"The Incredible Machine" 1968 Western Electric - AT&T - Bell Labs - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 08:44:59 pm
content: So that's where Daisy came from! Very cool.Also, their human interface design sucked balls.But what do you expect, it was experimental technology, and we have some benefit of hindsight (notwithstanding the variety of programs that, to this day, still have interface issues...).Tim

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 10:05:57 pm
content: Quote from: T3sl4co1l on November 13, 2016, 08:44:59 pmNot quite. Both Clarke and the Bell Labs people were probably paying homage to the IBM 7094, which isn 1961 became the first computer to 'sing'

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 11:07:37 pm
content: Ah, indeed

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2016, 01:32:48 am
content: Although Clarke always denied that he named his computer HAL to be one step ahead of IBM.But then there is Dave Cutler's next project after VMS at DEC - he moved to Microsoft and worked on WNT.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2016, 03:19:24 am
content: And Apple will tell people they invented touch screens.These old AT&T videos are great.The ones on telephony switching are pretty cool too.A switch similar to this used to reside literally in the room my office at work is now, pretty neat to consider.Some parts are still lying around:Another fun one, of a more "modern" switch: (70's)Tons of other interesting videos like that on their channel.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 14, 2016, 03:25:46 am
content: Quote from: Red Squirrel on November 14, 2016, 03:19:24 amI might still have a couple of those relays (like the one marked CD). They were available in Australia under the descriptor of "PMG relays". (PMG stood for Post Master General - the government department that took up responsibility for telephony when it came in.)Lots of drooling for them back in the day ... just look at all the contacts!!

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2016, 03:23:40 pm
content: Quote from: T3sl4co1l on November 13, 2016, 08:44:59 pmBack in the day,most everybody assumed that light pens would be the interface of choice for personal computers in the dim future.Mice came pretty much out of "left field".

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2016, 04:10:33 pm
content: Direct vs indirect control - with the light pen you are directly manipulating the objects on the screen. That one sort of sucked because the computer was a bit slow. Imagine that with the nearly instantaneous response you'd get with a modern system.A mouse in indirect. You move the mouse around and the pointer is a representation of where you are moving. There still are some people who have problems coordinating the movement of their hand with the pointer on the screen.I once built a light pen for my first computer, using the shell of one of those pocket microscopes Radio Shack used to sell. Of course, that system had a whopping 128x64 graphics resolution. The problem was, that with the tiny TV I was using as a display, even the 'huge' pixels at 128x64 were too small to have the pen accurate to just one. Considering it was little more than a photoresistor with no comparator or anything, it actually worked.