TeoZ wrote:
>...snip...snip...snip...
>
>Dont forget
>everything built in the 50's and 60's was built using analog controls along
>with relay logic and pneumatics.
>
Really... Are you sure? Have any data to back this up?
>People went to the moon on simple
>technology built using sliderules.
>
Hmmm. In the case of the "went to the moon" at least all the data I
could find in ten minutes
on the internet show this false (I knew this, but wanted data -- always
best to do a quick
google before you say something in _this_ forum...) -- the spacecraft
had computers (these
are still occasional converstions on this list about the apollo
compters) and the ground control
system was one of the largest operating computer systems at the time...
From a nasa site:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/computers/Ch8-3.html
and plenty more from the same location....
It would also seem pretty clear that most of the aerospace manufacturers
at the time had large
computer systems in use at that time.
The slide rule comment is a little deceptive -- of course everyone used
slide rules -- that
was the only choice for scratch computations at the time. It would be a
little like saying
today that "every computer built in 2003 was done by people using
handheld calculators";
of course, this is true to the extent that when I need to do a
calculation, I use a hand-held
calculator... But a lot of other computer tools are also used to build a
computer in todays
technology... And the same thing was true in the 60s, where structural
analysis was done
on large computer systems (large capablility at the time, and physically
large also -- of course,
I don't really need to say that in this forum...)
And, of course, this is at least on topic, as we are really discussing
classic computers :-)
Bill McDermith
BTW: Is a slide rule considered a "Classic Computer"? Is there still a
forum around about these?
I saw that there are still a few sites around selling them....
Received on Sun May 11 2003 - 01:15:00 BST