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An In-Depth Exploration of Computer-Aided Design (CAD)
Introduction to Computer-Aided Design Computer-Aided Design (CAD) refers to the use of computer software to facilitate the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. CAD software serves as a powerful tool in various industries, offering enhanced precision and efficiency that far surpasses traditional hand-drawn methods. Within fields such as architecture, engineering, and…
The IBM 1620 computer from 1959 was billed as an inexpensive system for scientific work. Interesting machine from an architectural standpoint, having variable word length decimal (non-binary) words, and using memory lookup tables to do addition and subtraction rather than a dedicated arithmetic logic unit (ALU).
The lack of hardware for basic math functions earned the machine the nickname CADET :
"Can't Add , Doesn't Even Try."
The Computer Building
So as time passed, I decided it would be best to post something. Here it is. This is something.
Like most hardware companies DEC had code names for projects under development. The VAX8600 for instance was code-named "Venus" and the VAX8800 was code-named "Nautilus".
The VAX8500 was code named "Flounder", which was particularly apt because it was a VAX8800 that had been deliberately slowed down by inserting NOPs (no operation, do-nothing instructions) into the microcode so they could sell a lower-end machine in the product line.
I was working at DEC when this came out and being the geeky engineer I felt it was dishonest if not illegal to sell someone perfectly good hardware that we had deliberately crippled.
Neither were really true of course. The customer got what was advertised and they paid for in terms of performance. But it's definitely a questionable business scheme, since the cost of building the 8500 was identical to it's higher-priced version, cutting the profit margin more than necessary.
It would have been better if a low-end cheaper machine was designed from the ground up for this part of the line, but DEC was organizationally dysfunctional at the time, and had a mid range hardware division that was building overlapping products with the high-end division, instead of focusing on low cost. (Whole other story..)
In 1978 MIT CS students Danny Hillis and Brian Silverman designed a working computer capable of playing tic-tac-toe against a human opponent entirely out of Tinker Toys.
The machine consisted of 10,000 wooden parts and fishing line, and was designed with the help of a LISP program running on a DEC PDP-10.
In a letter to computer pioneer Gordon Bell describing the project, Hillis said the machine could have been built by any six-year-old with 500 sets of Tinker Toys, and a PDP-10.
sleepy laptop…
