connections that would enable cloud computing link -
Microsoft Windows (O/S evolution)
-Not really widely used until version 3
-required DOS to run and so was not a complete operating system link -
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0663 Corsair (Data Storage advances)
- the first disk drive with thin film magnetoresistive (MR) heads -has eight 3.5-inch platters and stores 1GB
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IT-2 (Cloud Computing)
-used to build secure, global network
-delivers fast Ethernet to 270,000 users worldwide
-continuous TCP/IP connections link -
Linux 2.0 (O/S evolution)
- it was the first to support multiple architectures -was also the first stable kernel to support SMP, and kernel modules
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Pentium MMX (Processor evolution)
-32KB L1 cache
-296/321 pin PGA link -
VMware (Cloud Computing)
-introduces software providing completely virtualized set of hardware to a guest operating system link -
MacOS X (O/S evolution)
- gives Mac users the stabilty benifits of a protected memory architecture
