First Digital Computer Replica

[DJPhil]

I thought you guys might get a kick out of this video. Apologies if it's a repost.



Neat stuff!

[alm]

Cool video, thanks!

[Mechatrommer]

i still dont get the point if its for the future. except tried to recreate the "Atanasoff" family legacy... or "unrealized" invention, like babbage machine.
solving 25 simulatenous linear equations is not a sweat for current computing tech.

[Simon]

It's interesting to see how stuff used to work, it is the foundation of today's technology

[Time]

Looks like a giant music box.

[Simon]

well it's the same storage technology as the old music boxes, i like the dynamic RAM very clever

[Time]

I guess it never dawned on me that it was data storage.

[Simon]

well it was a sort of converter, it generated binary numbers that correspond to each hole in the cards but that still counts as memory basically, the "dynamic RAM" was a bit more sophisticated but very clever

[saturation]

If you read the story behind the ABC versus ENIAC, apparently one reason for pursuing Atanasoffs place as one of the principle inventors of the digital computer was to break a monopoly by Sperry Corp on computing.  In the end, it clarified who did what, and in my own estimate, put most of the technology into the public domain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeywell_v._Sperry_Rand

"With 135 days of oral courtroom testimony by 77 witnesses—and the presentation of the deposition of an additional 80 witnesses—for a total trial transcript of 20,667 pages, Honeywell v. Sperry Rand was at that time the longest trial in the history of the federal court system. It was preceded by six years of litigation that produced thousands of pages of under-oath depositions. 25,686 exhibits were marked by the court for plaintiff Honeywell; defendants Sperry Rand and its subsidiary Illinois Scientific Developments contributed 6,968 exhibits. The corporations on the two sides spent a combined more than $8 million pursuing the case. The resulting exhibits and testimony constitute a massive evidentiary record describing the invention and development of the electronic digital computer. Materials relevant to the case but not entered into evidence have appeared, but sparsely and infrequently, since the case's conclusion in 1973."