The Atanasoff-Berry Computer In Operation

[constructivist6]

Windows 8 looks confusing :(

[9223342]

bob4o99.....Last time I checked , America was a nation of immigrants!.........greetings from America smart guy lol.

[Quaaludedude714]

0MG :) QC

[GenoSkill]

can i put linux on this

[armkenz1]

that guy looks like michle j fox

[VYD239]

Now I'll switch on the memory drum, so you can't hear me talk anymore.

[laputahayom]

@VYD239

it was not that bad.

[TheScientist0000000]

If the drum is rotated too fast, the bits will reach the escape velocity and be flung into space.

[stelian95]

Absolutely amazing. 

[lemonrind]

I want one.

[mullartist]

but will it blend?

[HAETMUNGOR]

WHAT IS THIS WITCHCRAFT?!?! SOME KIND OF MAGIC ABACUS??!?

[Ratznium]

Now that they have it running stable, they ought to overclock it to 1.5 Hz.

[mattitheowl]

Clearly his is a lie. Collosus was the first computer and was far more powerful than that. It helped break the Enigma codes in WW 2.

[zacheryandersen]

@mattitheowl Collosus wasn't in prototype form until 1943, the ABC was working in 1942.

[wiqi22]

3000 bits... damn, pretty large storage space this computer has

[jtel]

Very interesting.  Thanks for posting.

[OJB42]

Wow. That's a thing of beauty. Amazing that it actually works!

[Pestilance32]

Plays World of Warcraft like a dream.

[HerrXRDS]

Does it run Crysis ?

[jdunk2145]

@HerrXRDS It can only handle three pixels before you start to get major lag.

[sbalogh53]

Wow! That is a primitive computer, but amazing never-the-less. It seems to be very complicated for what it does. Was there no attempt to simplify the operation of the machine, or is this the end result of some simplifications?

[tomicdesu]

@sbalogh53 lol, that WAS the simplified hardware! the history of early computing machinery is very cool -- what's coolest ot me is, the designers of this shit could hold a modern idea of a stored-program computer in their heads and dreams as they built god-awful hardware with difficult and unreliable radio parts, basically. it's not so much that it was a "GOOD" computer, but that it was one at all. (though ABC isn't stored-program, its a calculator...)

[tomicdesu]

@tomicdesu the first stored-program (eg. modern) was SSEM (aka "Baby") (british) and the first real, as in routinely usable machine, with software libraries, symbolic linking, etc was EDSAC, british also, 1948 i think.

[andyrccar]

i'm just gonna use pen and paper

[frosty956]

@andyrccar ok when youve finished solving a 20 by 20 system of equations let me know.

[harleybayo]

another reason America is the greatest country known to man

[3yE]

Much less remarkable, less capable and less reliable than Konrad Zuse's Z3.

[samisyosam]

This thing can run crysis at 60fps.

[jdbtwo]

But will a Beowulf cluster of ABCs run Linux? ;) Seriously though, I don't think this thing was Turing Complete so calling it a computer would be kind of a misnomer -- calculator or "computing device" would be more appropriate.

[deathcloud33]

@jdbtwo "Linear Equation Solver" is all it is, unfortunately.

[psyjax]

I have one of those on my desk at home ;)

[shaurz]

The drum memory is pretty cool.

[lemonlimestiv]

yah but can it play space war!? :-}

[newcoleco]

I've a huge respect for these pioneers... building sush machines it's an harmony of science and art (it looks cool, don't you think?).

[lucasbachmann]

The only reason this computer is considered "first" is because some lawyers needed to come up with a way to break the ENIAC patent. It has more in common with a Babbage engine in the sense that a modern replica is what actually worked!

[davisourus]

@lucasbachmann lol that's hilarious. I hope you're kidding. John Mauchly visited Atanasoff and asked for detailed explainations for how it worked. Lawyers? Yeah, you mean that the patent didn't hold up in court because it was stolen intellectual property (embarrassing transcripts). The "ENIAC" was proven in court to be a ripoff, and even worse ENIAC tried to pretend it hat never heard of the ABC or that it didn't work. This proves it did work. Did you not watch it?

[l0gically]

Pretty cool.

[digitchaser]

so cool!

[puppetmaster983]

Neat.