#Transistor computer series

The 1955 version used 250 junction transistors, 1,300 solid-state diodes, and had a power consumption of 150 watts. The second version was completed in April 1955. 'The 48-bit machine used 92 point-contact transistors and 550 diodes'. The first was the world's first transistorised computer, a prototype, and became operational on 16 November 1953. Two versions of the machine were produced. Initially the only devices available were germanium point-contact transistors, less reliable than the valves they replaced but which consumed far less power. Webb, were assigned to the task of designing and building a machine using the newly developed transistors instead of valves. Two of Kilburn's team, Richard Grimsdale and D. Work on building a smaller and cheaper computer began in 1952, in parallel with Meg's ongoing development. Ferranti produced a commercial version marketed as the Ferranti Mercury, in which the Williams tubes were replaced by the more reliable core memory. It was smaller and simpler than the Mark 1, as well as quicker at solving maths problems. The resulting machine, which ran its first program in May 1954, was known as Meg, or the megacycle machine.

They therefore embarked on the design of a new machine which would include a floating-point unit work began in 1951. Meg and Mercury Īs a result of experience gained from the Mark 1, the developers concluded that computers would be used more in scientific roles than pure maths. Perhaps the Manchester Mark 1's most significant innovation was its incorporation of index registers, commonplace on modern computers. The Final Specification machine, which was fully working by October 1949, contained 4,050 valves and had a power consumption of 25 kilowatts. Two versions of the Manchester Mark 1 were produced, the first of which, the Intermediary Version, was operational by April 1949. In October 1948 UK Government Chief Scientist Ben Lockspeiser was given a demonstration of the prototype, and was so impressed that he immediately initiated a government contract with the local firm of Ferranti to make a commercial version of the machine, the Ferranti Mark 1. ĭevelopment of the Manchester Mark 1 began in August 1948, with the initial aim of providing the university with a more realistic computing facility.

#Transistor computer series

The collaboration with Ferranti eventually led to an industrial partnership with the computer company ICL, who made use of many of the ideas developed at the university, particularly in the design of their 2900 series of computers during the 1970s. The resulting machine, the Ferranti Mark 1, was the world's first commercially available general-purpose computer. As the world's first stored-program computer, the Baby, and the Manchester Mark 1 developed from it, quickly attracted the attention of the United Kingdom government, who contracted the electrical engineering firm of Ferranti to produce a commercial version. The first of the series, the Manchester Baby, ran its first program on 21 June 1948. The project began with two aims: to prove the practicality of the Williams tube, an early form of computer memory based on standard cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) and to construct a machine that could be used to investigate how computers might be able to assist in the solution of mathematical problems.

They included the world's first stored-program computer, the world's first transistorised computer, and what was the world's fastest computer at the time of its inauguration in 1962. The Manchester computers were an innovative series of stored-program electronic computers developed during the 30-year period between 19 by a small team at the University of Manchester, under the leadership of Tom Kilburn. Replica of the Manchester Baby at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester