http://www.youtube.c...tch?v=41U78QP8nBk
First Computer to sing -- Daisy Bell.
In 1961
What was computer er, 'science' doing ..? for ... .... .... n... 13 years?
Lots of NIH? [not the health acronym ... the' Invented'-- one.]
;^>
![]() http://www.youtube.c...tch?v=41U78QP8nBk
First Computer to sing -- Daisy Bell. In 1961 What was computer er, 'science' doing ..? for ... .... .... n... 13 years? Lots of NIH? [not the health acronym ... the' Invented'-- one.] ;^> |
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![]() I used one back around 1963-1965. Also used it's predecessors the vacuum tube based IBM 709 and the transistorized version of it, the IBM 7090.
The 7094 was what would now be called a 500 KHz (yes, kilohertz!!!) machine. But, it had a 36-bit word and all the basic instructions were performed in one cycle. The standard machine had 32K words of core memory. The address field part of the machine instructions was 15-bits so its nor possible to address more memory. However, MIT paid IBM to have a second bank of 32K word memory with a machine instruction to switch which memory bank was active. Great times! Alex
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![]() Similarly, I usually assign Osborne1 the kudoes for: jump-starting the *everyone-can-play* computer--via his flat-Right surmise that
bundling some useful software Would Bring in the Adventurous--soonest. (They might well have trounced Billy and his rich/insider Mom: had they not so foolishly tipped-hand on the Osborne2--with a warehouse full if 1s) ... as in Duh. :-/ It's ALWAYS the unpredictable Error (or next Brilliant Thought) which screws-up everyone's Master-plan-for the "next 5 years"!! (Movie every half-hour.) PS: had the pleasure of talking with Lee Felsenstein, its designer; he wanted to buy some Tweek (contact enhancer) after seeing Pournelle's Byte review. I thanked him for 'my' Osborne1, sent him some extra/wouldn't accept payment. Sometimes ya gets to Thank people, by accident. |
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![]() Talk about an inventory problem! T'is a shame indeed.
Many people remember that lesson and make sure to "clear the channel" before announcing the next big thing. Now, only discounting signals that a product is about to be replaced. Alex
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