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The Internet's Largest List of Gaming Systems

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​Introduction | Table of Contents | Early Gaming | Home Pong | Pong Chips | Consoles | Plug and Play | Downloadable | Microconsoles | Educational | Dedicated Portable | Handheld | Mobile | Mainframe and Minicomputer | Microcomputer | Home Computer | Modern PCs | Microprocessors | Online Gaming | Arcade | Resources

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Generation 1
Vacuum Tube Computers

This is a list of vacuum tube computers, arranged by date put into service:

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Computer | Date | Notes

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Atanasoff–Berry Computer (ABC) | 1942 | Not programmable, could solve a system of linear equations

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Colossus | 1943 | First programmable (by switches and plug panels) special purpose (cryptanalysis) electronic digital computer. Used to break the German Lorenz cipher. Working replica demonstrated daily at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park.

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ENIAC | 1946 | First large-scale general-purpose programmable electronic digital computer. Built by the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering for the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory. Originally programmed by wiring together components, later converted to a form of stored-program operation.

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Manchester SSEM ("The Baby") | 1948 | First stored-program computer worked June 1948. Working replica demonstrated daily in Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.

http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/software/ssem/base.htm

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EDSAC | 1949 | First ran on 6 May 1949, and provided a computing service for Cambridge University until 1958. Working replica currently being built at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park. Scheduled to go live in 2017.

http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/software/edsac/base.htm

http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~edsac/

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Manchester Mark 1 | 1949 | Provided a computing service from April 1949. First index registers. Replaced in 1951 by Ferranti Mark 1.

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BINAC | 1949 | First stored-program computer to be sold, but did not work for customer.

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CSIRAC | 1949 | Oldest surviving first-generation electronic computer — unrestored and non-functional.

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SEAC | 1950 | First U.S. stored-program computer to become operational. Built by and for the U.S. National Bureau of Standards. Used solid-state diode circuits for its logic. Several computers were based on the SEAC design.

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SWAC | 1950 | Built for the U.S.'s National Bureau of Standards, it had 2,300 vacuum tubes. It had 256 words (each 37 bits) of memory, using Williams tubes

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ERA Atlas | 1950 | (Military version of Univac 1101) Used 2700 vacuum tubes for its logic circuits

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MADDIDA | 1950 | Special-purpose digital computer for solving a system of differential equations. Forty-four integrators were implemented using a magnetic drum with six storage tracks. The interconnections of the integrators were specified by writing an appropriate pattern of bits onto one of the tracks.

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Pilot ACE | 1950 | Based on a full-scale design by Alan Turing

https://www.scoop.it/t/radius/p/1856815368/2012/05/28/the-pilot-ace-emulator

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MESM | 1950 | Built near Kiev, used 6,000 vacuum tubes. First universally programmable computer in Continental Europe.

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Elliott 152 | 1950 | Naval fire control computer, real-time control system, fixed program

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Harvard Mark III | 1951 | It used 5,000 vacuum tubes and 1,500 crystal diodes

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Ferranti Mark 1 | 1951 | First commercially available computer, based on Manchester Mark 1.

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EDVAC | 1951 | The successor to ENIAC, and also built by the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering for the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory. One of the first stored-program computers to be designed, but its entry into service was delayed. EDVAC's design influenced a number of other computers.

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Harwell Dekatron Computer | 1951 | Now officially the oldest original working computer in the world. Is frequently demonstrated at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park.

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Whirlwind | 1951 | Parallel logic, approx 5,000 vacuum tubes. First use of core memory.

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UNIVAC I | 1951 | Mass-produced. 46 were made.

http://www.ingerman.org/niche.htm#UNIVAC

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LEO I | 1951 | First computer for commercial applications. Built by J. Lyons and Co. restaurant and bakery chain. Based on EDSAC design.

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UNIVAC 1101 | 1951 | Designed by ERA, Used 2700 vacuum tubes for its logic circuits.

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MIDAC (Michigan Digital Automatic Computer) | 1951 | University of Michigan Willow Run Research Center

https://localwiki.org/ann-arbor/MIDAC

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Hollerith Electronic Computer(HEC) | 1951 | Initial design by Andrew Donald Booth, then engineered by British Tabulating Machine Company. HEC 1 can be seen at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park.

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IAS machine | 1951 | Built at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), sometimes called the von Neumann machine, since design was described by John von Neumann (the Von Neumann architecture). 1500 tubes. It was the basis of about 15 other computers.

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Remington Rand 409 | 1952 | Built by Remington Rand, it was a punched card calculator programmed by a plugboard

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Harvard Mark IV | 1952 | built by Harvard University under the supervision of Howard Aiken for the United States Air Force

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G1 | 1952 | Built by the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Göttingen, esp. by Heinz Billing

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ORDVAC | 1952 | Built by the University of Illinois for the Ballistic Research Laboratory and was a twin of the ILLIAC I

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ILLIAC I | 1952 | Built by the University of Illinois in Urbana

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(computer_system)

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MANIAC I | 1952 | Built at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and based on the IAS computer

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IBM 701 | 1952 | Built by IBM, also known as the Defense Calculator, based on the IAS computer

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BESM-1, BESM-2 | 1952 | Built in the Soviet Union

http://www.computer-museum.ru/english/besm2.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BESM

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Fast Universal Digital Computer M-2 | 1952 | 

http://www.computer-museum.ru/english/m2.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Universal_Digital_Computer_M-2

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Bull Gamma 3 | 1952 | Made by Groupe Bull and contained almost 400 tubes.

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AVIDAC | 1953 | Based on the IAS computer

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FLAC | 1953 | Design based on SEAC. Located at Patrick Air Force Base.

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JOHNNIAC | 1953 | Built by the RAND Corporation, based on the IAS computer

http://l2program.co.uk/tag/joss-programming-language

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IBM 702 | 1953 | Built by IBM for business computing

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UNIVAC 1103 | 1953 | Designed by Engineering Research Associates (ERA)

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RAYDAC | 1953 | Built by Raytheon for Naval Air Missile Test Center

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Strela computer | 1953 | Built in the Soviet Union

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Datatron | 1954 | Commercial computer built by ElectroData Corporation

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Donner Model 30

https://www.earlycomputers.com/cgi-bin/item-report-main.cgi?20021220

http://www.cowardstereoview.com/analog/donner.htm

  • Tennis for Two

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MIDSAC | 1954 | University of Michigan

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IBM 650 | 1954 | The world's first mass-produced computer

https://sourceforge.net/projects/sim650/

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IBM 704 | 1954 | The first mass-produced computer with floating-point arithmetic hardware for scientific use.

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IBM 705 | 1954 | Mostly compatible with the IBM 702, for business use. There is one that is not in operating condition at Computermuseum München.

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BESK | 1954 April | Sweden's first computer and was the fastest computer in the world for a brief time

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IBM NORC | 1954 Dec | Built by IBM for the US Navy Bureau of Ordnance, it was the first supercomputer and the most powerful computer in the world for at least 2 years. 9,800 tubes in logic.

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REAC C-400 series | 1954 | In 1961 REAC installed for $60,000 at University of Minnesota

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UNIVAC 1102 | 1954 | A variation of the UNIVAC 1101 built for the US Air Force

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DYSEAC | 1954 | Built by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards as an improved version of SEAC. Mounted in a trailer van, making it the first computer to be transportable.

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WISC | 1954 | Built by the University of Wisconsin–Madison

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CALDIC | 1955 | Designed to be inexpensive and simple to use; it used decimal arithmetic

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English Electric DEUCE | 1955 | A commercial version of the Pilot ACE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_transistorized_computers

http://members.dodo.com.au/~robin51/deuce.htm

http://users.tpg.com.au/eedeuce/links.html

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Zuse Z22 | 1955 | An early commercial computer.

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ERMETH | 1955 | Built by Eduard Stiefel, Heinz Rutishauser, Ambros Speiser at the ETH Zurich

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HEC 4 (ICT 1200 series) | 1955 | Built by Andrew Booth

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WEIZAC | 1955 | Built by the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) under the guidance of Prof. G. Estrin. First computer designed in the Middle East.

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G2 | 1955 | Built by the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Göttingen, esp. by Heinz Billing

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IBM 305 RAMAC | 1956 | The first commercial computer to use a moving-head hard-disk drive for secondary storage

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PERM | 1956 | Built in Munich

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D1 | 1956 | Built by Joachim Lehmann at the TU Dresden

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SMIL | 1956 | Built in Sweden and based on the IAS computer

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Bendix G-15 | 1956 | A small computer for scientific and industrial purposes by the Bendix Corporation. It had a total of about 450 tubes (mostly dual triodes) and 300 germanium diodes.

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LGP-30 | 1956 | Data-processing system made by Librascope

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UNIVAC 1103A | 1956 | First computer to have hardware interrupts

http://insar.stanford.edu/~lharcke/programming/

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FUJIC | 1956 | The first electronic computer in Japan, designed to perform calculations for lens design by Fuji

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Ferranti Pegasus | 1956 | Vacuum tube computer with magnetostrictive delay line memory intended for office usage. Second surviving oldest computer in the world.
http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/software/pegasus/base.htm

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SILLIAC | 1956 | Built at the University of Sydney, based on the ILLIAC and ORDVAC

http://members.iinet.net.au/~dgreen/silliac.html

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RCA BIZMAC | 1956 | RCA's first commercial computer, it contained 25,000 tubes

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Ural series | 1956–1964 | Ural-1 to Ural-4.

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Axel Wenner-Gren ALWAC III-E | 1957 | Commercially constructed and installed at University of British Columbia and Oregon State University (then College)

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DASK | 1957 | The first computer in Denmark; had an early implementation of ALGOL

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UNIVAC 1104 | 1957 | A 30-bit variation of the UNIVAC 1103

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Ferranti Mercury | 1957 | An early commercial vacuum tube computer by Ferranti, with core memory and hardware floating point capability

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IBM 610 | 1957 | A small computer designed to be used by one person with limited experience

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FACIT EDB 2 | 1957

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MANIAC II | 1957 | Built by the University of California and the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory

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MISTIC | 1957 | A Michigan State University based on the ILLIAC I

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MUSASINO-1 | 1957 | A Japanese computer based on the ILLIAC I

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Sandia RAYPAC (Ray Path Analog Computer) | 1957 | Sandia's Blast Prediction Unit used for Operation Teapot

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Donner Model 3100

http://www.cowardstereoview.com/analog/donner.htm

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EDSAC 2 | 1958 | First computer to have a microprogrammed control unit and a bit slice hardware architecture.

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IBM 709 | 1958 | An improved version of the IBM 704, the FORTRAN programming language was introduced on the 709.

http://www.piercefuller.com/oldibm-shadow/index.html

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UNIVAC II | 1958 | An improved, fully compatible version of the UNIVAC I
http://www.ingerman.org/niche.htm#UNIVAC

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UNIVAC 1105 | 1958 | A follow-up to the UNIVAC 1103 scientific computer

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AN/FSQ-7 | 1958 | Largest vacuum tube computer ever built. 52 were built for Project SAGE.

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ZEBRA | 1958 | Designed in Holland and built by Britain's Standard Telephones and Cables
http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/software/zebra/base.htm

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Ferranti Perseus | 1959

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Rice Institute Computer | 1959 | Operational 1959-1971, 54-bit tagged architecture

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Cyclone | 1959 | IAS-type computer at Iowa State College

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Donner Model 3500

​http://www.cowardstereoview.com/analog/donner.htm

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TIFRAC | 1960 | The first computer developed in India

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CER-10 | 1960 | The first computer developed in Yugoslavia, it also used some transistors

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Philips Pascal | 1960

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The Wegematic 1000 | 1960 | Renaming of the ALWAC III-E

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Odra 1001 | 1960 | First computer built by Elwro, Wroclaw, Poland

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G3 | 1961 | Built by the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Göttingen, esp. by Heinz Billing

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Sumlock ANITA calculator | 1961 | Desktop calculator

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UMC-1 | 1962 | Developed in Poland, it used the unusual negabinary number system internally

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BRLESC | 1962 | 1727 tubes and 853 transistors

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OSAGE | 1963 | Close copy of the Rice Institute Computer built at the University of Oklahoma

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vacuum_tube_computers

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