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Thread ID: 116319	2011-02-27 03:23:00	A blast from the past	R2x1 (4628)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1181733	2011-02-27 19:05:00	I didnt have a ZX81, my friend did, i got the Spectrum instead	Gobe1 (6290)
1181734	2011-02-28 04:05:00	Come on guys, be serious!. Here's the real deal (dl.dropbox.com)!	tuiruru (12277)
1181735	2011-02-28 07:19:00	Come on guys, be serious!. Here's the real deal (dl.dropbox.com)! I remember seeing a computer of this size in the 1960s. Input for stores records was from accounting machines that produced punched hollerith tape. These were couriered to the central computer. I would say that the computer sitting on my desk at home is much more powerful than the giant computer we used to use.	Bobh (5192)
1181736	2011-02-28 07:27:00	I remember seeing a computer of this size in the 1960s. Input for stores records was from accounting machines that produced punched hollerith tape. These were couriered to the central computer. I would say that the computer sitting on my desk at home is much more powerful than the giant computer we used to use. The one in the picture is ENIAC (supposedly). ENIAC was the first general purpose electronic computer (en.wikipedia.org). The completed machine was announced to the public the evening of February 14, 1946 and formally dedicated the next day at the University of Pennsylvania, having cost almost $500,000 (nearly $6 million in 2010, adjusted for inflation) Unlike prior machines it was programmable for a wide number of tasks rather than custom built for a specific purpose. Originally used to calculate artillery firing tables for the US Army it would later go on to be used for nuclear weapon calculations. ENIAC was absolutely enormous weighing in at more than 30 tons, and contained 17,468 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, and 5 millions hand soldered joints. It was capable of completing 5,000 addition problems per second (by comparison modern CPUs can work through tens of billions of operations per second). One of the more little known facts about the ENIAC system was that the day to day programming was completed almost exclusively by women (en.wikipedia.org), known at the time as “Rosies”. Since then the women have been given more formal recognition for their role in the history of computing.	tuiruru (12277)
1181737	2011-02-28 08:04:00	Rather buy one of these (www.commodoreusa.net). If i had the money, i'd buy it in a heart beat. LOL, it's probably more powerful than my Current PC. (If people are confused, look at the link, its a commodore replica but has a dvd drive and motherboard etc and will even run the latest windows)	goodiesguy (15316)
1181738	2011-02-28 08:30:00	An unkind person might say that Commodore is just an unsupportable PC - wannabee dressed up in a Commodore clown suit. Of course, I wouldn't say that, but they can't object to me thinking it ;)	R2x1 (4628)
1181739	2011-02-28 08:35:00	I . . . . . . produced punched hollerith tape . These were couriered to the central computer . I would say that the computer sitting on my desk at home is much more powerful than the giant computer we used to use . I reckon you would be lucky to find a camera less than 500 times more powerful . I believe Hollerith was the punched card deviser . I used to work on things that had racks of valves in 'em . No IT in those days, the new buzz word (?) was EDP .	R2x1 (4628)
1181740	2011-02-28 09:15:00	It was capable of completing 5,000 addition problems per second So, roughly equivalent to a 5KHz CPU, when working on 10-digit numbers, and it had a 100KHz clock. It consumed 150KWh when in operation... I think wrist watches have similar capacity. Hell, my cellphone has a 400MHz 32 bit processor... it really is frightening how far we've come, what with the transistor and then silicon chips...	ubergeek85 (131)
1181741	2011-02-28 09:32:00	Moores law	prefect (6291)
1181742	2011-02-28 20:04:00	Alien technology	Gobe1 (6290)
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