I worked as a TV repairman in the late 70s, just as the solid-state sets were coming in; and the inside of an old vacuum tube TV with the back off and all the tubes glowing; looked like a small city, in miniature
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What was your first computer?
- Thread starter AHH who-stole-my-name
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I worked as a TV repairman in the late 70s, just as the solid-state sets were coming in; and the inside of an old vacuum tube TV with the back off and all the tubes glowing; looked like a small city, in miniature
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I remember those days. Boy was there a lot of heat pouring out of the backs of those sets.I worked as a TV repairman in the late 70s, just as the solid-state sets were coming in; and the inside of an old vacuum tube TV with the back off and all the tubes glowing; looked like a small city, in miniature
Anyone remember Rabbit Ears?
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faroukfarouk
Fading curmudgeon
Even laptops generate quite some heat, when left switched on for too long.
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I liked working on discrete (separated) electronic boards; you could trouble shoot the components easier; and there was something elegant about the design; especially when they had glowing tubes in them.
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The heat of those old tube-type sets would burn up the other components on the board; the only thing that could take the heat; was the tubes themselves; they should of had fans on them like a computer.
Rabbit ears, ha,
I can remember wrapping them in tin-foil to help pick up weaker stations; sometimes they would work better on the floor; all depended where the signal was strongest. But mostly; working as a TV repairman; living in a small town in the 'fringe' of reception area; I would tell people to throw them away and get an outside antenna; then in the middle of a storm that has moved the antenna; you get to go outside and turn it the right way while someone on the ground relays to you when you get good reception: "no,no the other way; wait, wait you had it; go back the other way!" Lot of fun.
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WretchedGoat
Active Member
I'll have to remember to take a picture of the Atanasoff computer the next time I go on campus. Some of you might get a kick out of it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atanasoff–Berry_computer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atanasoff–Berry_computer
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Been there and done that. i remember helping my dad put the first outdoor antenna we had together. Manhandling the thing up a ladder and then attaching it to the chimney. We were both about 5'5" and it nearly took both of us out.The heat of those old tube-type sets would burn up the other components on the board; the only thing that could take the heat; was the tubes themselves; they should of had fans on them like a computer.
Rabbit ears, ha,
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I had an 17" HP G7 Pavilion for three years and it had a big fan but still got hot enough that I could feel the heat through the table it sat on. Now this winter I got a new 15.6" hp (doesn't have a name just a number) LT that is faster, has 1/4 the battery size; that last longer; and a tiny fan that is so quiet (maybe it don't have a fan, could be just cooling vents) and runs so cool that I don't feel any heat except a tiny bit under the cpu. All this for less then $300; quite an improvement; and it came Win10 which I like.
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You had to make sure you didn't go up in an electrical storm; could have been illuminating. The first TV we had in the 50s; Dad went on the roof so much, he ruined the cedar shingle roof from walking on it. and when the spring rains came the house leaked like a sieve; mom was not happy.
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That's funny; where it says the clock speed is 60 Hz; so they can use the power line cps; that must have been slow; and it used capacitors for the memory. Yes; send some pics.
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I was mostly thinking of sliding off the roof carrying that dog gone antenna with the full knowledge that it would either land on me or I it. Neither of those options were exactly appealing. lolYou had to make sure you didn't go up in an electrical storm; could have been illuminating. The first TV we had in the 50s; Dad went on the roof so much, he ruined the cedar shingle roof from walking on it. and when the spring rains came the house leaked like a sieve; mom was not happy.
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The Barbarian
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My youngest daughter shares my enthusiasm for obsolete technology (I really don't know how many slide rules I own). We were at an outdoor showing of "Apollo 13", and when it got to the "failure is not an option" part where some engineer pulled a K+E slide rule out, we both cheered, which puzzled some around us.
Her mother pretended she didn't know who we were.
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The Barbarian
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In 100 years, every electronic calculating device in use today will be unusable, but my Post 1446 that I used in high school over 50 years ago, will still be functional.
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Did it look like this:below-v- This is one of the Post 1446 models on the slide rule museum.com web site (sure you know about that) but it's from WWII; were you still using that in the 60s? Here is the information about the student version:
Post 1446-D Student Version 2 (cWWII)
Note narrow molded plastic Cursor design, same as Dietzgen 1767P
Made in USA by lawrence Engineering
Front Scale:25cm || A [ B, CI, C ] D, K || 10in
Back Scale: [ S, L, T ] with Conversion Chart
Note: Note 'K' scale. Previous models made by Hemmi did not have it. Because the transitional delivery of the 1446 during WWII from other OEM's than Hemmi had the 'K' scale, once the war was over and shipping from Japan began again, the 'K' scale was added to the post-WWII Post 1446."
http://sliderulemuseum.com/Post.htm
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By '72-'73 in the Communication Technology college courses; we were using a plastic yellow model by a company I can't remember; there is more about the older wooden models all the way back to 1880s; then the newer ones. The closest I could find was this model:-v- Which I believe is a "Pickett n4-es Vector type Log/Log Duel-Base Speed Rule" I liked the wide format and it being plastic; it didn't chip or bind-up when it was moist out; and it was cheap. Being a poor student on the G.I. bill; that was important.
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My mind hurts just looking at those slide rules. I use to know how they worked but have forgotten.
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It was pretty simple really, here is an explanation from HP's calculator museum, as can be seen; slide rules were mostly for estimating; as it says; the precision was dependant on the size of the ruler and how small was the lines on the scales; and you needed common sense to know what answer you were expecting. You can see why the electronic calculator was such a revelation; But our instructor's up till the mid 70s didn't trust the electronic ones and said we should use our 'sliding calculators' to make sure we were in the 'ballpark' with our answers.
Here is how you multiply 42.2 X 16.6 = 700:
"To multiply two numbers on a typical slide rule, the user set the left index (start of the scale) on the C scale to line up with one factor on the D scale. (All labels refer to Pickett scales. Scale labels were not completely uniform between brands.) The user then found the second factor on the C scale and looked on the D scale for the product. By doing this, the user effectively added the logs (lengths) of the two numbers and looked up the antilog.
Multiplications with more than a single digit were carried out by making use of the smaller graduations to represent additional digits of decreasing significance. The precision available to the user was directly proportional to the size of the device (or the smallest lines the user could resolve.) The slide rule did not indicate the decimal point. That was done by the user - typically by estimation, "common sense" or by computing the characteristic. For example:"
http://www.hpmuseum.org/srinst.htm
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The Barbarian
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The one you show is actually aluminum. Originally, they were magnesium, but corrosion was a problem. Pickett was really the gold standard for metal slide rules.
The Post slide rule shown above was indeed the WWII model which used wood rather than bamboo. Bamboo was really a superior material, being dimensionally stable and self-lubricating. So the WWII Post models are interesting mainly for the way they adapted to that and the strategic materials shortages.
Lawrence Engineering made rather ugly slide rules, in my opinion.
BTW, the largest and most accurate slide rule in the world, the Texas Magnum:
The World's Longest Slide Rule, The Texas Magnum, was demonstrated on February 28, 2001 in the Lockheed-Martin Aircraft Assembly Facility at Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth, Texas. The Texas Magnum is 350 feet 6.6 inches and holds the world's record for the longest linear slide rule. It weighs over 300 pounds when assembled and takes 3 people to operate. The Texas Magnum was designed as a traditional Mannheim style slide rule. The A, C, D and L scales are included on the slide rule.
The Texas Magnum is a fully functioning slide rule. After assembly, actual calculations were made on the slide rule. A resident engineer asked for a calculation on the slide rule. He validated that the Magnum computation was accurate to 5 significant digits. (The operator can interpolate to six significant digits.)
The slide rule was built in sections for ease of construction, assembly, storage, and transportation. It assembles to form a single, rigid unit.
A laser tracker measuring device was used to determine the actual total length of the scales on the slide rule. The SMX Tracker 4500 measured the exact length as 350.54948 feet. The previous record of 323 feet 9.5 inches was set in 1979 at the University of Illinois.
This prototype module was made by the designers to test the construction practices. It is on loan to the museum from Skip Solberg.
http://mit-a.com/TexasMagnum.shtml
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