How far have computers come.

[bobtomay]

Computer memory from 1959 through the mid 60's.

Here is the IBM 1406 - this was a memory add-on to the IBM 1401 mainframe.

It was about the size of a dishwasher and it sold for $55,100.
Or you could rent it for $1,575 a month.
That's mid 1950 money - 12 cents for a comic book, 10 cents for a soda and a nickel for a candy bar - Double Bubble bubble gum was 2 for a penny.

While here we are today recommending folks have a minimum of 8 gigabytes of memory in their personal computers - the IBM 1406 had 12 kilobytes of memory.

1 gigabyte = 1,000,000 kilobytes

Today a 4 GB or 8 GB stick of memory is smaller than my pocket comb, you would have needed 83,333 of those dishwasher sized machines to equal 1 GB.

While we're paying $11-$20 per GB of memory today,
those 83,333 IBM 1406s would have set you back just under $4.6 Billion dollars - or rent them for $131 Million a month - for 1 GB of memory.

Now, if only we could get the car manufacturers to go the same direction with their prices...

 

[JeffBolton]

That's pretty cool. Thank you for sharing.

 

[chscag]

LOL, when I got to Hawaii in 1969, IBM was already replacing the 1401s with 1410s and 3 years later the 1410s with 360:50s. One of those babies took up about 3000 Sq Ft of space plus a 24" hollow floor for all the cables. Brings back memories of the "Big Iron" days.

 

[pigoo3]

Now, if only we could get the car manufacturers to go the same direction with their prices...

I hear ya Tom. Amazing how computers have advanced…and prices come down. Or in recent years…prices pretty much staying the same…but able to get better/faster computers for the same money.

If automobiles advanced/improved as fast as computers.. We would all be making regular trips to Mars & the Moon for vacation!!! And practically all of the airlines would be as obsolete as computer punch cards!

- Nick

 

[Dysfunction]

Actually, cars have improved just about as much. Once you consider safety, maintenance intervals, and the rate of inflation..

There's no way I want flying cars, I barely trust my fellow human beings on the road.. let alone in a 3 dimensional flight plane

cshag, so you recognize things like this? (I've got one in my office)

 

[vansmith]

There's no way I want flying cars, I barely trust my fellow human beings on the road

And here enters my fear of self-driving cars because to be honest, I'm not really sure computers are the panacea for auto collisions that people want them to be.

 

[Dysfunction]

And here enters my fear of self-driving cars because to be honest, I'm not really sure computers are the panacea for auto collisions that people want them to be.

Think of it this way.. when you're on an airline? Yea, that pilot ain't landing that thing... well.. most of the time at least

 

[chscag]

cshag, so you recognize things like this? (I've got one in my office)

Yep, been many years. Where did you get it from? You didn't also manage to get hold of a pneumatic tape drive?

 

[Dysfunction]

Yep, been many years. Where did you get it from? You didn't also manage to get hold of a pneumatic tape drive?

work and I probably could.. you'd be surprised what's still just lying around



... if it's brown and round and spins..

 

[vansmith]

Think of it this way.. when you're on an airline? Yea, that pilot ain't landing that thing... well.. most of the time at least

That I knew but at least there, a pilot is right next to the controls. I get the feeling that, when the public gets told that their cars will drive them, most people will simply peace out when in their cars. Or, I could just be overly cynical.

 

[RavingMac]

Our college had an IBM 360 (state of the art at the time) when I started school. Really amazing to consider the changes, even in just the last 10 yrs.

 

[zewazir]

Think about this: The last OS to come on DVD, Snow Leopard, would occupy 5318 1.4MB floppy disks, which would stack to a tower over 57 feet high.

For those of us who remember installing System 7.1 using the 8 disk set, how long would it take exchanging over 5000 of them?

Downloading Yosemite on dial up would still be faster!

 

[toMACsh]

Anyone from Seattle? There's a computer museum south of downtown that has all kinds of "ancient" equipment. I thought it was fascinating, but can't remember the name of the place.

http://www.livingcomputermuseum.org/

 

[Slydude]

For those of us who remember installing System 7.1 using the 8 disk set, how long would it take exchanging over 5000 of them?

I definitely remember that. In fact I think there were between 15 and 20 disks in the total set when you consider the printer drivers etc. I remember using the backup program in Norton Utilities and about 35 floppies to back up the hard drive on our LCII.

You can buy a cheap Windows laptop for less than what I spent on the internal hard drive for my Apple IIGS. $600 for a 40 MB drive. No youngster that's not one of my infamous typos. I meant MB not GB.

 

[MacInWin]

Actually, cars have improved just about as much. Once you consider safety, maintenance intervals, and the rate of inflation..

There's no way I want flying cars, I barely trust my fellow human beings on the road.. let alone in a 3 dimensional flight plane

cshag, so you recognize things like this? (I've got one in my office)

I have one of those mounted in my office. It has a huge gouge in it from where the heads crashed. I remember the day, the sound of that crash (and the subsequent scramble to replace the pack and recover from backups (tapes) to get back in the water). And the day the halon fire system fired and blew all the packs off the back of the 3330's onto the floor. Yeah, we've come a long way, baby!

 

[Dysfunction]

lol I've seen Halon releases blow the drywall out too... talk about messing up the calcs and over pressurizing the room.