First computers

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by umaakumar, Jul 6, 2013.

  1. umaakumar

    umaakumar Finest Post Winner

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    Dear All,

    The below is written by my Dad. He was one of the first computer engineers in our country and has worked with these massive machines. He has written something brief about these machines and I am reproducing the same here. Unfortunately I am not able to reproduce the photos he attached with this

    Early Computers
    The ICT 1202 at Bangalore
    “ THE PAST LIVES WITH US TILL DEATH, BUT FUTURE IS WHAT WE LONG FOR AND SOMETIMES GET”


    The first "real" computer in India was delivered by ICT(UK) for use by HMT BANGALORE.. The exact date of delivery is unknown, but these pictures were taken soon after it was first put into production in 1960. I had the chance of being at their factory in UK while this was built. I was undergoing training to look after the giant when delivered to the customer. The factory was at a place called LETCHWORTH GARDEN CITY in Hertsforshire, UK, the only Quaker town with no PUBS.

    Though I will not call it the first computer in my country, it was the first one to be used for data processing. If I remember correct, the first computer in India was the one at Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta. It was a russian built one called URAL, purely for scientific work. The other one was the Tata Institute of Fundamental research, Bombay built by their own scientists. There was also a small computer at the rocket launching station, Thumba, Trivandrum, where if I am correct the famous Dr Abdul Kalam was working. I had the opportunity of visiting this centre to give a talk about computers. The office was in a church premises and from this small beginning you see the growth of space research.
    It was an ICT 1202, also known as HEC (Hollerith Electronic Computer). It consisted of a CPU with drum storage, while input/output was performed by a an ICT 902 Tabulator modified to act as a peripheral to the CPU. This was used for card reading and printing, while card punching was done via a card-punch linked to the tabulator. The weight of the machine was more than one ton.
    Because air-conditioning as we know it today was unavailable in package mode at that time, a large 15 ton unit was installed. As this was not enough to keep the computer cool at the time, a special extractor hood was manufactured to exhaust the hot air out of the CPU cabinets and direct it out of the room by a large ducting. . Being a valve machine (prior to the general use of transistors in computers) a lot of heat was generated which had to be removed from the room. This machine took so much electrical power that when switched on in the morning all the lights will dim for a moment around the whole factory. The primary use of this machine was for the weekly and monthly payroll preparation,, The machine was also used for some production planning.


    At the back of the room we can see the two main cabinets of the CPU with the operator's console to the right.
    The latter was a desk-like structure with a hood enclosing three large panels. The left panel was taken up with electical meters (Mains voltage, DC voltages, amps, drum rpm, etc) the center panel held rows of toggle switches, and the right panel consisted of banks of small neon bulbs reflecting contents of registers etc. The hood was to assist in being able to see the faint light of the neon bulbs which would otherwise be hard to make out in the presence of overhead fluorescnt lighting.
    Center front is the card punch, and in the right-bottom corner of the picture we can just see the edge of the "tractor mechanism" attached to the print unit of the tabulator. This pulled the multi-part sprocket-holed stationary (with intervening layers of carbon paper) through the printer platen in a controlled fashion so that pre-printed stationary could be aligned correctly. The programming has to be done in machine code using binary coding and punched on cards. Writing a program used to take a few months for complicated jobs and required lot of skill and patience.
    Being a valve machine with over 10000 valves, the breakdowns were a daily occurrence, and repairs took a long time as we had to repair at the component level unlike the modern PCs where we replace full boards. The printer was a monster with so many gear mechanism and oil filled boxes and it was a tough job to do repairs. We will be looking like motor mechanics once we complete the repairs with oil stains on the coar and black on the hands and faces. But in spite of all these, the pleasure of finding the fault and repairing the same gave us happiness.

    At the left we can see the operator's console, to the right is the card-punch, and behind that is the tabulator. The card-feed station on the tabulator was at its left-hand end right next to the small panel of operators switches which are just visible here. The print unit (consisting of 120 individual print-wheels and a platen is located at the right-hand end of the machine underneath the sheet-metal cover. The structure sticking out above the print-unit is the tractor-feed mechanism described above.

    All thr units were connected by thick cables passing through the false flooring. Communication with the computer was by switches on the control panel. The memory was a drum with a storage capacity of 4096 words( each word equals to three bytes) The printing speed was about 100 lines per miniute and each instruction used to take about 2.5 milliseconds. Multiplication was by repeated addition and used to take a long time.

    Being a valve machine, failures were a daily occurrence. A few valves will blow out daily and keeps me on the tow. The printer being a mechanical one driven by many number of gears used to break down. The repairs will take a long time, it was like repairing an automobile engine-I used to come home many times wih grease soaked clothes. During some periods I never returned home for two or three days when a major repair was to be done. Imagine what an amount of anxiety this was causing the family when we had no mobile and other calls have to go thro the PABX operator who will not be available during the nights and no direct dialing form the computer room.
     
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  2. rkgurbani

    rkgurbani IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Umma,

    It was wonderful to read this article. Specially for all of us who have not had a chance to see these machines. Many thanks to your Dad
     

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