The future of computing (from 1974) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 23, 2020, 04:01:35 am
content: What an awesome forward thinker that guy was!

author: Bicurico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2020, 06:32:56 am
content: He clearly is a time traveller.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2020, 11:07:28 am
content: What a load of shit, a computer would never be able to fit on a desk. This man is dumb.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2020, 12:07:02 pm
content: Arthur C Clarke was better than that video suggests.Famously he was the "godfather" of communication satellites, with his October 1945 article in Wireless World.He described something vaguely like the internet and web in 1976, "Imperial Earth".He predicted something like google in 1956, in The City and the Stars (and its earlier variant "Against the Fall of Night", 1948). But that was less remarkable, due to Vannevar's Bush's visonary 1945 article "As We May Think".And, of course, he popularised space trave all his life.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2020, 05:41:34 pm
content: Actually, in that segment Clarke never says that a computer will fit on one's desk. He is talking about dial-up terminals which will be in people's homes, connecting them to a remote computer. ABC News did not choose the title well when posting the video.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2020, 05:45:11 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on April 23, 2020, 05:41:34 pmYou mean, like the internet?

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 23, 2020, 11:42:00 pm
content: Quote from: Ampera on April 23, 2020, 11:07:28 amYou say while stroking your new feather-light laptop computer

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2020, 11:48:00 pm
content: Quote from: IanB on April 23, 2020, 05:45:11 pmIt happened way before the internet was a thing, at least for general use.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_systemSome people will remember BBS.There was also the Minitel initiative in France:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitelwhich was rather widely used in the 80s up to at least mid 90s, when the Internet got accessible for home users.

author: Electro Detective
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2020, 12:52:12 am
content: It's not rocket science,either produce smaller computersor bigger modular DIY desks

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2020, 01:21:59 am
content: And let’s not forget that master opus, which later Stanley Kubrick converted into the best sci-fi movie ever.HAL has become a cautionary warning of runaway AI.“I am sorry Dave. I can’t do that.”

author: lwatts666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 24, 2020, 01:36:22 am
content: Quote from: schmitt trigger on April 24, 2020, 01:21:59 amOr, from Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) - "When are you going to let me out of this box?"

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2020, 05:26:07 am
content: Quote from: IanB on April 23, 2020, 05:45:11 pmAs others have said, I don't necessarily think Clarke had a large, distributed network of computers like the internet in mind. He was probably thinking of something like Minitel in France, Bildschirmtext in Germany etc.: A centrally operated server (or group of servers), and dedicated dial-up terminal devices in households.Minitel went live in France in 1980, so Clarke was not that far ahead of reality in his predictions. And he underestimated how quickly such systems would become reality -- they were talking about 2001 in that segment, and Minitel/Bildschirmtext were in pretty wide use by the late 1980s. But I am impressed by Clarke's foresight regarding the applications and the impact on society.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2020, 06:49:35 am
content: Quote from: ebastler on April 24, 2020, 05:26:07 amClarke was a visionary; see the comsats and google examples in my previous messagehttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/vintage-computing/the-future-of-computing-(from-1974)/msg3030118/#msg3030118One area where he failed was that, while he assumed moon landings, he didn't anticipate that the whole world would be watching them as it happened.

author: ozcar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2020, 07:17:17 am
content: Looks like an IBM 2314 disk system, aka Pizza Oven in the background on the left there - stack of 14 inch platters giving a capacity of less than 30MB.Clarke would have been familiar with the idea of a computer on a desk - some years before that HP had given him a HP9100A programmable calculator.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2020, 05:30:35 pm
content: Quote from: Halcyon on April 23, 2020, 11:42:00 pmHave you seen my desk? I can't fit that on there.

author: 0db
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2020, 11:23:15 am
content: [ Specified attachment is not available ]Quote from: Ampera on April 28, 2020, 05:30:35 pmMy desk is a bar table. It's round shape, the radius is about 200 mm.A smartphone can fit there, a laptop has some difficulty, a desktop cannot.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2020, 03:10:54 pm
content: Wouch, that's some small desk. Barely enough to fit a beer.

author: ozcar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2020, 09:00:07 pm
content: Quote from: Ampera on April 28, 2020, 05:30:35 pmThere is an obvious solution then.I mentioned that HP had gifted Clarke a HP9100A. Apparently HP boss Bill Hewlett had tasked his team to build a machine that would fit on a desk, specifically, a desk in his office. When the first one was completed, the engineers found it was just too big for the desk, and, so goes the story, had a slightly larger replica desk constructed and sneaked it in while he was away. (As recounted athttps://www.hpmuseum.org/hp9100.htm).The HP9100 was the first calculator made by HP, but being programmable, they clearly saw it more as a computer rather than a calculator, seehttp://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/museum/personalsystems/0021/0021history.html. Note the price mentioned there, $4900 - at that time, 1968, you could have got a couple of brand-new small cars for what one of those cost. I was very impressed when I first encountered a HP9100, and apparently, so was Clarke, but the difference was that he was famous, while I was not, so that when somebody at HP heard of his interest, they decided to present him with one.The story of the desk reminds me somewhat of the tale about Sony boss Morita making his employees wear shirts with oversized pockets, to give the impression that their first transistor radio was "pocket sized".

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2020, 01:22:34 pm
content: Quote from: ozcar on April 29, 2020, 09:00:07 pmThat is the absolute best story I've ever heard. If people want some pictures of my desk, including all the "unfortunate" mess,https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/310478241989263371/691096455976321034/IMG_20200321_212849.jpghttps://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/310478241989263371/691096531020808263/IMG_20200321_212928.jpgSee how many different computers and trinkets you can spot