Computer History Museum

From abstract: " For 30 years, IT industry analysts have held sway as global intermediaries between technologists and media, governments, universities and investors. Yet, they are also fundamentally tethered to the evolution of technology. Join us as we present industry analyst marketplace pioneer Gideon Gartner, in conversation with venture capitalist Neill Brownstein, for an evening of candid and personal insights on the rise of IT industry analysts. "

Type
Moving Image
Format
DVCAM
Catalogue number
102606132
An Evening with Gideon Gartner, in conversation with Neill Brownstein, lecture by Gideon Gartner and Neill Brownstein

In this oral history, Alan and Henrietta Leiner tell about the work that they did for the U.S. government in Washington, D.C. at the National Bureau of Standards, where three pioneering computers were designed. In 1950 the first of these computers, the SEAC, was put into operation. It operated successfully for many years, using programs that were stored within the machine. In 1952 the second computer, the DYSEAC, was completed and was installed in a trailer van, thus making it a mobile computer. It was capable of interacting in real time with a variety of external devices, including the SEAC. In 1959 these capabilities were expanded in the PILOT, whose system included a network of three independent computers capable of working together concurrently on a common problem. Alan Leiner and his staff devised the logical design of these pioneering computers. He and Henrietta Leiner subsequently undertook a second career, investigating the computing structures in the human brain, which led to a surprising discovery about the brain structures that contribute to the cognitive capabilities of humans.

Type
Moving Image
Format
DVCAM
Catalogue number
102618634
Leiner (Alan and Henrietta) oral history

This event was recorded on September 28th, 2000. Professor Richard Grimsdale, then of University of Sussex, previously of Manchester University, is often credited as the creator of the earliest transistorized computer. Prof. Grimsdale describes his work at Manchester, including his work with with Tom Kilburn, Dai Edwards, and Freddie Williams, and how the individual circuits of the Manchester transistorized computer operated, as well as storage techniques for magnetic drum and cathode ray tube systems (Williams-Kilburn Tube.) Professor Grimsdale describes the evolution of the machine, including the experimental core memory and issues with individual transistors used in the project as well as the use of Grimsdale's design as the basis for the Metrovick 950. He ends his prepared remarks with a description of his work on the Atlas computer, and the rod memory the machine used. Audience questions follow, including discussion of Alan Turing's work with Grimsdale.

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102621815
Manchester University Transistor Computer

From abstract: " In response to government requests, IBM Research designed a system for a very large data processing application, known as the HARVEST system, including Stretch, which was delivered to the National Security Agency in the early 1960s. The combined Stretch-HARVEST Project created a milieu for developing new technologies, new hardware architectures, and new software to meet the challenges of both systems. One of the guiding principles of the project was to make programming easier by the use of a compiler to generate code automatically from statements in the user's language. Allen was a member of the ALPHA language design team which created a very high level language featuring, among other things, the ability to create new alphabets beyond the system defined alphabets (e.g. English, decimal, integer, binary) and treat complex, heterogeneous data in high-level statements. In addition to an overview of Stretch-HARVEST, the talk will describe some of the lesser known aspects of the project the people and institutions involved, the political climate, and the shared knowledge, views, and value systems which were part of this interesting project at an interesting time in the history of computing. "

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102621818
Stretch HARVEST Compiler, lecture by Fran Allen

The panel discuss the relationship between managment and women in high-tech companies.

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102622062
Women in computing: the management option

From University Video Communications' catalog: "George Hazelrigg of the National Science Foundation introduces the JTEC program. In 1990 this program undertook an assessment of Japanese space robotics technology by a panel of experts. Dr. Red Whittaker outlines the findings of the panel, using a series of video clips to illustrate important Japanese developments in robotics."

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102622074
Japanese space robotics

Lecture by Daniel Hillis of Thinking Machines Corp. Contrasts Von Newmann machines with data parallel machines. Tells why Amdahl's law does not seem to hurt parallel machines. Discusses the major design issues he faced in building the Connection Machine: balancing processing, communication and I/O. Followed by a Q&A session.

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102622077
Massively parallel supercomputing: introduction to the Connection Machine (CM-2)

From abstract: "The Inktomi story is about a technology company on one of the wildest rides in the wildest era in the history of technology. After fast growth to the rare state of profitability, Inktomi joined the Nasdaq 100 as a representative of the Internet. Despite having real value, Inktomi was pulled down -- not by the \dot coms\ -- but by the collapse of the telecom sector (including Worldcom and Enron). In this talk, Inktomi co-founder, Dr. Eric Brewer, covers the fascinating history of Inktomi, and gives an \up close and personal\ view of what the Internet bubble meant -- both on the way up and on the way down. He shares his views on the Internet and on what a rational leader must do in an irrationally exuberant environment."

Type
Moving Image
Format
DVCAM
Catalogue number
102622113
Inktomi's Wild Ride: A Personal View of the Internet Bubble, lecture by Eric Brewer

With the advent of 1 Kbit integrated circuit memories in the early 1970s, it became practical for the first time to build a semiconductor memory capable of holding an entire image and displaying it on a video monitor -- a picture memory or "frame buffer". This led to developments in interactive frame buffers, painting and drawing programs and other graphics-oriented software at Xerox PARC, the University of Utah, MIT, the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), and elsewhere, and ultimately to the entire field of pixel-based graphics. Richard Shoup built SuperPaint, the first video-compatible frame buffer and painting system at Xerox PARC in 1973. His colleague and friend Alvy Ray Smith collaborated on SuperPaint and then went on to develop the first full-color paint program and much more at NYIT in the late 1970s. In this talk, Shoup and Smith describe the original 1973 SuperPaint graphics system, demonstrate historical videos, and and tell some stories of their early adventures in pixel graphics.

Type
Moving Image
Format
VHS
Catalogue number
102624026
Lecture: Recollections of Early Paint Systems

From abstract: "Stump the Professor! Don't miss this opportunity to ask Don Knuth anything and everything you ever wanted to know about computer programming. He will spontaneously answer all questions posed by the audience."

Type
Moving Image
Format
DVCAM
Catalogue number
102624604
Questions Answered by Donald E. Knuth

From abstract: " Bring your honey, bring a friend or come solo to the Computer History Museum on Valentine's Day. Join Usenet guru Erik Fair, virtual worlds pioneer and Yahoo! Community Strategist Randy Farmer, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and Six Apart co-founder Mena Trott, together with top Wall Street Journal columnist Kara Swisher, to hear fascinating personal stories and perspectives about social computing: yesterday, today and tomorrow. Valentine's Day surprises will abound. "

Type
Moving Image
Format
DVCAM
Catalogue number
102624610
Odysseys in Technology: Social Computing: From Message Boards to Blogs & Beyond, lecture by Erik Fair et al.

This is a two-part talk that chronicles the design of the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC), the custom-made space borne navigation system that first guided men to the Moon in July of 1969. Part I covers the design of the AGC and features Apollo Guidance Computer lead designer Eldon Hall. Part II tells the AGC story from the astronaut’s point of view, with Apollo 9 and 15 pilot commander David Scott. Part One This talk, by Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) designer Eldon Hall, Hall begins by briefly looking back at the US Navy’s Polaris missile program, the state of the computer industry in the early 1960s, and the Apollo mission requirements themselves and how these multiple factors influenced the design of the AGC. As Hall points out, there were no major technological breakthroughs required to build the AGC; the project’s goal was essentially one of miniaturization. Fortunately for the AGC team, integrated circuits were becoming available, enabling them to dramatically reduce the size of the AGC from about six refrigerator-sized cabinets to a single box, about 1 cubic foot in size and weighing 70 lbs. In fact, the AGC program was the first large-scale use of integrated circuits anywhere. Hall details the story of AGC development and covers the differences between the Block I and II AGCs and the design and use of the DSKY – The Display Keyboard, which was the interface to the computer for the astronauts.

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102624617
The Apollo Guidance Computer, part one : Eldon Hall

From University Video Communications' catalog: "The challenge for optimizing compilers of parallel computers is to deliver the performance potentials while providing portability and easy enablement of applications. This lecture focuses on a subset of this challenge: the parallelizing of "dusty-deck" FORTRAN programs for shared-memory, parallel computers. Technologies for program analysis, the formation of parallelism, and program transformations are described along with a brief overview of the relationship of parallelization to other components of parallel software systems, in particular, to traditional optimization, operating systems, and application-enablement environments. The lecture concludes with a list of open problems."

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102624674
Optimizing compilers for parallel computers

From University Video Communicationns' catalog: "In this lecture, Baskett presents a position for cache-coherent multiprocessors by discussing the shared memory model, effective private caches, efficient data sharing, efficient synchronization, automatic parallelization, comparison with vector architectures, performance results, advances in compiler technology for cache locality and parallelization, technology trends and future evolution."

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102624675
Cache-coherent multiprocessors: an easya approach to high-performance computing

From University Video Communications' catalog: "The remarkably accurate exponential relationship between the collector current I(c) and base-emitter voltage V(BE) of a bipolar transistor is the foundation for many linear and nonlinear signal-processing circuits. This relationship results in the transcon-ductance dI(c)/dV(BE) being a linear function of collector current, whence the name translinear. This lecture begins by considering the physical origins of this behavior and its modeling, then presents and analyzes some basic translinear forms. Circuits containing closed loops of bipolar devices exhibit especially valuable properties; an important principle will be derived and illustrated with several examples, including wide band gain cells and multipliers."

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102624678
Bipolar translinear circuits

From University Video Communications' catalog: "Dennis Herrell sets the technical and economic goals for advanced packaging, making the point that future chip development is dependent upon the development of packaging technology. He reviews present packaging technology and outlines critical considerations for packaging design in the nineties, stressing multichip modules. He illustrates design issues from the work at MCC, a company widely respected as a leader in the field."

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102624679
Advanced packaging: key technology for the 1990s

From University Video Communications' catalog: "This lecture describes NeWS, a system in which client messages containing PostScript programs are passed across the network to be executed by the server. This use of a programming language as a basis of communication protocol allows for the extensive range of the windowing system. NeWS also has a high-level imaging model that enables device-independent advanced rendering. Comparisons to similar systems are discussed."

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102624680
NeWS: a networked and extensible Window System

From University Video Communicatoins' cattalog: "The goal of automated program synthesis is to bridge the gap between what is easy for people to describe and what is possible to execute on a computer. Application domain models and very high-level specification languages are one part of the solution described on the tape. Also required is knowledge of reusable transformations that map specification constructs to computational models to efficient code. This talk summarizes the state of the art in program synthesis and shows examples from a specialized system that generates FORTRAN and C code for mathematical modeling. For example, from declarative descriptions of equations and properties of finite difference algorithms, the system generates code for the Connection Machine."

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102624682
Automated program synthesis

From University Video Communications' catalog: "Is it a worthwhile pursuit to develop a new operating system architecture, one whose native application interface is different than any other currently successful system? This talk argues that we ought to be pursuing exactly this goal. It also presents requirements for success, and a description of recent work towards it."

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102624684
Operating systems architecture in the 1990s

From University Video Communications' catalog: "Because the computations required to support interactive 3D graphics are both substantial and easily parallelized, special purpose hardware is often used. This lecture describes the calculations required for 3D graphics, and considers various parallel hardware architectures used to implement them. Issues that constrain these systems, such as interprocessor communication, load balancing, and context switching, are contrasted for different architectures."

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102624685
Architectures of high-performance 3D Graphics accelerators