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| Thread ID: 73558 | 2006-10-24 21:46:00 | first ever computer | newb. (10067) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 493727 | 2006-10-24 21:46:00 | am i correct in saying that the first ever computer was built by IBM and its purpose was to break the enigma? i just need to clarify this. thanks. |
newb. (10067) | ||
| 493728 | 2006-10-24 21:55:00 | Nope, not even warm. (Although IBM's first computer WAS made by IBM . . .):thumbs: | R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 493729 | 2006-10-24 21:59:00 | so, who built the very first computer then? | newb. (10067) | ||
| 493730 | 2006-10-24 22:00:00 | Depends what you define a computer as? | Pete O'Neil (6584) | ||
| 493731 | 2006-10-24 22:06:00 | the personal computer. or anything really that uses a computer; computer being something that processes and stores information. | newb. (10067) | ||
| 493732 | 2006-10-24 22:21:00 | Depends what you define a computer as?That's the moot point. There were many 'computing' devices long before electronics came into it. The furthest back I know about is mechanical computers used in WW2 submarines for calculating angles for firing torpedoes. But I'm pretty certain computing machines were made long before then. | Greg (193) | ||
| 493733 | 2006-10-24 22:24:00 | This gentleman here www.thocp.net is widely regarded as having built the first computer. | Chris Randal (521) | ||
| 493734 | 2006-10-24 22:55:00 | That's the moot point. There were many 'computing' devices long before electronics came into it. The furthest back I know about is mechanical computers used in WW2 submarines for calculating angles for firing torpedoes. But I'm pretty certain computing machines were made long before then. Exactly, your average calculator today proberly has more computational power than most of the early "computers" yet there not refered to as computers. Im sure wikipedia would throw up a individual or device regarded as the first. |
Pete O'Neil (6584) | ||
| 493735 | 2006-10-24 23:06:00 | Colossus (www.codesandciphers.org.uk) was probably the first true electrical and digital computer, beating the US ENIAC by a few years. Its predecessors were mechanical and or analogue. It is working again after a ground-up rebuild. Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 493736 | 2006-10-24 23:06:00 | Probably the first general purpose computer available for sale, was the Bell Labs Model V (5) in 1946. ($500,000 a copy, delivered.). IBM's Mark 1, 1943 was not really a computer, 8' tall, 2' deep, and 51' long. 5 tons of it, batteries not included. The peripherals were rather large too. It was not for sale. It was mechanical. The ENIAC was the first electronic computer but without a stored program, "programming ENIAC was a one-way ticket to the madhouse." It was finished in 1945, and delivered in 1946 The PSU must have been impressive, delivering 174,000 watts. The Enigma code was "cracked" by an electronic decoder, Colossus, at Bletchley Park, England. It wasn't a computer or a calculator, it scanned and compared code at high speed. First went into operation in 1943. The first stored program fully electronic computer was the Manchester Mark I, Manchester University, England, June 1948. First useful program, a search for the factors of a number, ran 21-June 1948. |
R2x1 (4628) | ||
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