I've ordered mine

Cleat Eastwood

"Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a “home computer” could look like in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work. But 50 years from now, scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With telescope interface and the Fortean language the computer will be easy to use."



And you can play pacman on it.

schweiz

The language is Fortran (and it's a teletype UI)

I have a funny (you had to be there) story about one of my first Software Engineering lectures and Fortran!

bompington

OK, I give up. What's the steering wheel for? Trackball equivalent?

Or is that actually some totally different control panel in the background, with a monitor and TT thrown in? Did early computers ever have an array of analogue dials like that?

big_southern_jesse

Any idea when that dates from? Would be interesting to see how predictions have changed over the years...

schweiz

I can't see it being a trackball/mouse equivalent as I don't think the idea of a GUI would have occured to the developers. Apple's OS was released in 1984 and the first e-mail system I used in 1996 was running on a VAX/VMS system from the 80's, which was still all command line. Maybe the wheels are to load the punched tape into the reader?

This was the first stored program computer....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Baby

Wunnunda

bompington wrote:

OK, I give up. What's the steering wheel for?

For controlling the fuel rods to shut down the nuclear reactor in the cellar that you'd need to power it I suspect ?

schweiz

Big Southern Jesse wrote:

Any idea when that dates from? Would be interesting to see how predictions have changed over the years...

1954

nevman

I`m thinking of upgrading to that,always wanted Os 0.1

lakesluddite

That Touchscreen will be hard to reach.

RDW

Unfortunately this is one is a fake:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp

That's some sort of submarine control wheel.

iainment

In one of my first jobs in 1973ish I was a trainee computer operator.

The computer was in a big room with airlock doors, I had to wear a lab coat and a hairnet for my hair (I was a bit of a hippy). It was a huge machine and was fed info on punch cards.

Probably more computing power in my watch now than in that behemoth.

Gizmodo

A guy I worked with, worked for the same computer manufacturer from 1967 to retirement.
They sold a main-frame to a company but the lead time for manufacturing was 3 years!
The board said that they couldn't spend that many millions of pounds on a computer that would take 3 years to manufacture, that there was an AGM coming up and they needed something to show the share holders.
So to get the order they built them a cardboard model of the computer to show at the AGM :?

pinno

"With teletype interface and fortran language, the computer will be easy to use"

It wasn't mentioned in the description that a bloke with glasses based in Seattle would make overpriced bast4rd temperamental software called Windows 8 and Vista that takes up more Hard Drive space than the footprint of a bus load of Cleats Munters.
Wasn't it said that a Furbi (y?), had more processing power than that of the Apollo 11 craft?