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mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag

Toot a photo of a computer that first arrived in the year of your birth!

(Here's mine: the IBM System/360)

Photograph of the front panel of an IBM System/360 mainframe—an adult person height red box about 1.5 metres deep, with a panel of blinkenlights and rotary dials (and some buttons). A desk sits in front of it, presumably for the operator's teletype printer.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Chris McDonough ✅
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Chris McDonough ✅
• •
nice! The DEC PDP-11/45 Giant Mini
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Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

John Maxwell
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
John Maxwell
• •
[edit to add: I've been to this museum and seen that display. Hunh.]
@Charlie Stross
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Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Frank Skornia
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Frank Skornia
• •
Things were heating up for PCs in my birth year, but there is really only one I can share.
(Commodore 64)
A Commodore 64 computer with monitor and floppy drive on a desk
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

John
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
John
• •
Mine being the Sinclair ZX80 might make you feel old, but when the kids start posting pictures of iMacs or iPads or whatever, we can all just crumble into dust together.
A product photo of the Sinclair ZX80, a 'vintage' computer that's a weirdly shaped white box with an awful looking keyboard attached to it.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Larry
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Larry
• •
My first computer ... 360 7040.
Punch card WatFor, dot-matrix printout pinned to the corkboard the next morning.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Dave 🇺🇦
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Dave 🇺🇦
• •

I can't find a computer; the MINSK1 didn't arrive until a year later.
However, I lay claim to COBOL.

@Janeishly 😂

@Janeishly
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Santiago Lema
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Santiago Lema
• •

I am apparently a child of the IMSAI 8080 generation !

An iconic computer :8bitheart: I of course never touched having had my first encounters with computers as a child a decade later.

youtu.be/fmnX0bJjVew?si=DtHaot…

IMSAI 8080 computer (from Wikipedia): a big rectangular block with several large blue and red switches
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Jens N
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Jens N
• •
I had three rather well known computers to pick from, but I have go with the Commodore.
Commodore PET 2001 Attribution: Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17129317
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Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Perrin42
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Perrin42
• •
My options seem to be the TRS-80, Commodore PET, Atari VCS, Apple II, R2-D2, and C-3PO.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Jason B
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Jason B
• •
Apple IIc, 1984. My parents bought one, an incredibly expensive splurge for them but at least I would have a good computer for the rest of my life.
An Apple IIc computer
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Martin Worm-Leonhard
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Martin Worm-Leonhard
• •
I can just about sneak the Vic-20 in... Personally I met computing at the C64 in the early nineties.
(photo courtesy of wikimedia / Evan-Amos)
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Steve
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Steve
• •
An early gaming system called the Brown Box came out as I emerged.
Primitive console in wooden case with two controllers, each with twos knobs and some buttons.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

PeP
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
PeP
• •
I think mine is this (apologies for camera shake) it’s an ICL something and was used for many years for UCL computing A level (or poss O level?) results
Console for 1960s era ICL mainframe
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Jacob Christian Munch-Andersen
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Jacob Christian Munch-Andersen
• •
Turns out that I can claim the NES, by virtue of it arriving in Denmark in 1986.
A photo of the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

mtraven
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
mtraven
• •

SAGE Air Defense System (I'm old)

"Hundreds of people use the system simultaneously, interacting through groundbreaking graphical consoles. Each console has its own large screen, pointing device (a light gun), a telephone, and an ashtray"

User at console for SAGE air defense system
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Aaron Sawdey, Ph.D.
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Aaron Sawdey, Ph.D.
• •

I picked the SEL 840B, because this company (ok after being bought once) later produced the 32-bit system that I learned unix on. It ran a system derived from 4.2 BSD.

This particular system was available with THREE processors that had 192KB of shared memory as well as some private memory.

A SEL 840B computer from the sales brochure. The image is monochrome and tinted green. It shows a large boxy computer with a desk projecting from it that has a teletype on one side and a board of front panel lights and switches on the other.
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Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

John_G
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
John_G
• •
MEG at Manchester University, possibly first FP machine.
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Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Aaron 🖖
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Aaron 🖖
• •
Xerox Alto - Keyboard, mouse and a portrait monitor. Cool. 😎 👌
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Raph V.
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Raph V.
• •
I was born in France, so I am proud to share the same birth year as the Thomson TO7. I have used it in school (alongside its newer variant, the MO5) to learn Logo programming. It has a revolutionary pointing device, the light pen, that uses the synchronisation information of the CRT to detect its position.
A photo of a Thomson TO7
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Weekend Editor
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Weekend Editor
• •

IBM 702: announced 1953, first actual installation 1955.

Memory: 11,000 7-bit "characters", or about 10kb. Most had tube memory, but the last one built (the 14th) had magentic core memory and the previous 13 were retrofitted with core.

CPU: tons of tubes!

3950 additions/subtractions per second; multiplication and division dramatically more slowly.

IBM 702 computer, ca 1955.
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Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Jack William Bell
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Jack William Bell
• •

According to Wikipedia, my photo would be the Bull Gamma 60. Which is a pretty rad name for an early computer. It's also French.

> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Gam…

Also on my birth year IBM announced the IBM 709, their first fully transistorized computer, but it wasn't actually shipped until a couple of years later. And both Fairchild Semiconductor and DEC were founded; making it a truly seminal year in computing.

Bull Gamma 60 computer.

1957 Bull mainframe computer

Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Mark Dennehy
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Mark Dennehy
• •
Behold, the Cray-1, far more impressive than the Apple 1...
Cray-1 supercomputer
Als Antwort auf Mark Dennehy

Charlie Stross
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Charlie Stross
• •
@markdennehy Absolutely more majestic than the Apple 1! Also considerably less powerful than an iPhone 5. (For "several orders of magnitude" values of "considerably".)
@Mark Dennehy
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Abram Kedge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇦
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Abram Kedge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇦
• •
The Atlas, the first computer with virtual memory. Claimed to be the fastest computer in the world the year it was launched.
Three large cabinets (I'm guessing six feet high by eight feet wide by two deep). Random peripherals, printers, removable disk pack drives, a panel that at first glance appears to be a large flat screen, but on closer inspection has physical switches and panel lamps.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Hugo Mills
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Hugo Mills
• •

I got the Alto

Also, TCP, Ethernet, the Winchester disk (IBM 3340), and the first mobile phone call.

Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Curmudgeon
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Curmudgeon
• •

It was the year of the first wrist mounted computer.

[Photo was taken in John Mastodon's computer laboratory. The subject is believed to be "Pip" Boyer, the developer of the first portable computer.]

#JohnMastodon #Fallout

A man is seated at a desk with electronic equipment. His arm is pushed through a large device that appears to be a computer with various cables, a number pad, and a small screen that displays the words "Pip-Boy 1.0".
#johnmastodon #fallout
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Erik Ableson
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Erik Ableson
• •

@leyrer More specifically the IBM System/360 Model 85.

Also the year Intel was founded

IBM System/360 Model 85 Console with optional microfiche reader
@leyrer
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Matt Campbell
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Matt Campbell
• •

Here's an Acorn Atom, released in 1980. I haven't ever used this computer myself. But neither have I used an Apple III, which is, as far as I know, the other well-known computer that came out that year... well-known for being a dud. The photo is from Wikipedia.

As I'm visually impaired, I'd appreciate a more detailed description of this image. #ALTforMe

Photo of an Acorn Atom microcomputer. To me it looks like a dark-colored computer keyboard.
#ALTforMe
Als Antwort auf Matt Campbell

Charlie Stross
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Charlie Stross
• •
@matt Description: well, have you ever seen/touched a BBC Model B computer? The Atom is its predecessor. Case is the same flat box with slope around the keyboard, but white plastic with grooves running front-to-back behind the keyboard. Keyboard is the same layout but no red keycaps or function keys. Logo says ACORN ATOM instead of BBC Model B. Looks to be the same size.
@Matt Campbell
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Chad Hanna 🇬🇧 🇮🇪 🇪🇺
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Chad Hanna 🇬🇧 🇮🇪 🇪🇺
• •
Ferranti Mk1 Logic 'door' © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum 42 valves and 3 transformers.
Ferranti Mk1 computer 1951 Logic 'door' 42 valves and 3 transformers. © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Isaac Ji Kuo
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Isaac Ji Kuo
• •

1971 Busicom 141-PF calculator.

It may not look like a "computer", but it is the first commercial product with a motherboard featuring separate ram chips, rom chips, and a _microprocessor_.

Busicom is less well remembered than the business partner who was reluctant to develop this first microprocessor, the Intel 4004 (also introduced in 1971).

vintagecalculators.com/html/bu…

Busicom 141-PF, a telephone sized calculator with a keypad on the front half and a narrow paper printer in the back half.

Busicom 141-PF and Intel 4004

www.vintagecalculators.com
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

The Grue
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
The Grue
• •
schon alt, aber der hier ist noch ein kleines bisschen Altair 🙈
(That only works in German, sorry)
Altair 8800
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Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

vampirdaddy
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
vampirdaddy
• •
WARNING!
Some of those buggers have an "Emergency OFF“ switch.
Not on/off.
Just OFF.
Permanent.
As in ceramic blade ripping through copper wire.
Don‘t ask why I know…
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

CausticMango
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
CausticMango
• •
The closest I can get is the PDP-11/20 which came out the year after.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Peter Krefting
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Peter Krefting
• •

I learned something new today. Quote Wikipedia: "the first Cray-1 system was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976."

(Image credit: Irid Escent, CC-BY-SA, copied from the Wikipedia article)

the first Cray-1 system was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976. Eventually,
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Tony Finch
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Tony Finch
• •

Motorola 6800

at school we had some 6800 prototyping boards that we could program by typing in machine code in hex; calculating the addresses and updating them when the code changed was such a pain in the arse that i wrote an assembler that i could run on a bbc micro … which was way more fun than playing with the 6800 boards

a purplish ceramic dual-in-line microchip package with a brass-coloured lid over the chip printed with a motorola logo and the part number MC6800L; its manufacturing date is 7711, a few years after the chip was first introduced
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Jay
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Jay
• •

Hah! You will never trick me into revealing my pin…

1973 Xerox Alto

Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Seen_Canary
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Seen_Canary
• •

mine seems to have been a nicely busy year, so I've tried to get as close to my birth date as possible:

The TRS-80 Colour Computer

A silver-grey wedge of computer hardware, with a sloped front section containing a (decidedly bad to type on looking) keyboard, vent holes on the left and right top corners, and a RadioShack sticker. All very standard late 70's / early 80's home computing.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Thorne Lawler
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Thorne Lawler
• •
how disturbing! There are at least a hundred replies on here, but probably only about thirty easy, unique replies are possible. It took me one small scroll to find the Altair 8800 and know I was several hours too late, and yet a roll-call post like this is gonna go on pulling replies for *days*.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Edelruth In The Wrong Timeline
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Edelruth In The Wrong Timeline
• •
IBM 305 RAMAC
- I was going to say I predatd computers, but we squeaked in together, it seems.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Joseph A di Paolantonio
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Joseph A di Paolantonio
• •
I learned FORTRAN on one of those 👴🏼 But the IBM 702 marks the year of my birth [credit: Wikipedia]
A monochrome image of an early computer room featuring large, vintage computers arranged along the walls. Two men in suits, are engaged in conversation at a console in the foreground, while rows of equipment line the background in a spacious, brightly lit environment.
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Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Matthias Wiesmann
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Matthias Wiesmann
• •
1972, the Magnavox Odyssey. I actually played on the second version, the Philips Videopac.
Magnavox Odyssey gaming console
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Bob Beaker
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Bob Beaker
• •

My birth computer was the pdp1.

computerhistory.org/timeline/1…

First one I really got my hands on was a pdp11.

In the late 70s dad gave me this book from a works course he'd been on and which he really didn't get. Little did he know the monster he was creating.

Front cover (blue) of a text book titled "Z80 programming for logic design" By Adam Osborne, Jerry Kane, Russell Rector and Susanna Jacobson.

1960 | Timeline of Computer History | Computer History Museum

www.computerhistory.org
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

gunstick
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
gunstick
• •
I have the BCL Susie.
A typical "the computer is the desk" system.
Black angled desk. Where usually the drawers are you can see a rack with electronics. On top of the desk where you sit is a typewriter (teletype?) and a panel with control buttons.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Thomas Touhey
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Thomas Touhey
• •
It feels intimidating to post this seeing all of the others, but I tried, and obtained the ThinkPad 560, from 1996. 👀
ThinkPad 560E, a bit bulkier than current portable computers, with a mechanical keyboard and a trackpoint (little knob in the keyboard that could control the mouse, in addition to the trackpad). Has the old color IBM logo, a Pentium sticker, and is open on Wikipedia full screen.
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

J. Steven York RESISTS
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
J. Steven York RESISTS
• •
Not a lot of choices for us old folk, but here's MANIAC I, built for Los Alamos labs in 1957, cosen for its hardcore metal name...
images.app.goo.gl/TH4vAbaxwNyL…
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Barijaona Ramaholimihaso
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Barijaona Ramaholimihaso
• •

@pleia2 “Toot a photo of a computer that first arrived in the year of your birth!”

Elliott 503

The best visual I found is from this extract from National Film Archive "Life in Australia: Hobart", found at retroComputingTasmania.com

Photo of a lady operating a perforated paper tape reader.

retroComputingTasmania.com

computing history software preservation retro computing
www.retrocomputingtasmania.com
@Elizabeth K. Joseph
Als Antwort auf Charlie Stross

Elizabeth K. Joseph
mastodon - Link zum Originalbeitrag
Elizabeth K. Joseph
• •
The IBM PC! Which was also my first computer, though that was over a decade later.
IBM PC on display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, released in 1981
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