First Generation of Computers Vaccum Tubes
First Generation of Computers Vaccum Tubes
Vacuum tube technology was used in the earliest iteration of computers, created by Lee De Forest in 1906. On the earliest iteration of a computer, the circuitry and magnetic drums were housed in vacuum tubes, which also took up a lot of space.
It cost a lot of money to operate, produced a lot of heat, and used a lot of electricity.
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Vacuum Tube Technology and Its Role in Early Computers
The vacuum tube was the basic technology used to create a wide range of other electronic devices, such as televisions, radar, radios, and X-ray machines, throughout the first part of the 20th century.
Additionally, the first computers also made use of this technology. Below is an image of a vacuum tube.
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The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC, was the first general-purpose computer. The ENIAC was constructed in 1943 using 18000 vacuum tubes. The Moore School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania also constructed it using public funding.
The majority of the credit for creating the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) belongs to John W. Mauchly (1907–1980) and J. Presper Eckert, Jr (1919–1955). It measured around 30.5 meters (100 feet) long and included twenty 10-digit registers for rapid calculations.
Programming the ENIAC and the Use of Plugboard Wiring
The plugboard wiring was used to program the ENIAC. Paper tape and punch cards were employed to input data and output results. It could have been faster, as it could only compute at a rate of 1,900 additions per second. The ENIAC was primarily used for calculations pertaining to war, such as those that assisted in the construction of the atomic bomb and ballistic firing tables.
The Colossus: Another Significant Computer of the First Generation
The Colossus, a British machine, was also constructed during this time and served as another tool in the war effort.1500 vacuum tubes were used, and it operated similarly to the ENIAC in terms of programming. These earlier machines were often operated by plugboard wiring or a set of instructions encoded on paper tape. Some calculations required one wire, while others needed different wiring. As a result, despite the fact that these computers were programmable, their programs were not internally saved.
The EDVAC and IAS Machines: Advancements in Stored-Program Computers
The idea of stored programs was initially introduced to the ENIAC development team. John von Neumann (1903–1957), John W. Mauchly (1907–1980), and J. Presper Eckert Jr. (1919–1955) were the authors of this concept.
A seminar on the idea of creating a stored-program computer was held at the Moore School in the summer of 1946. The talk was also attended by up to 30 scientists from both sides of the Atlantic, and soon after, they built stored-program machines. Founded by Maurice Wilkes (1913–), the British team.
Maurice Wilkes attended the Moore School conference as one of the attendees. To create the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), this group labored at Cambridge in 1949. Later, the team led by Richard Snyder of the Moore School finished developing the EDVAC At Princeton University in 1952. Von Neumann built the IAS (Institute for Advanced Study) machine. These machines were still constructed utilizing vacuum tubes, allowing them to store their program internally.
UNIVAC: The First Successful Commercial Computer
Another first-generation stored-program machine was the UNIVAC, short for Universal Automatic Computer. Mauchly and Eckert created this computer, which was the first successful commercial computer to be delivered to a corporate client.
It used magnetic tape as bulk storage. Utilizing more than 5,000 vacuum tubes, it was created. It was frequently employed in activities like bookkeeping, actuarial table computing, and election prediction.
UNIVAC vs. ENIAC: Advancements in Processing Power
UNIVAC launched its first program in 1949. In contemporary dollars, UNIVAC costs $4,996,000. Additionally, IBM shipped the first computer at this time. EDVAC, IBM-650, and IBM-701 were some further examples of the first generation of computers.
Advantage:
Computers from the first generation stood apart from later generations thanks to their unique characters. For instance, all computers from the first generation were slow and incapable of handling enormous amounts of data in calculations.
Disadvantage:
The original generation of computers was enormously big and heavy, weighing in at roughly 30 tons.
They quickly needed air conditioning in the computer room so that the OS could stay cool and the computer could function properly.