"Single instance" machines

From: Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com>
Date: Thu Dec 10 02:55:21 1998

On Wed, 9 Dec 1998, Aaron Christopher Finney wrote:

> And the 1/3 part is in the form of the "electronic" computer I'm building
> from the January 1960 issue of Electronics Illustrated...(flip-flops,
> light-bulbs, and a rotary phone dial - woo-hoo!) I'm about 1/3
> completed...

One of my favorite early personal computers! I regret that the designer
didn't give it a name, though. Specs:

Name: "Electronic Computer"
Intro: Jan 1960
Price: approx $35
Technology: discrete transistors
Memory: 6 bits
Input: rotary telephone dial
Clock speed: as fast as you can dial
Output: 12 incandescent lights
Programming language: patch cords

The author describes how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide on this
box, but it's really more of a calculator than a computer since it doesn't
have control logic or a clock.

I hope to do a web page some day that describes this machine and several
other home computers from the 1950's and 1960's.

-- Doug
Received on Thu Dec 10 1998 - 02:55:21 GMT