Xref: utzoo news.groups:4734 comp.sys.misc:1504 comp.misc:2673 Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!porthos.rutgers.edu!webber From: webber@porthos.rutgers.edu (Bob Webber) Newsgroups: news.groups,comp.sys.misc,comp.misc Subject: Re: Info wanted on eniac computers Message-ID:Date: 24 Jun 88 23:13:46 GMT References: <198@marque.mu.edu> <8012@alice.UUCP> Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 33 In article <8012@alice.UUCP>, adb@alice.UUCP writes: > If you *really* want info on the ENIAC, go to the library of the Moore > School of Electrical Engineering, which still has all the original design Well it looks like eventually I will have to visit the U Penn (I presume the Moore School is in Philadelphia with the rest of it). [I hate travel and big cities, but c'est la vie.] The 1945-1955 period in the history of computing is chock full of fascinating documents as some very major thinkers came to grips with the notion of computing. The ENIAC seems to have been the only major attempt at a parallel computer during this time period [at least one author has noted that the ILLIAC is more closely the successor of the ENIAC than either the EDVAC or the BINIAC (the latter two being more reactions against the percieved problems with the ENIAC by the designers of it rather than attempts to ``upgrade'' it)]. > documents for the ENIAC on the shelf. However, I suspect they won't be that > useful, since there was only one ENIAC and it has long since been dismantled > and scattered. The BRL machine was dismantled and scattered to various museums on 2nd day of October in the year 1955. Whether or not any other machines were ever made from that design is something that would be difficult to prove (except, of course, in the positive by an example). So far no published references have come to my attention. However, the documents would still prove useful. A software simulation of the machine requires rather detailed knowledge of its hardware. A hardware simulation is, at the moment, just a dream -- but the resources are available if I can just find the time to master them (a direct VLSI implementation is my current ``ultimate'' goal). A design for microcode that is functionally equivalent to ``wiring up'' the ENIAC is still in progress. ---- BOB (webber@athos.rutgers.edu ; rutgers!athos.rutgers.edu!webber)