Design of an Early Minicomputer

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http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2007.35

July-September 2007 (vol. 29 no. 3) pp. 68-71

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	Herbert Freeman, "Design of an Early Minicomputer," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 68-71, July-September, 2007.

	BibTex	x
	@article{ 10.1109/MAHC.2007.35, author = {Herbert Freeman}, title = {Design of an Early Minicomputer}, journal ={IEEE Annals of the History of Computing}, volume = {29}, number = {3}, issn = {1058-6180}, year = {2007}, pages = {68-71}, doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2007.35}, publisher = {IEEE Computer Society}, address = {Los Alamitos, CA, USA}, }

	RefWorks Procite/RefMan/Endnote	x
	TY - MGZN JO - IEEE Annals of the History of Computing TI - Design of an Early Minicomputer IS - 3 SN - 1058-6180 SP68 EP71 EPD - 68-71 A1 - Herbert Freeman, PY - 2007 KW - early minicomputer KW - desk calculator KW - electromechanical computer VL - 29 JA - IEEE Annals of the History of Computing ER -

Herbert Freeman, Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University

This article describes the design of an early 1950s attempt to build a relatively low-cost computer, using a mechanical desktop calculator to perform the arithmetic operations. The resulting computer--one of the earliest attempts at building a "minicomputer"--could perform stored-program addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as carry out a simple decision operation based on a number comparison. To solve a problem, the operator would type in a program sequence based on the use of nine basic instructions. Total memory capacity was 400 words.

[1] 68 H. Freeman, "System Design of the Sperry Digital Computer," Proc. Nat'l Electronics Conf., vol. XII, 1956.

Index Terms:

early minicomputer, desk calculator, electromechanical computer

Citation:

Herbert Freeman, "Design of an Early Minicomputer," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 68-71, July-Sept. 2007, doi:10.1109/MAHC.2007.35

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