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How the World's First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap

Posted by Soulskill on from the one-man's-trash dept.

anavictoriasaavedra sends this quote from Wired: "Eccentric billionaires are tough to impress, so their minions must always think big when handed vague assignments. Ross Perot's staffers did just that in 2006, when their boss declared that he wanted to decorate his Plano, Texas, headquarters with relics from computing history. Aware that a few measly Apple I's and Altair 880's wouldn't be enough to satisfy a former presidential candidate, Perot's people decided to acquire a more singular prize: a big chunk of ENIAC, the "Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer." The ENIAC was a 27-ton, 1,800-square-foot bundle of vacuum tubes and diodes that was arguably the world's first true computer. The hardware that Perot's team diligently unearthed and lovingly refurbished is now accessible to the general public for the first time, back at the same Army base where it almost rotted into oblivion.

3 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. the first built in the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    not the world's first.

  2. Re:Except... by arth1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Several years later than this one:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z...

    The Z3 was the first electromechanical gp computer
    The ABC was the first electronic non-gp computer
    The Colossus was the first electronic gp computer
    The ENIAC was the first American gp computer.

  3. Essentially lost: only 8 out of 40 panels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Or you can get ENIAC on a chip:

    http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~jan/eniacproj.html

    much less space and easier on the electric bill too.