#computer history

[dinosaurspen]

Rear Admiral Grace Hopper with a PDP-11, Washington DC, 1978.

(Photo by Lynn Gilbert, via Wikipedia)

[certified-delinquent]

I wish to know a block of magnetic core memory carnally

Core memory uses toroids (rings) of a hard magnetic material (usually a semi-hard ferrite). Each core stores one bit of information. Two or more wires pass through each core, forming an X-Y array of cores. When an electrical current above a certain threshold is applied to the wires, the core will become magnetized. By the late 1960s, a density of about 32 kilobits per cubic foot (about 0.9 kilobits per litre was typical. The cost declined over this period from about $1 per bit to about 1 cent per bit. Reaching this density requires extremely careful manufacturing, which was almost always carried out by hand in spite of repeated major efforts to automate the process. Core was almost universal until the introduction of the first semiconductor memory chips in the late 1960s. Wikipedia

[1863-project]

Okay, I've been having trouble finding this, but I know it existed because my dad showed it to me multiple times.

My dad, recently retired, had a 40+-year IT career starting in the 1980s. (His biggest claim to fame is writing the programming for the printer driver for a program called PC Paintbrush, which was purchased by Microsoft and became Microsoft Paint, but I digress.) When I was a kid, he showed me an Easter egg snuck into an early Windows operating system where if you typed in a certain command an animation of Bill Gates as Godzilla would show up and start using his breath to zap people into Windows logos. I know it existed and isn't something I imagined because he pulled it up for me upon request multiple times, but seeing as this was the 1990s and I was a child I didn't have the details, like what OS it was. (My best guess would be 95 or 98.) I just want to see if I can recover that animation and document its existence somehow, but I haven't been able to find anyone else looking for it or who knows about it.

Any leads or information you might have would be super helpful! Thanks in advance!

UPDATE FROM DAD: it was on the desktop, you got it to show up by inputting a key sequence that he doesn't remember, and he's pretty sure it was Windows 98.

[ui-alcoholic]

SONY Hit-Bit HB-101 (1984)

The Sony Hit-Bit HB-101 is one of the best-known and most distinctive Sony MSX1 home computers from the 1980s. “Hit-Bit” was Sony’s MSX product line name, and the HB-101 is still popular among retro collectors because of its compact, highly recognizable design.

Technically, it’s a classic MSX1 machine: a Sharp LH-0080 (Z80A-compatible) CPU at ~3.58 MHz, 16 KB RAM (the European HB-101P version often had 32 KB), 16 KB VRAM, and 2 cartridge slots, which made it very practical for games and expansions.

The video chip can vary by region (TMS9118NL / TMS9129NL), while sound is handled by the YM2149F PSG. It wasn’t the most powerful MSX model, but its Sony styling, colorful variants, and iconic look are exactly why it became such a cult favorite.

[foone]

So I'm watching someone play Still Wakes The Deep and it's neat and spooky and WAIT A FUCKING SECOND

IS THAT A FUCKING TRACKBALL? IN 1975?

Okay, look, trackballs date back to the 40s, but THAT IS NOT A 70'S TRACKBALL.

That is, in fact, a Reveal RA010 from 1993.

You're eighteen years off!

(And you made it look old, too, implying it isn't brand new in 1975. Damn it)

[whereserpentswalk]

[coupleofdays]

Margaret Hamilton, Director of the Apollo project Software Engineering Division, with a stack of papers containing the code to the Apollo Guidance Computer navigation software. The software that on this day, in 1969, guided Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin when they landed on the Moon.

[space-discovery]

Spacewars! videogame as seen in the  DEC PDP-1 computer creared by MTI research lab (1962).

It is currently displayed on it's PDP-1 version at the Historic Computers Museum. Originally programmed by Steve Russel and peers.