Geschichte der DV

IBM’s $10 Billion Machine

IBM?s SAGE is a large semi-automated air defense system from the Cold War era. It would analyze radar data in real-time to identify Soviet bombers. And it has built-in cigarette lighters and ashtrays at each console. It is the subject of Puzzle 47. Here you can see about half of the wall of vacuum tubes; the other half could not fit in the frame. Weight: 300 tons Cost: ~$10B This ?company-making? sale was made personally by IBM founder Tom Watson, Sr. Built in 1954, deployed in 1958, obsolete by 1960. The last of 27 installations was shut down in 1983 (in Canada). In the final years, to the chagrin of the USAF, replacement vacuum tubes had to be bought from Soviet bloc countries. The software development ?employed about 20% of the world?s programmers at the peak of the project. When it was complete, the 250,000 lines of code was the most complex piece of software in existence.? (Computer History Museum details)
Bild: jurvetson

Atari 2600 Prototype

The Atari 2600 went on to become the first incredibly popular home console system, paving the way for Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft. This prototype is from 1975 and was built by Steve Mayer and Ron Milner.
Bild: Pargon

The First Timecard System

Surely much to the chagrin of employees worldwide, the first workplace timecard system was created by the International Time Recording Company. They would letter help form the basis for IBM.
Bild: Pargon

Herman Hollerith’s Census Device

One of the most important early computers was created by Herman Hollerith, who devised a way using punch cards with a system that created electrical circuits with pin presses and mercury. Essentially, his devices made census taking go incredibly faster, and is still considered revolutionary. The company that sold his machines would eventually go on to change its name to IBM.
Bild: Pargon

Computer, UNIVAC 1232

This computer was used from 1967 through 1990 at the U.S. Air Force's Satellite Control Facility, in Sunnyvale, California. From this facility, over a dozen Sperry 1230-series computers operated in "real time" around the clock, as part of a system that controlled and operated Air Force, NASA, other government, and commercial satellites. It also supported Space Shuttle missions. The 1232 computer was manufactured by the St. Paul, MN division of Sperry Univac, and was a military version of the UNIVAC 490 general purpose commercial computer. The computer used discrete transistors, was optimized for real-time use, had a 30-bit word length, and initially was supplied with 32,000 words of memory (approximately 123 K Bytes).
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