Outside Topic Lunar lander computer - Printable Version
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Lunar lander computer - Hurlburt88 - 07-17-2019
No direct connection to Stanford, but I thought some people on this board might find this article interesting. Unfortunately behind WSJ paywall
https://www.wsj.com/articles/an-apollo-spacecraft-computer-is-brought-back-to-life-11563152761?mod=hp_lead_pos5
RE: Lunar lander computer - BostonCard - 07-17-2019
Good stuff; I had read that article earlier.
One interesting tidbit about the Apollo computer. That computer had roughly the same processing power as you can find today in one of those greeting cards that play music when you open them. Imagine what NASA could have done with the processing power that is even on a fitbit or Apple watch, let alone a cell phone or a computer.
BC
RE: Lunar lander computer - cctop - 07-17-2019
Here's an article from the Palo Alto Daily Post that's not behind a paywall. Four local guys did the restoration:
https://padailypost.com/2019/07/15/locals-restore-apollo-11-computer-get-it-to-run-moon-landing-program/
And here's a good related article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/underappreciated-power-apollo-computer/594121/
RE: Lunar lander computer - burger - 07-17-2019
The WSJ article has a video that's worth watching and not paywalled. Thanks.
RE: Lunar lander computer - martyup - 07-17-2019
It's nice to see that these same guys are restoring a Xerox Altos computer. I had the fortune to have access to one of those in the Comp Sci building and wrote most of my term papers on it. There was a 500 pound Diablo laser printer two floors down that would output jobs from the Altos. This was cutting edge technology. You could actually change the font of text and draw pictures with a thing they called a "mouse."
For some reason Xerox did not see the value of the Altos computer and (IIRC) gave it away to two guys building computers in their garage. It eventually became the Macintosh computer and changed the world.
RE: Lunar lander computer - CompSci87 - 07-17-2019
(07-17-2019, 05:49 PM)martyup Wrote: It's nice to see that these same guys are restoring a Xerox Altos computer. I had the fortune to have access to one of those in the Comp Sci building and wrote most of my term papers on it. There was a 500 pound Diablo laser printer two floors down that would output jobs from the Altos. This was cutting edge technology. You could actually change the font of text and draw pictures with a thing they called a "mouse."
For some reason Xerox did not see the value of the Altos computer and (IIRC) gave it away to two guys building computers in their garage. It eventually became the Macintosh computer and changed the world.
Alto, not Altos.
Xerox didn't literally give away the Alto to Apple. Xerox made an attempt to commercialize an Alto derivative as the Xerox Star, but it wasn't a success. Too expensive, for one thing. Apple copied many of the ideas in the Lisa, which was also too expensive but at least got attention. Then of course we all know how successful their second attempt, the Macintosh, turned out to be.
RE: Lunar lander computer - M T - 07-18-2019
(07-17-2019, 08:02 PM)CompSci87 Wrote: Alto, not Altos.
Xerox didn't literally give away the Alto to Apple. Xerox made an attempt to commercialize an Alto derivative as the Xerox Star, but it wasn't a success. Too expensive, for one thing. Apple copied many of the ideas in the Lisa, which was also too expensive but at least got attention. Then of course we all know how successful their second attempt, the Macintosh, turned out to be.
Ah, the Dolphin, Dandelion, & Dorado. We played with the Dandelion for a while as well as the other research workstations of the time, before settling on Symbolics. As for the Dandelion, loading s/w from 8" floppies was a pain.
If you want to see what the Xerox Star was like, I see an emulator mentioned here. (I haven't tried it.)
[I always thought "Star" was the name for the version with the OS designed for the office, while "Dandelion" was the name for the research version.]
By the way, the mouse predates the Xerox Alto by 9 years. The Alto predates the Star by 8 years. The Star predates the Lisa by 2 years.
Getting the Lunar Lander computer running nearly 50 years later must have been so satisfying. It would have been cool to be part of that. Hmmm.... That old Symbolics in a Macintosh that I have.... I wonder.