History of Computers & Internet

Got something to say about the past? Say it here!
User avatar
Yuli Ban
Posts: 4631
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:44 pm

History of Computers & Internet

Post by Yuli Ban »

Last edited by Yuli Ban on Mon Nov 06, 2023 4:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
User avatar
Yuli Ban
Posts: 4631
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:44 pm

Re: History of Computers & Internet

Post by Yuli Ban »

Timeline of computing hardware before 1950
I'm especially fascinated by the electromechanical computers of the late 1800s and very-early 1900s

And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
User avatar
Yuli Ban
Posts: 4631
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:44 pm

Re: History of Computers & Internet

Post by Yuli Ban »

Here's a fun fact: if you went back to the 1700s and 1800s and mentioned the term "computer," people would probably not be confused!
The word "computer" has existed for centuries... but it turns out that it only meant what it means now for less than a century.

Computer (job description)



Yep, even a digital computer is a form of automation. Human computers are a dead career path, now the realm of a few notable savants and extreme mathematicians.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
User avatar
Yuli Ban
Posts: 4631
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:44 pm

Re: History of Computers & Internet

Post by Yuli Ban »

Image
From 2012.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
User avatar
Yuli Ban
Posts: 4631
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:44 pm

Re: History of Computers & Internet

Post by Yuli Ban »

Image
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
User avatar
Yuli Ban
Posts: 4631
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:44 pm

Re: History of Computers & Internet

Post by Yuli Ban »

One of the most fascinating discoveries of the past century: the Antikythera Mechanism

Image
Image
Image
The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek analogue computer used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses for calendar and astrological purposes decades in advance. It could also be used to track the four-year cycle of athletic games which was similar to an Olympiad, the cycle of the ancient Olympic Games.

The artefact was retrieved from the sea in 1901, and identified on 17 May 1902 as containing a gear wheel by archaeologist Valerios Stais, among wreckage retrieved from a wreck off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera. The instrument is believed to have been designed and constructed by Greek scientists and has been variously dated to about 87 BC, or between 150 and 100 BC, or to 205 BC, or to within a generation before the shipwreck, which has been dated to approximately 70-60 BC.

The device, housed in the remains of a 34 cm × 18 cm × 9 cm (13.4 in × 7.1 in × 3.5 in) wooden box, was found as one lump, later separated into three main fragments which are now divided into 82 separate fragments after conservation works. Four of these fragments contain gears, while inscriptions are found on many others. The largest gear is approximately 14 centimetres (5.5 in) in diameter and originally had 223 teeth.

It is a complex clockwork mechanism composed of at least 30 meshing bronze gears. A team led by Mike Edmunds and Tony Freeth at Cardiff University used modern computer x-ray tomography and high resolution surface scanning to image inside fragments of the crust-encased mechanism and read the faintest inscriptions that once covered the outer casing of the machine.

Detailed imaging of the mechanism suggests that it had 37 gear wheels enabling it to follow the movements of the Moon and the Sun through the zodiac, to predict eclipses and even to model the irregular orbit of the Moon, where the Moon's velocity is higher in its perigee than in its apogee. This motion was studied in the 2nd century BC by astronomer Hipparchus of Rhodes, and it is speculated that he may have been consulted in the machine's construction.

The knowledge of this technology was lost at some point in antiquity, and technological works approaching its complexity and workmanship did not appear again until the development of mechanical astronomical clocks in Europe in the fourteenth century. All known fragments of the Antikythera mechanism are kept at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, along with a number of artistic reconstructions/replicas of how the mechanism may have looked and worked.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
User avatar
Yuli Ban
Posts: 4631
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:44 pm

Re: History of Computers & Internet

Post by Yuli Ban »

Survey: More homes have computers
October 12, 1996
Web posted at: 6:45 p.m. EDT

The number of computer owners in the United States has more than tripled since 1982, with nearly half the country now owning a PC. But a third of the public never uses computers and has no plans to purchase one within the next five years, according to a recent survey.


The study found that 42 percent of Americans own a PC, and another 28 percent said they would most likely buy one within five years. Just over half of all households with children under 18 have computers. In 1982, only 13 percent of Americans owned one.

But while more and more Americans are putting computers in their homes, 31 percent of those polled said they were unlikely to purchase a PC within the next five years and 34 percent said they never even use one.


The survey of 750 adults was conducted September 19-22 by Yankelovich Partners Inc. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percent. Results based on subgroups have a larger margin of error.

Among computer users, eight out of 10 said they use their electronic think-boxes for word processing, and seven out of 10 play games on their PCs. More than half of those polled use their PC to do schoolwork or office work at home, and nearly 50 percent use their computers daily.

But only 34 percent use their computers to get on the Internet, with men surfing the Net nearly twice as much as women. A striking difference among Net surfers also exists between baby boomers and generation Xers. A majority of computer owners under the age of 30 are wired, while only 28 percent of computer owners ages 30 to 49 use the Internet.
Speaking of the Net, more than half of those polled said a married person who trades sexually oriented messages over the Internet is committing adultery. Sixty-one percent of women polled said it's the same as being unfaithful to a spouse; 49 percent of men agreed.

Meanwhile, a majority of people who don't own a computer said they simply don't want one, while another third said computers cost too much.

But those who own a computer swear by them. Thirty percent said their lives are much better because of their PCs, and another 57 percent said their lives are somewhat better.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
User avatar
Yuli Ban
Posts: 4631
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:44 pm

Re: History of Computers & Internet

Post by Yuli Ban »

Map of the entire Internet — December 1969
Image
On Oct 29, 1969, UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) made the first host-to-host connection on ARPANET, which grew into the Internet that we all know and love today. The first message is “LO,” which was an attempt by student Charles Kline to “LOGIN” to the SRI computer. However, the message was unable to be completed because the SRI system crashed. UCLA’s Network Measurement Center, Stanford Research Institute (SRI), UC Santa Barbara and the University of Utah had nodes on ARPANET. View the evolution of the early Internet here: http://som.csudh.edu/cis/lpress/history/arpamaps/
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
User avatar
Yuli Ban
Posts: 4631
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:44 pm

Re: History of Computers & Internet

Post by Yuli Ban »


And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
User avatar
Yuli Ban
Posts: 4631
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:44 pm

Re: History of Computers & Internet

Post by Yuli Ban »

And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
Post Reply