As technology went on advancing, the components used in computers also changed leading to computers that were more efficient and smaller in size. Let’s find out more about the evolution of computers through generation. First Generation Computers (1942–1955) The characteristics of first generation of computers are as follows. • They were built using vacuum tubes. • They were very big in size. • The operating system was slow and took a lot of time to process information. • They produced heat in large amounts. Figure 1.6 – Vacuum Tubes Examples of first generation computers are: a. Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC): The ENIAC, built in 1946, was the first electronic digital programmable computer. The instructions were entered …show more content…
• They used transistors made of a silicon or germanium material. • They were smaller in size and took less computational time as compared to the first generation computers. • They generated less heat, thus making them less prone to failure. • They used assembly language for programming. Figure 1.9 – Transistors Examples of second generation computers are: a. IBM 1400 series: The IBM 1400 series of computers made by the company IBM, used transistors and stored data in small magnetic blocks. Instructions were fed by punched cards or magnetic tapes. Outputs were also taken on punched cards, magnetic tapes or high speed printers. They performed calculations on each character. Thousands of these computers were sold or rented and were mainly used for business applications. Figure 1.10 – IBM 1400 Series b. IBM 7094 series: IBM built the 7094 series specifically for handling complicated scientific calculations. They had an increased processing speed for floating point calculations. Instructions were fed using punched cards or magnetic tapes. Figure 1.11 – IBM 7094 Series Third Generation Computers (1964–1975) The characteristics of third generation computers …show more content…
IBM PC: The IBM PC (Personal Computer) was the size of a typewriter with 16 kilobytes of main memory. The computer had a black and white monitor, two floppy disk drives, a keyboard and Disk Operating System. Data was entered only by typing text on the keyboard. The computer came with a program for creating and editing text. Figure 1.13 – IBM PC b. Apple Macintosh: Apple released the Macintosh in January 1984. The computer, again the size of a typewriter, had a black and white display, 128 kilobytes of main memory and two applications: one for editing text and one for drawing. The Macintosh was the first computer to use a Graphical User Interface (GUI) based operating system. This meant that the user would carry out tasks on the computer by activating small pictures (ICONS) on the display with the help of a mouse. Figure 1.14 – Apple Macintosh Fifth Generation Computers (1980 -
In 1976, Apple was just an idea being made in a garage by Steve Wozniak and the well-known owner of Apple, Steven Jobs. The two were college drop-outs and were looked at as outcasts. The first invention that Apple introduced was the Apple I. On April 1, 1976 Apple computer was made a reality (Glen). The company did not take off until 1977, when Apple introduced the Apple II. The Apple II was the first personal computer to have plastic casing and color graphics (Glen). Then in early 1978, the Apple Disk II was invented. It was Apple’s most inexpensive product of the time and had easy to use floppy disk (Glen). By 1980, the Apple III had been invented and the sales were increasing and so was the company. Apple had several of thousand employees and managers and had developed many investors. Fast forward twenty-one years to 2001, when Apple made the iPod. From there Apple grew like wildfire, with the invention of the iPhone in 2007 and many version...
...m simple tasks. Then Massachusetts Institute of Technology students, led by Vannevar Bush, fabricated the first analog computer, which could perform more complicated tasks than the previous computer. The analog computer was improved upon even further by Howard Aiken, who created the first computer with memory (Brinkley 643).
The subject of this term paper will be about computers in the 1950’s. The divisions that will be covered are; the types of computers there were, the memory capacity of computers, the programming languages of that time, and the uses of the computers for that time. Information will be gathered from the Internet, from books, and from magazines, and from the encyclopedia.
Herman Hollerith (1860 - 1929) founded IBM ( as the Tabulating Machine Company ) in 1896. The company renames known as IBM in 1924. In 1906 Lee D. Forest in America developed the electronic tube (an electronic value). Before this it would have been impossible to make digital electronic computers. In 1919 W. H. Eccles and F. W. Jordan published the first flip-flop circuit design.
When World War II broke out in 1939 the United States was severely technologically disabled. There existed almost nothing in the way of mathematical innovations that had been integrated into military use. Therefore, the government placed great emphasis on the development of electronic technology that could be used in battle. Although it began as a simple computer that would aid the army in computing firing tables for artillery, what eventually was the result was the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). Before the ENIAC it took over 20 hours for a skilled mathematician to complete a single computation for a firing situation. When the ENIAC was completed and unveiled to the public on Valentine’s Day in 1946 it could complete such a complex problem in 30 seconds. The ENIAC was used quite often by the military but never contributed any spectacular or necessary data. The main significance of the ENIAC was that it was an incredible achievement in the field of computer science and can be considered the first digital and per...
was introduce in 1971. IBM then came out with more advance computers such as System/38 in 1978 and the AS / 400 in 1988.
In 1979 Apple II+ is introduced, available with 48K of memory and a new auto-start ROM for easier startup and screen editing for $1,195.
In almost every part of the world Apple and at least one of their products is known. The Apple brand started in the 1970s. Three men founded the organization in 1976, to produce a computer that every citizen could use personally (Sohail, 2010). The first item released was the Apple 1 personal computer kit made by Steve Wozniak (Sohail, 2010). Through the 70s, Apple concentrated on developing storing technologies such as the floppy disk and the use of color, graphics, and spreadsheets used for business (Sohail, 2010). Apple was about to have their first major product release with a million dollar ad campaign. This was the release of the Macintosh personal computer, which also led to Apple’s great reputation (Sohail, 2010).
Prior to the revolution in technology that was microprocessors, making a computer was a large task for any manufacturer. Computers used to be built solely on discrete, or individual, transistors soldered together. Microprocessors act as the brain of a computer, doing all mathematics. Depending on how powerful the machine was intended to be, this could take weeks or even months to produce with individual components. This laborious task put the cost of a computer beyond the reach of any regular person. Computers before lithographic technology were massive and were mostly used in lab scenarios (Brain 1).
In 1975, about one month after the Altair’s debut, IBM introduced the 5100 – dubbed the IBM Portable PC. There were few personal computers available around this time, making the powerful 5100 very attractive as a complete portable system (Sysop, n.d.). At almost 60 pounds and a cost of $9,000-$20,000 however, it was attractive to a small audience. It was designed specifically for professional and scientific problem-solvers. Several years later saw the introduction of what most historians refer to as the first truly portable computer, the Osborne 1 (Bellis, 2005). Released in 1981, the Osborne 1 weighed about 24 pounds and sold for $1795. While the unit itself was still rather bulky, it contained a fold-out keyboard, 5 inch monitor, and two floppy disk drives. Its biggest value however, was the $1500 worth of software that came with it. Unlike the IBM 5100, the Osborne 1 optionally ran on battery packs, enabling true portability. Advances in technology saw the decrease in size of portable computers, as well as an increase in computing power.
The First Generation of Computers The first generation of computers, beginning around the end of World War 2, and continuing until around the year 1957, included computers that used vacuum tubes, drum memories, and programming in machine code. Computers at that time where mammoth machines that did not have the power our present day desktop microcomputers. In 1950, the first real-time, interactive computer was completed by a design team at MIT. The "Whirlwind Computer," as it was called, was a revamped U.S. Navy project for developing an aircraft simulator.
The fist computer, known as the abacus, was made of wood and parallel wires on which beads were strung. Arithmetic operations were performed when the beads were moved along the wire according to “programming” rules that had to be memorized by the user (Soma, 14). The second earliest computer, invented by Blaise Pascal in 1694, was a “digital calculating machine.” Pascal designed this first known digital computer to help his father, who was a tax collector. Pascal’s computer could only add numbers, and they had to be entered by turning dials (Soma, 32). It required a manual process like its ancestor, the abacus. Automation was introduced in the early 1800’s by a mathematics professor named Charles Babbage. He created an automatic calculation machine that was steam powered and stored up to 1000 50-digit numbers. Unlike its two earliest ancestors, Babbage’s invention was able to perform various operations. It relied on cards with holes punched in them, which are called “punch cards.” These cards carried out the programming and storing operations for the machine. Unluckily, Babbage’s creation flopped due to the lack of mechanical precision and the lack of demand for the product (Soma, 46). The machine could not operate efficiently because technology was t adequate to make the machine operate efficiently Computer interest dwindled for many years, and it wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that people became interested in them once again.
Technology continued to prosper in the computer world into the nineteenth century. A major figure during this time is Charles Babbage, designed the idea of the Difference Engine in the year 1820. It was a calculating machine designed to tabulate the results of mathematical functions (Evans, 38). Babbage, however, never completed this invention because he came up with a newer creation in which he named the Analytical Engine. This computer was expected to solve “any mathematical problem” (Triumph, 2). It relied on the punch card input. The machine was never actually finished by Babbage, and today Herman Hollerith has been credited with the fabrication of the punch card tabulating machine.
Built in to his machine were operations that included everything a modern general-purpose computer would need. It was programmed by--and stored data on--cards with holes
The next major improvement is the memory of a computer. This includes the hard drive and the RAM. During the same generation as the 386, there was also the hard drive and RAM. But these two components were not much then. The hard drive was about 100-300 megabytes and the RAM was about 4 megabytes.