Computer History Archives Project

Computer History: One of our earliest uploads, is this short, historical slide show featuring vintage photos of UNIVAC computers from 1951 to 1971. Set to music and some intermittent narration, this selection of views of early machines is provided for educational review and comment. Run time about 8 mins. BW & Color. If you used or worked on any early UNIVAC computers, please feel free to comment and share your experiences. We hope you enjoy this brief look back at these early machines. "UNIVAC" is a trade name owned by UNISYS, Inc.

Computer History: ENIAC Computer History, an educational film: The First Large Scale, Programmable, General Purpose Electronic Digital Computer ~ ENIAC - original 1946 announcement film, restored & new narration. ENIAC, "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer", was designed by J. Presper Eckert and Dr. John Mauchly. ENIAC used 18,000 vacuum tubes. This rare film shows the ENIAC in operation in February 1946, when it was first announced to the public. Features the designers Dr. John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, and the U.S. Army liaison Herman Goldstine. Film shows many of the women in the ENIAC computing environment, as programmers, analysts and operators, configuring ENIAC for computational problem solving.

Computer History: IBM. In 1954, IBM introduced the 704, a large scale, electronic data processing machine which was the first mass-produced computer with floating-point arithmetic hardware. The IBM 704 was controlled by an internally stored program, and was a significant improvement over the earlier IBM 701 in terms of architecture and implementation. Like the 701, the 704 used vacuum tube logic circuitry and 36-bit binary words. Changes from the 701 include the use of core memory instead of Williams-Kilburn tubes, floating-point arithmetic instructions, 15-bit addressing and the addition of three index registers. To support these new features, the instructions were expanded to use the full 36-bit word. The new instruction set, which is not compatible with the 701, became the base for the "scientific architecture" subclass of the IBM 700/7000 series computers. The 704 could execute up to 12,000 floating-point additions per second.

Computer History: IBM System/360 Mainframe: Original vintage 1964 announcement by IBM of the groundbreaking “System/360” family of Mainframe computers. Describes origin and meaning of the term “360”; shows hardware and manufacturing process for Solid Logic Technology circuits. Restoration edits done to improve viewing quality. Historical/Educational Film, uploaded by the Computer History Archives Project (CHAP). Material courtesy of IBM Archives, used with permission. Run time: 17 mins. Color. Film opens with a flashback to the Harvard Mark I of 1944, then describes progress towards the System/360 architecture.

Computer History: The 1951 UNIVAC UNISERVO Metal Tape Drive, the first use of digital magnetic tape reel devices on computers. Tapes were made of a Nickel-Bronze alloy and weighed 4 pounds each! This film describes the drives in detail and shows the UNISERVOs in operation. An educational presentation from the Computer History Archives Project (CHAP). Narration: David Melvin.

For review and discussion, we took at RCA's early computers, including the RCA 501. After three years of development, RCA introduced the all-transistor RCA 501, a medium- to large-scale computer, advertised as "the world's most advanced electronic data processing system." Rare vintage photos and film footage from 1950's shows master control console, printed circuit boards, core memory, tape drives and more. RCA (Radio Corporation of America) was a major American radio, TV and electronics corporation which also produced large scale computers until it sold its computer division to Sperry (UNIVAC) in 1971. See also THE RCA BIZMAC, world's largest commercial computer