Introduction To Computers

In 1977, MITS was sold to Pertec, which continued producing Altairs in 1978. The Johnniac computer is one of 17 computers that followed the basic design of Princeton's Institute of Advanced Study computer. It was named after John von Neumann, a world famous mathematician and computer pioneer of the day.

The DN100 is based on the Motorola microprocessor, high-resolution display and built-in networking - the three basic features of all workstations. Apollo and its main competitor, Sun Microsystems, optimized their machines to run the computer-intensive graphics programs common in engineering and scientific applications. Apollo was a leading innovator in the workstation field for more than a decade, and was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 1989.

In particular, spreadsheet software automatically recalculates the results when a number is changed. This capability lets business people try different combinations of numbers and obtain the results quickly. This ability to ask "What if . . . ?" helps business people make better, faster decisions.

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However, if you had a computer with only the minimum parts above, you would be unable to communicate with it until you connected at least one input device (e.g., keyboard). Also, you would need at least one output device (e.g., monitor) for you to see what is happening. Computer software includes all executable and non-executable data, such as documents, digital media, libraries, and online information. A computer’s operating system and all its applications are software as well.

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Each processor had its own small memory linked with others through a flexible network that users altered by reprogramming rather than rewiring. The machine´s system of connections and switches let processors broadcast information and requests for help to other processors in a simulation of brain-like associative recall. Using this system, the machine could work faster than any other at the time on a problem that could be parceled out among the many processors. One of the first commercially produced computers, the company´s first customer was the US Navy.

Based on Charles Babbage's second design for a mechanical calculating engine, a team at the Science Museum in London sets out to prove that the design would have worked as planned. Led by curator Doron Swade the team built Babbage’s machine in six years, using techniques that would have been available to Babbage at the time, proving that Babbage’s design was accurate and that it could have been built in his day. Intel released the microprocessor and the i860 RISC/coprocessor chip, each of which contained more than 1 million transistors. The RISC microprocessor had a 32-bit integer arithmetic and logic unit , a 64-bit floating-point unit, and a clock rate of 33 MHz. The C64, as it is better known, sells for $595, comes with 64 KB of RAM and features impressive graphics.

This printing programmable calculator was made from discrete transistors and an acoustic delay-line memory. The Programma 101 could do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as calculate square roots. 40,000 were sold, including 10 to NASA for use on the Apollo space project. The US Navy Tactical Data System uses computers to integrate and display shipboard radar, sonar and communications data. In October 1961, the Navy tested the NTDS on the USS Oriskany carrier and the USS King and USS Mahan frigates. After being successfully used for decades, NTDS was phased out in favor of the newer AEGIS system in the 1980s.

Workstation computer systems are more powerful than most standard desktops. They're better-equipped to accommodate high-demand tasks like animation, video production, and CAD. Workstations are built to out-perform other machines and to run demanding processes for extended periods. During that time host computers were very large and expensive machines, like the famous MARK I, ENIAC, and EDVAC, etc.

For instance a MIDI computer music keyboard may not be adaptable to a notebook computer. Normal sized PCs are still more powerful, flexible, and cheaper, but notebooks are becoming more competitive every day. These computers came to be called mainframes, though the term did not become common until smaller computers were built.

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Their main disadvantages are that analog representations are limited in precision—typically a few decimal places but fewer in complex mechanisms—and general-purpose devices are expensive and not easily programmed. Creating smarter, more accurate artificial intelligence systems requires a hybrid human-machine approach, according to researchers. The problem can be decomposed into tasks that can be carried out concurrently.

Officially known as the Track Write, the automatically expanding full-sized keyboard used by the ThinkPad 701 is designed by inventor John Karidis. The keyboard was comprised of three roughly triangular interlocking pieces, which formed a full-sized keyboard when the laptop was opened -- resulting in a keyboard significantly wider than the case. This keyboard design was dubbed “the Butterfly.” The need for such a design was lessened as laptop screens grew wider. Xerox PARC physicist Gary Starkweather realizes in 1967 that exposing a copy machine’s light-sensitive drum to a paper original isn’t the only way to create an image. So in 1971, Starkweather transferred to Xerox Palo Alto Research Center , away from corporate oversight. Within a year, he had built the world’s first laser printer, launching a new era in computer printing, generating billions of dollars in revenue for Xerox.

These particular instructions were chosen because they are sufficient to write useful programs. Once you understand how to implement these instructions, you can expand the hardware to handle others. The architectural state is the information necessary to define what a computer is doing. Think of a science fiction novel in which the protagonist’s brain is frozen, then thawed years later to wake up in a new world.