Remington-Rand Presents the Univac

UNIVAC is one of the earliest commercial computers and was easily the most famous computer of the 1950s. This film, produced between 1950 and 1952, shows how the UNIVAC computer was used in business, defense and by the census. The film shows several of the important portions of the UNIVAC system at work, including the high-speed printer, the UNISERVO tape drive, the UNITYPER, card readers and the mercury delay line tanks that served as main memory. The programming process is fully discussed and a business problem is demonstrated. These films served a promotional film as well as a way to demystify computers to the average person.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Computer
• history
• UNIVAC
• Eckert-Mauchly
• Remington-Rand
• Office
• Automation
• Programming
• Technology
• Documentary

[MerleOberon]

In 60 years they'll probably think the same of our computers.....

[HD8Track]

I wonder if anyone got fired for looking at ASCII porn?

[temp4010]

@luridplanet UNIVAC computers were only digital. Analog computers do not use digital logic, they use continuous flow of physical quantities like fluids or electric signals. The only analog machines still in use are some legacy oscilloscopes and maybe other small pieces of testing equipment. Most analog computers are far too unreliable, complex, and slow to be used for anything practical.

[BladesEdg3]

this is an amazing video! I love learning about the history of computing and how the tech we have today came to be. The efficiency that these Univac systems brought about is incredible!

[turboslag]

There's probably an app for the iphone now that would do that payroll run in 5 mins !!

[JillmanVideo]

@xmvirus202 But Vista can crash in high defenition and with stereophonic sound!

[maxell1221]

Back then you had to plan which room of which building the entire computer would be in, now with computers (with 100000x the power) you have to decide which pocket you put it into when you go out for the day.

Mind-boggling.

[MultiCasinoRoyale1]

@MerleOberon so true lol..

[slaveofmonstery]

Hey puppies - I worked on this machine's successor, the Univac File Computer from 1961 until 1963, while in the military. It was one of the wonders of its time and I'll never forget it. What an experience! It totally filled a warehouse. Some of the equipment in this video was on that machine also.

[deadmetalbr]

oh yeah, magnetic tape is orders of magnitude more reliable and stable than paper. sure. those mercury memory tanks are crazy cool though.

[beowulf437]

As long as you didn't mind replacing a few dozen vacuum tubes every day just so that it will fire up.

[xrd1Hal9000]

LOL At: 10:00, the programmer lights up a smoke :)