#computerhistory

[sinclair-speccy]

[adafruit]

💾🖥️📖 Inside the Personal Computer: An Illustrated Introduction in 3 Dimensions: A Pop-Up Guide. Text by Sharon Gallagher. Paper engineering and design by Ron van der Meer (1984). Posting this and more as we get our #retrocomputing series ready for next month!

[ui-alcoholic]

Macintosh IIcx (1989)

There’s something quietly iconic about the IIcx: a workstation-era Mac that looks restrained, tidy, and confident. Same 68030-era muscle as its bigger sibling, but in a slimmer case that feels more “designed” than “industrial.”

Motorola 68030 @ 16 MHz — fast, serious, and very late-80s pro

3× NuBus slots — enough room for real expansion without the huge tower vibe

Memory monster potential — 30-pin SIMMs, built to scale up

[univac1219]

1962 Mainframe with Bluetooth

This old computer is comprised of four big boxes, three of which are ever actually used.

The UNIVAC 1219. This is the brains of the system. It controls the operations of every other device. This is what I'm referring to when I'm not gesturing to the UNIVAC 1219 as a whole.

The UNIVAC 1540. This is the DDR, or Digital Data Recorder. It holds, writes, and reads the magnetic tape operators load into the machine.

The Digital to Analog Converter. The UNIVAC 1219 was the first digital computer on most U.S. Navy ships, most of which had analog weapons systems. This hulking mass of steel translated the digital signals from the computer to the analog signals of the weapon systems and vice versa in regards to the radar.

The UNIVAC 1532. The I/O console managed the...you guessed it, input and output of the UNIVAC 1219. You can load and punch paper tape for programs more bite-sized than would be used for magnetic tape.

In addition, we have two teletype machines. You can think of them like typewriters that don't receive human input (except the one that can if we want), but instead output what the computer tells it to.  We have a Teletype Corporation teletype that is optimized for character compatability and a Kleinschmidt teletype that is optimized for speed. Both rely on the I/O console to send and receive data.

The real ingenuity begins with the floppy drive. Duane, who's career revolved around this system, developed a way for a floppy drive to imitate the I/O console. The computer thinks it is reading and writing to a paper tape, when it is in fact reading and writing to a 5.25in floppy inside an ancient CNC machine floppy drive.

And this, dear reader, is where the magic happens. This framework was originally built for interfacing with the 1219 via BIN files over Serial port and was easily changed to support BIN files over floppy. Duane has been working on an off adapting our purple converter box with a raspi to let the 1219 read and write BIN files over Bluetooth.

Make no mistake, you cannot simply SSH into this machine as tons of setup and channel changes must be performed to ready it to receive and send data. That being said, I don't see any other UNIVAC mainframes with Bluetooth [or any other running UNIVAC 1219s at all :(], so I will take what I can get.

Can someone tell me how to Tumblr properly?

[echocircuit]

EchoCircuit.archive → twilight_zone.protocols... episode: the_old_man_in_the_cave... query: who trusts the unseen voice? status: compliance_recommended.

[yellowmanula]

The funniest moment from an interview conducted as part of my research on the domestication of 💻 the 8-bit ATARI:

"More and more people come with their children, with families. And young people also show up, some of whom are exploring the demoscene, or rather observing it, trying to understand it as some sort of phenomenon. They attend these gatherings to watch old-timers tinkering with smoking, ancient gear. And no one really knows what they’re actually doing. It's a bit like... we've become a subject of study and observation. What you're doing is kind of an example of this."

The interviewee adds that, ultimately, he is happy about the research, as digital culture is fleeting and specific to certain generations, and this work will help ensure that the demoscene endures for posterity. ❤

[mingos-commodoreblog]

ZZap! Amiga Micro Action No.17 Jul/Aug 2024

[ofgraveconcern]

26th December 1606, King Lear by William Shakespeare is performed for the first known time at the court of King James I at Whitehall, London on St. Stephen’s Day, the saint's day to commemorate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Today St. Stephen’s day would be known in Britain as Boxing day. King Lear originates from the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological Celtic king recorded by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his 12th-century work, the ‘History of the Kings of Britain’. 26th December 1682, birth of the English pirate captain Jack (John) Rackhan, also known as Calico Jack, due to the calico clothing he wore. Calico Jack operated from the Bahamas from 1718-1720, in the last period of the Golden Age of piracy. After serving as a quartermaster on fellow pirate Charles Vane's sloop Ranger in 1718, Rackhman deposed Vane of his captaincy. While in Nassau in 1720 Rackham met and started an affair with Anne Bonny who joined his crew. Aboard Rackham’s ship ‘The Revenge’ also was Mark Read, who it was discovered was Mary Read. Read and Bonny are the only two women known to have been convicted of piracy during the early 18th century. 26th December 1716, birth of English pre Romantic poet Thomas Gray. Despite publishing only 13 poems, Gray was well known during his lifetime, mostly for his poem, ‘Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard’, published in 1751. The poems themes of the contemplation of death and afterlife, foreshadow the Gothic movement, beginning with the first Gothic novel “The Castle of Otranto” (1764), written by his childhood friend Horace Walpole. Gray was a popular influence to the Romantic poets of the succeeding generation, such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. Continued #thisweekinhistory #todayinhistory #historypost #kinglear #williamshakespeare #boxingday #calicojack #pirates #piratehistory #piratesofthecaribbean #pirate #gothicpoetry #romanticism #pirateship #pirateships #gothicfiction #gothicromance #charlesbabbage #computerhistory #historytoday #thecastleofotranto #shakespeare #annebonny #goldenageofpiracy #historical #historicalfacts #onthisdayinhistory #historythisweek #gothicnovel #aviationhistory https://www.instagram.com/p/CYJ6jbArlIT/?utm_medium=tumblr