Oldest machine

[Bob Shannon]

There is a fair amount of software available for your HP, contact me off 
list...

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brent Hilpert" <hilpert at cs.ubc.ca>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" 
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2005 4:58 PM
Subject: Re: Oldest machine


> ...not the earliest, but just for the record:
>
> HP 2116C (1969/70)
>
> Hardware is all functioning and I've written some programs and a 
> monitor/system for
> it but I'd like to find original (period) software to run on it.
>
>
> Jules Richardson wrote:
>> I suppose I'm just curious as to what systems from the 1940's to 1970's 
>> have
>> survived, as most of the talk on here seems to be of more recent (1970's 
>> and
>> 1980's) hardware and very little gets said about the earlier stuff.
>
> This is partly why I collect 60s-era calculators. They are examples of 
> complex digital
> systems (ALU,memory,I/O,control - everything but the 
> general-purpose/stored-program),
> available in discrete and SSI implementations, but more available and 
> manageable
> (size/weight/power) than full computer systems of the era.
>
> Digital frequency counters from the 50s/60s also provide examples of early
> digital technology, constructed using the same sorts of circuitry and
> techniques as computers of the same era). I keep a couple of 
> vacuum-tube-based
> digital counters around, along with discrete-transistor and SSI versions, 
> as comparable
> examples of the generations of digital electronics.
> HP tube counters seem to still be around in some quantity (vacuum-tube 
> counters
> and logic,
> not just NIXIE displays).
>