640K ought to be enough for anybody
May 9, 2008 3:11 PM   Subscribe

The History of Computing Project is a collaborative effort to record and publish the history of the computer and its roots. The site includes a chronological timeline, biographies of computing pioneers, a look at computing hardware through the years, as well as software and games.

Having a 30-year career in the field, I am partial to mainframe computing. I started my career in 1973 working on this machine, and ended it on this one, with many in between.

Other mainframe timelines:
IBM mainframes
Viking Waters
Computer history: IBM 360/370/3090/390
posted by netbros (11 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
If this slideshow started automatically you did not do anything for at least 30 seconds when you came to this site.

FAIL
posted by shmegegge at 3:22 PM on May 9, 2008


Ah, the 370... because it covers all the angles and then some.
posted by GuyZero at 3:40 PM on May 9, 2008


This is deeply flawed. I wasn't able to find a reference to Lawrence Waterhouse's contributions to computer science anywhere.
posted by mullingitover at 4:30 PM on May 9, 2008 [1 favorite]


mullingitover, it is a collaborative project, so I'm sure they would love to have your input and enhancements.
posted by netbros at 4:38 PM on May 9, 2008


Speaking of IBM... it is interesting to see IBM's hardware architectures coalesce into a single platform. The POWER6 chips, for instance, contain not only the RS/6000 instruction sets, but also the zSeries ones; I don't really know what it means for the future, but it will be real interesting to watch.

That new z10 looks like a fucking monster, as well... it's too bad I work for a company with no money, so we'll probably be running our z9 for the next decade or so. I can't wait to see what the p6 595 looks like. I'm guessing: z10 with a different racing stripe, and comes with a DVD of AIX instead of z/OS.
posted by synaesthetichaze at 4:55 PM on May 9, 2008


So...no one else sees broken graphics everywhere on the main linked site? No? Hm.
posted by maxwelton at 7:05 PM on May 9, 2008


it is a collaborative project
I emailed them about this much overlooked event - LEO, Lyons built and operated the world's first business computer.
posted by tellurian at 8:21 PM on May 9, 2008


Wikipedia has done quite a comprehensive job of detailing the history of computing hardware.
posted by msaleem at 12:11 AM on May 10, 2008


Tandy: TRS 100, destop computer with LCD screen built in

This is pretty lame. Needs editing.
posted by localroger at 11:52 AM on May 10, 2008


I haven't had a chance to go through this site much, but one favorite computer history source of mine is the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. It's in a former Silicon Graphics Inc. building, and is an absolute must-see. They now have a working model of Babbage's Difference Engine. Some of the docents are legendary figures in computing; last time I was there, I was told one of the people leading another tour group was Gene Amdahl.

Also worth a look is the Digibarn.

And, of course, the folks at the Vintage Computer Festival.
posted by foonly at 10:31 PM on May 10, 2008


All the image links currently appear to be broken. Then again, maybe it's because I'm using Firefox-- now that would be delicious irony.
posted by Artaud at 4:20 PM on May 11, 2008


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