The Evolution to the Computer History Museum

… Out of the Closet http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/tcmwebpage/outoftheclosetv2.3.pdf

Gordon Bell

Vanguard, San Jose

22 February 2012

Outline

• Background: History of the museum

• On collecting artifacts and stories…

15 pioneers and pioneer computer

• Myth busting … “firsts” determined by litigation

• Tour: Alcoves, Docents, and Mona Lisa's

Computer Structures Book

• Bell and Newell, 1971

• Taxonomy of computers

• PMS for Processor-Memory-Switch: A “Linnaean” notation and structure for naming various information processing functions including computers

Six Phases: Serendipity “On building a Museum, time is your friend. Just wait.” gbell

“Chance Favors the Prepared Mind” – Pasteur

1. Concept and seed: Collectors and Preservers (xxx -1975) Founded on collecting: Smithsonian was inadequate. Science & Deutsches Museums. Belief that we could build the world’s best Computer Museum.

2. Alpha: The Museum in a Closet Project, Digital (1975) 3. Beta: The Digital Computer Museum, Digital (1979-1984)

Maurice Wilkes Opening Lecture, followed by 15 Pioneers

4. Going Public I: The Computer Museum, Boston (1984-1999) Bob Noyce pre-opening lecture; J. Prespert Eckert Opened

5. Acquisition and Spinout: Boston Museum of Science July 1999; and The Computer Museum History Center, Moffett Field, CA (1995-2000)… Plan a building. Sell High! (pre-.com, get commitments for $55M)

6. Going Public II: The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA (2000- present) 2002: get SGI building. Buy Low! (Get 3 x the building at 1/3rd the cost) January 10, 2011 R|Evolution Timeline Opens

The Digital Computer Museum, Marlboro MA 6,000 sq. ft. of exhibits

The Digital Computer Museum Five founding principles from 1983 Report

1. Historical preservation. “To that end, the P,M,S notation forms the basis of the taxonomy determining the extent of the kingdom of computing and providing guidelines for exhibits.”

2. A lecture series for the computing pioneers and contributors to record their stories. “Thus, we are giving the podium to people who can give first-hand biographies of machines, programs and languages they have known.”

3. “The focal point of the Museum is the machines themselves.” Frank Oppenheimer stated: "Well-engineered machines speak eloquently …. Museum designers can't equal them"

4. A main “audience of computer scientists, programmers, history buffs, and those with a curiosity about computer evolution”

5. “Broad-based involvement by maintaining a working relationship between the enthusiastic volunteers, donors of artifacts, patrons, students, scholars and a staff that can keep stirring the soup”.

The Computer Museum Report, Summer 1983

Web Youtube KQED/NPR

Education outreach

First 15 of the 45 Marlboro lectures Italics denote artifact acquisition

VIDEO CAPTURE Was ESSENTIAL… We did too few…. 1. Maurice Wilkes: The Design and Use of EDSAC, Sept. 24th, 1979 2. George Stibitz The Development, Design and Use of the Bells Labs Relay

Calculators, May 8th, 1980 … 3. Jay Forrester: The Design Environment and Innovations of Project Whirlwind

June 2nd, 1980 4. John Vincent Atanasoff: The Forces the Led to the Design of ABC,

the Atanasoff-Berry Electronic Computer November 11th, 1980 5. Konrad Zuse: Designing and Developing the Z1-Z4 March 4th, 1981 6. James Wilkinson: The Design and Use of the Pilot Ace April 14th, 1981 7. John Brainerd: Development of the ENIAC Project June 25th, 1981 8. David Edwards: The Evolution of the Early Manchester Machines Sept. 9th, 1981 9. Tommy H. Flowers: Design and Use of Colossus October 15th, 1981 10. Arthur Burks: The Origin of the Stored Program February 18th, 1982 11. Harry Huskey: From Pilot Ace to G-15 November 18th, 1982 12. Grace Hopper, The Harvard Mark I. April 14th, 1983 13. Donald Davies: Early History of Cipher Machines April 24th, 1983 14. Robert V.D. Campbell on the Harvard Mark I-IV October 23rd, 1983 15. J. Presper Eckert: ENIAC’s 40th Birthday February 13th, 1986 (at Boston)

Artifacts in the Marlboro Exhibit Data-operation components e.g. arithmetic units, logic circuitry, a valve from Manchester Mark I; Data-operations aka calculators e.g. abaci, slide rules, printed tables, sectors and other Navigational instruments, the Lehmer Number Sieves, a Hollerith system replica, a Napier’s Bones, a Pascaline replica, Hillis’s Tinker Toy Computer; Transducers e.g. telegraphy equipment, typewriters (subsequently discontinued), light pen, plotters; Memories e.g. Atanasoff capacitor store drum, core memories, delay lines, drums, handbooks, player piano disk, tapes, Williams tube. Computers e.g. Brigham Young U. Stretch. Bendix G-15, Burroughs ILLIAC IV, CDC 160 and 6600, Data General Nova, DEC PDP-1,5,7, 8, 11 (3 models), 12, Fairchild Symbol pioneered dual in-line IC, Honeywell ARPA IMP, IBM 1130, 1620, 7030 (Stretch), and 360/195 console, LGP-30, Lincoln Laboratory LINC and TX-0, MITS Altair, MIT Whirlwind, NASA Apollo Guidance Computer, Philco 212, Raytheon Polaris Guidance Computer, RR Solid State 80, Siemens 2002, Sperry Univac NTDS (Seymour Cray design), TI Advanced Scientific Computer, Viatron System 21, and Xerox Alto. Working: restored TX-0, PDP-1, and Marlboro’s VAX computer installation.

The Digital Computer Museum Board • 18 member board. Six from DEC including Olsen and Bell • Charlie Bachman, inventor of the Integrated Data Store • Harvey Cragon, designed TI Advanced Scientific Computer • Bob Everett, CEO of MITRE Corp. • Les Hogan, CEO, Fairchild • John Lacey, CDC • Pat McGovern, founder, ComputerWorld • George Michael, Livermore Computer Scientist • Bob Noyce, the inventor of the IC and Intel founder • Brian Randell of the University of Newcastle • Mike Spock, Founder and Director of the Boston Children’s

Museum • Erwin Tomash of the Babbage Institute • Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas

The Computer Museum, Boston 1984

Annual Attendance: 135,000 Collection of over 500 of “first and early PCs” Pioneer lectures serie > Industry breakfast series Dozen major exhibits e.g. Walk Through Computer Computer Clubhouse w/MIT It didn’t die

The Computer Museum Boston, 13 Nov. 1984 12,000 sq. ft. Exhibit

Walk-through Computer Robot Gallery, Timeline Games, Networks, Children’s Software Virtual Fish tank

The Computer Museum History Center 1996-2002 Moffett Field, CA

Computer History Museum, 2002 119,000 sq. ft.

Yosemite Warehouse, 2007

25,000 sq. ft. warehouse

Purchased for the purpose of

storing the Museum’s Collection.

Located in Milpitas, CA

Story of the ABC Atanasoff-Berry Computer

The “first” electronic digital computer…

COMPSAC 2009 Seattle Professor Michael R. Williams July 22, 2009 21

What Does It Mean to be the

First Computer?

An Historian’s View

Michael R. Williams

Served as curator at Computer History Museum

COMPSAC 2009 Seattle Professor Michael R. Williams July 22, 2009 22

Historians seldom use the word “first”

• Project xxxxx was the first mechanical, analog, automatic, non-programmable, fully operational, calculating machine available in Northwest Washington.

• Use enough adjectives and you can usually be sure that whatever you create can be a “first”

COMPSAC 2009 Seattle Professor Michael R. Williams July 22, 2009 29

First electronic machines

• ENIAC (1944) “First large scale, general purpose, digital, electronic, calculating machine”

•Military project

•17,000 vacuum tubes

•Built at the Moore School of

Electrical Engineering at the

University of Pennsylvania

COMPSAC 2009 Seattle Professor Michael R. Williams July 22, 2009 30

First electronic machines

• The ABC is known as “The First Electronic Digital Computer”

• Designation given in 1973 by a US judge in a patent lawsuit (overturned ENIAC patent)

• Needs and views of patent lawyers are different from those of historians

COMPSAC 2009 Seattle Professor Michael R. Williams July 22, 2009 35

The main thing that historians

will do is:

Who gets credit?

Document the situation but

NOT ANSWER THE

QUESTION!

But who owns the computer? Rand Kardex

1927

1955

1950

1952

1966

ENIAC patent filed 1957, issued 1964

ENIAC

IBM

Uh-oh: Another Unknown Pioneer

Atanasoff - Berry

Computer

(1939-1942)

The ABC was the “disinvention” of the computer”

– Gordon Bell

ABC Reconstruction: It worked!

The first Microprocessor …make that the “first commercially available”

i.e. sold as a component, microprocessor • 1971 Intel establishes the market

• 1995 TI asserts its patents for the invention of the microprocessor, cross licensed to Intel

• Lee Boysel prepares to demo the Four Phase single processor chip c1969. TI folds.

The first Microprocessor: The key microprocesor disinvention

“One demo trumps a thousand lawyers”--Bell

1. 1969 Four Phase Systems ships a byte sliced microprocessor! Board member Bob Noyce acts to interest Intel in approach.

2. 1971 Intel 4004 establishes the market for component micros

3. 1995 TI asserts its patents for the invention of the microprocessor, cross licensed to Intel

4. Lee Boysel prepares to demo the Four Phase single processor c1969 running as a one chip micro at TI versus Everybody trial

5. TI folds Friday before the trial, at “demo threat” Four Phase story and its “first” dis-invention http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/digital-logic/12/282/2291 Lee Boysel story as told by Bell

6. Intel usually claims “the 4004 is the first commercially available microprocessor sold as a component”

From The Dump: Johnniac

The Computer History Museum R|Evolution Exhibit, 25,000 sq. ft.

10 January 2011

Feigenbaum, Lenat Dave Patterson

Alan Kay

Dave Reed

Federico Faggin

Negroponte, Hawley

Dubinsky, Culler

Kleinrock, Lucky

Peter Cochrane

Chuck Thacker

Babbage DE2 Working Exhibit Tim Robinson

Gordon Bell

Ike Nassi

Dally, Smarr

John Hollar, CEO

Len Shustek, Chairman

The Mona Lisa’s

Industrial seminals (18) • ENIAC, JOHNNIAC, UNIVAC • LINC … first PC • PDP-1 “Spacewar”, PDP-8 • IBM System/360 • ARPA IMP • PC Collection: Apple 1..MAC,

IBM PC… another 500+ • Cray’s (RR, LC, 6600, Cray 1,2) • Cal Tech Cosmic Cube Cluster • Google Search Engine

One of a kind (12) • Napier’s Bones • Jacquard Loom model • Pascaline replica • Babbage DE2 Reconstruction

• Hollerith replica • ABC Reconstruction • Core Memory #1 • IBM RAMAC #1, 5 MB Disk • Sqee; SRI Shakey robot • Four Phase “The 1st micro” • Xerox PARC Alto,…Ethernet • IBM DeepBlue Chess

Alcove Object “Mona Lisa” in the exhibit By Time: Pre-Computing and Pre-Computer Industry

A Calculators … (D’s) Lots of early artifacts, especially Babbage DE2; HP35 or Bowmar

C Analog Computers D’s no storage Norden Bombsight

B Punched Cards (M’s & Processing) Hollerith repro

D Birth of the Computer (integrating M, D, and K to P)

ABC Reconstruction; ENIAC, Johnniac

E Early Computer Companies UNIVAC or Leo (the first) By Information Processing (P,M,S) Functions

H Memory and Storage (M-memory) Core, RAMAC, Relational Database

I Software Theater (K-control) L Digital Logic (Processing, Computers)

1st Monolithic IC; 1st Micro; MOS memory

N Input and Output (T) Transducers SAGE and Light Pen, Mouse, WIMP

0 Computer Graphics, Music and Art … these are also I/O (T and K)

Teapot

S Networking and the Web (N, S, L)

BBN IMP; Ethernet; Internet; web & browser; search engine

By Computer Class (Size x function)

F Real Time Computers i.e. embedded (The invisible computer – function: K/Control)

PDP-8; and Intel 4004 Every computer you never see! Pacemaker, clock, process control, automotive, etc.

R Mobile Computing (These includes Links aka wireless)

P Computer Games… Spacewar; PONG; Odyessy

Q Personal Computers LINC; MAC; CTSS; UNIX; NT

K Minicomputers 8

G Mainframe Computers 360 or UNIVAC I

J Supercomputers FORTRAN, Cray-1 (Goliath) Cosmic Cube (“Killer Micros” are David to undo Cray),

M Artificial intelligence (algorithms) and Robotics (things)

Unimate, Shaky, Squee; a different kind of machine

T What's Next?

Napier’s Bones c1700

Jacquard Loom Model & Weaving of Inventor

Pascaline Replica Arithomometer

It works! Photo:

Doron Swade

Difference Engine No. 2

Hollerith Solves the Census problem (Robeto Guatelli, Replica_

An Enigma “collected”

for TCM opening

Edmund C. Berkeley’s Squee Robot

Manchester Mark I, Williams Tube

Whirlwind Exhibit from TCM, c1990

Whirlwind filled a very large room

Whirlwind uses core memory

32 x 32 Core Plane from Whirlwind c1952

DIY computers: the WISC

Gene Amdahl

University of Wisconsin-Madison

1951-1954

IBM 305: First Disk (5 Megabytes) c1957

SAGE filled a big room

SAGE’s UI

Lincoln Laboratory, LINC, c1962 (turned 50) 1st Computer with all the PC attributes

CDC 6600

Cray-1

$Heuristics for building a museum$ 1. Right people… 2-3. Gwen Bell and Len Shustek … with a little help 2. Hang in … just don’t let it die!!!

Worst case—an artifact or story is lost. 3. Wait for opportunities.

Luck favors prepared mind. Sell high, buy low. 4. Boards are $critical$.

a. 3 G’s: Glory, Give-Back, and Greed; Or: Give, get, or get off. b. Support varies with the proximity to the object creation c. Best supporters are the creators-- founding creators, engineers,

marketing, sales, etc. d. Venture Capitalists bankers, PR, Marcom, accounting, legal, etc. e. Researchers and academicians including historians f. Major users g. Communities h. Museum goers.

References for The Computer Museum (TCM) Paper from Brian Randell’s Festschrift: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/tcmwebpage/outoftheclosetv2.3.pdf Web site for TCM: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/TCMwebpage/index.html TCM Annual Report Compilation 1975-1988: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/TCMwebpage/reports/ReportCompilation.pdf Some CyberMuseum Content from Gbell Collection: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/CyberMuseumPubs.htm • Computer Pioneers – Pioneer Computers (Part 1):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qundvme1Tik • Computer Pioneers – Pioneer Computers (Part 2):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsirYCAocZk • Report of the 15 pioneer talks (from Atanasoff to Zuse) at the museum:

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/CyberMuseum_contents/TCMR-1983_Winter_A_Companion_to_the_Computer_Pioneer_Timeline.pdf

• Hollerith Patent: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/Hollerith%20patent%201889.pdf

• The Ethernet Announcement, Feb 1982. “the network becomes the system” http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/Ethernet_Seminar_Announcement_NYC_820210a.PDF

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