Tag: computer

Collection, Computing Machines, Object of the Week

Macintosh 128k

This wonderful machine has been sitting in our lab for the entire time we have been open. Released in 1984, this was not Apple’s first computer; the Apple I released almost a decade earlier in 1976 as Apple’s first computer. However, this computer is most notable for being the very first in the “Macintosh” or Mac line of computers.  Like modern iMacs, the computer, monitor, and disk reader are integrated into one package, and if you booted it up and looked at its user interface, it might look familiar if you’re a user of modern MacOS versions. It’s one of our favorite computers of the lab, so be sure to marvel at it next time you stop by 😉

Collection, Computing Machines, Object of the Week

PowerMac G4

Originally released in 1997, the PowerMac is an interesting line of computers. These computers were being released roughly alongside the iMac G3s, which you may recognize as the colorful “jellybean” computers living in our lab. You would think PowerMac G3 would refer to a single computer, but the G3 editions were actually a whole line of computers; their cases originally shared the beige design seen in machines such as the Apple //c or the Macintosh 128k but starting in January 1999, when the Blue and White model was released, they were completely redesigned. You can check out apple-history.com’s entries for the original beige PowerMac G3, the Blue and White model, and the PowerMac G4 by clicking any of these links! The PowerMac G4 included multiple different versions, including the G4 Cube which, in our opinion, has a very fun design. 

Collection, Computing Machines, Object of the Week

Comdyna GP-6

The Comdyna GP-6 is an analog computer from the late 1960s. The first question you might ask after looking at it is “how am I supposed to use this?” After looking up the operator’s manual as well as several YouTube videos, from what I could gather you would use various banana connectors to input information about the different variables involved in an equation, each variable set to a different “channel” of the computer, and the Comdyna GP-6 would compute the result and send it to output. Most applications I’ve found online of this computer seem to be for solving differential equations. To visualize the result of the program, you would often connect an oscilloscope to the computer (shown in this paper by Ray Spiess, the inventor the computer, on page 69). 

Looking at it, you may think its relevancy ended after other non-analog computers, such as the Apple Lisa or TRS-80, were produced, but according to Ray Speiss it was in production for at least 36 years after its initial creation (p. 68). The previously linked paper goes into more detail, but essentially it was a very popular machine for teaching control systems to students in universities, as well as for a few other very specialized lines of work (Speiss p.70).