Semiconductor & Computer Engineering
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| [[ENIAC]] || || [[University of Pennsylvania]] || 17,468 || 1946 || [[relay]]s/[[vacuum tube]]s hybrid | | [[ENIAC]] || || [[University of Pennsylvania]] || 17,468 || 1946 || [[relay]]s/[[vacuum tube]]s hybrid | ||
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| + | | [[manchester small-scale experimental machine|SSEM]] || || [[Victoria University of Manchester]] || || || | ||
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| [[BINAC]] || || [[eckert-mauchly computer corporation|EMCC]] || 700 || 1949 || | | [[BINAC]] || || [[eckert-mauchly computer corporation|EMCC]] || 700 || 1949 || | ||
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| + | | [[UNIVAC I]] || || [[eckert-mauchly computer corporation|EMCC]] || 5,200 || 1951 || | ||
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| + | | [[Whirlwind I]] || || [[MIT]] || 12,500 || 1951 || | ||
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| + | | [[Whirlwind II]] || || [[MIT]] || 50,000 || 1951 || Never completed, later became AN/FSQ-7 | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | [[IAS Computer]] || || [[institute for advanced study|IAS]] || || 1952 || | ||
|} | |} | ||
Revision as of 06:37, 18 December 2015
A vacuum tube computer is a computer system built primarily using vacuum tubes and vacuum tube logic. Vacuum tube switching replaced the earlier relay computers from the 1940s. Vacuum tube computer gained traction during the 1950s through the early 1960s. By the mid 1960s discrete logic computers superseded vacuum tubes.
Overview
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This section requires expansion; you can help adding the missing info. |
Early relay computers were rather slow - operating at just 1Hz ((or one switching operation each second). They were cheap and readily available due to their widespread use in telephone systems. Vacuum tubes prove to be a significant improvement over electromechanical relays - operating 1000 times faster. However the performance advantage came at the cost of decreased reliability and maintainance. Tube failure was frequent, running hot and burning out rapidly.
Vacuum Tube Systems
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
| System | Developer | Company/Institution | Tube Count | Year Complete | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | John Vincent Atanasoff | Iowa State University | 300 | 1940 | |
| Colossus Mark 1 | Post Office Research Station | 1,600 | 1943 | ||
| Colossus Mark 2 | Post Office Research Station | 2,400 | 1944 | ||
| ENIAC | University of Pennsylvania | 17,468 | 1946 | relays/vacuum tubes hybrid | |
| SSEM | Victoria University of Manchester | ||||
| BINAC | EMCC | 700 | 1949 | ||
| UNIVAC I | EMCC | 5,200 | 1951 | ||
| Whirlwind I | MIT | 12,500 | 1951 | ||
| Whirlwind II | MIT | 50,000 | 1951 | Never completed, later became AN/FSQ-7 | |
| IAS Computer | IAS | 1952 |
See also
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This article is still a stub and needs your attention. You can help improve this article by editing this page and adding the missing information. |