VCF West: Recovering the Essence of the Whirlwind Computer - Guy C. Fedorkow

Описание: The Whirlwind computer, built in 1950 at MIT, was a one-of-a-kind research computer, with many applications to military and academic problem solving. The machine eventually evolved to become a proof-of-concept prototype for the SAGE air defense system, deployed initially by the end of the 1950s. While the building-sized machine itself was decommissioned by 1959, a huge trove of records and artifacts have survived.
Using these artifacts, we’ve built a functional model of the machine to run some of the original software, with an interface that reproduces some of the original interface characteristics, with its emphasis on buttons, switches, selectors, lights and graphics to control and direct the machine.

The talk will cover some of the no-longer-usual modes of interaction, using some of the original software recovered from CHM archives.

Guy C. Fedorkow currently researches the history of early computing in the 1950s, in collaboration with colleagues at the MIT Museum, Computer History Museum and Heinz Nixdorf Museum'sForum. As a system architect, Guy’s interests also include network infrastructure security, Trusted Computing Group and IETF.
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