5 Dec
2015
5 Dec
'15
4:36 a.m.
On Friday, 4 December 2015 at 13:17:58 -0500, Ronald Natalie wrote:
I guess you???re going to have to qualify that. It???s the oldest
???surviving??? (though it???s unclear what that means to a computer
not running) STORED PROGRAM machine.
Guilty as charged.
The ENIAC, which by some standards is the first
programmable digital
computer still exists at the Smithsonian. Some of my coworkers there
were on the team that took it down from BRL to the Smithsonian and
actually tested it as operational when it was handed over to the
museum. I don???t think it???s ever been powered on since.
My understanding, which is borne out by the Wikipedia article, is that
only parts of ENIAC are on display at the Smithsonian. It lists a
number of other places with parts.
But then there's yet another computer, the Zuse Z4 at the Deutsches
Museum in München. Again from Wikipedia, it was built between 1942
and 1945, and thus predates ENIAC. It seems that it's complete, but
of course it's not electronic. So until proof of the contrary, CSIRAC
is the oldest surviving complete electronic computer.
Do I need more adjectives?
Greg
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