Slashdot Mirror
Happy Birthday, UNIVAC I
Daniel Goldman writes "Today is the 53rd birthday of the UNIVAC I
(UNIVersal Automatic Computer I). The UNIVAC I
was delivered to the Census Bureau in 1951. It weighed some 16,000 pounds,
used 5,000 vacuum tubes, and could perform about 1,000 calculations per
second. It was the first American commercial computer, as well as the first
computer designed for business use. The first few sales were to government
agencies, the A.C. Nielsen Company,
and the Prudential Insurance
Company. It could retain a maximum of 1000 numbers and was able to
add, subtract, multiply, divide, sort, collate and take square and cube
roots. Its transfer write/read to and from magnetic tape was 10,000 characters
per second."
Yes, but what is the range of those numbers?
Was it so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe could afford it?
after all these years, it STILL doesn't have decent 3D hardware support video drivers! Bastards!
but this doesn't help much.
Its transfer rate to and from magnetic tape was 10,000 characters per second.
How many Libraries of Congress is that??
/totally serious
I think computers only care about special binary birthdays.
"I'm 110101 years old? So what? I'm looking forward to my 1000000 birthday party! That'll be the day! And don't even get me started about the day I turn 10000000!!!!"
Casual Games/Downloads
because it had just one Vacuum Tube. That's why Asimov had to develop Multivac.
Best Buy can have you arrested
Who cares if it runs Linux ... as long as I can mod the case!
Well, maybe, but 53 is a larger number than 50... plus, it's a prime number... :-)
As long as we're recognizing birthdays at arbitrary years, we should do it in true /. fashion...in powers of 2. Let's see something when the 64th birthday rolls around.
Fun with 53 ... too wild)
:)
53 is prime (fun)
5+3 is 8 (not prime, but a power of 2. and we all love powers of 2)
a google search for 53 returns 96,100,000 results and 9+6+1 = 16 (a power of 2!) and 1+6 is 7 (a prime!)
5-3 is 2 (a power of 2, and a prime
And you thought 53 wasn't special
Required reading for internet skeptics
Frink: Well, sure, the Frinkiac-7 looks impressive, don't touch it, but I predict that within 100 years, computers will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them.
I look forward to the day when all numbers are judged not by what other numbers divide them, but by their own magnitude. Each number has its own unique contribution to make, and 53 is certainly not a lesser number than 50.
My wife works for Prudential's former mortgage business unit (since acquired by a certain stagecoach company). Judging from the interface and performance (or lack thereof), I think I can say without equivocation that Prudential's UNIVAC is still in service.
The other giveaway is the large coal chute on the back side of the building.
Just last month they had the crew from "This Old House" over to do a case mod for it.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
Nope, it's not the AC's day off. It's just that the UNIVAC I is the only computer that nobody can (even trying their hardest) actually imagine "a Beowulf cluster" of.
Where would you put it? "Oh and over here, next to Texas is New Mexico which, you might find interesting to note is not actually an inhabited state. It's where we keep our UNIVAC Beowulf Cluster. Sweet huh? You can see it from space!"
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
Each number has its own unique contribution to make, and 53 is certainly not a lesser number than 50.
I've got a 53 dollar bill right here saying you're wrong.
Oh wait, actually I don't.
Exactly... there are a lot of old computers out there and a 53rd birthday is nothing special (nor, really, is a 50th birthday, but we do attach meaning to that)
I'm totally with you man. However, I will be looking forward to it's 0x37 bday on 0xE067D6.
Quod scripsi, scripsi.