Computer World Magazine has published a 1989 interview of ENIAC co-inventor J. Presper Eckert by Alexander Randall:

There are two epochs in computer history: Before ENIAC and After ENIAC.

The first practical, all-electronic computer was unveiled on Feb. 14, 1946, at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electronics. While there are controversies about who invented what, there is universal agreement that the ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator) was the watershed project that showed electronic computing was possible.

It was a masterpiece of electrical engineering, with unprecedented reliability and speed. The two men most responsible for its success were J. Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly…

There’s a story that ENIAC dimmed the lights in Philadelphia when it was in use.

ECKERT: That story is total fiction, dreamed up by some journalist. We took power off of the grid. We had voltage regulators to provide 150 kilowatts of regulated supply.

Did the military guys working on ENIAC salute the machine?

ECKERT: Another ENIAC myth.

You said the largest tube gadget in 1943 was the Nova Chord electronic organ. What did ENIAC use?

ECKERT: ENIAC had 18,000 vacuum tubes. The tubes were off the shelf; we got whatever the distributor could supply in lots of a thousand. We used 10 tube types, but could have done it with four tube types; we just couldn’t get enough of them. We decided that our tube filaments would last a lot longer if we kept them below their proper voltage. Not too high or too low. A lot of the circuits were off the shelf, but I invented a lot of the circuits as well. Registers were a new idea. So were integrator circuits.

You can read the whole thing here.

by Gregory Walding

When it comes to a wireless standard, the first thing we all look at is how fast will this baby run! And you know the trade-offs, you can spend a lot of money to get the fastest thing running, or you can back off a little and save a lot.
Continue reading ‘Get the Highest Speed Out of Your Wireless Computer’

by Deryck Richards

#1 Understand What Services You Are Purchasing

Before authorizing any services to be performed, discuss what the consultant will do and how much it will cost. If you are purchasing more than $300 in services, ask the consultant for a written estimate or a fixed-price for the project.

#2 Repair vs. Upgrade: Understand the Differences

Ask yourself how much it would cost to just buy a new piece of equipment or software instead of servicing the old one. Because of how quickly computer parts are updated, it may be less expensive to purchase new hardware or software. Ask your consultant about the maintenance costs for the old product versus the new one and whether the new product would have any features you would be able to utilize.

#3 Determine What You Should Do and What the Consultant Should Do

If you are cost-conscious when working with a computer consultant, determine which services the consultant will perform and what you can do by yourself. For example, if you are adding a new computer to your wireless network, the computer consultant may install the wireless network card and set up appropriate security for the network. You may be able to save money by installing software and configuring basic services such as e-mail.


Continue reading ‘Top 12 Ways to Minimize Costs When Working With a Computer Consultant’