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Charles Babbage, an English mathematician and IT pioneer, designed an analytical machine that operated on a principle similar to that of digital computers. The machine was able to remember the basic mathematical operations. The implementation of the activities was to be carried out on pre-punched cards. Unfortunately, due to the then low technical level, the project was not implemented. In 1991, at the ScienceMuseum in London, according to the original plan, a fragment (arithmometer) of the Second Differential Machine was made, and the machine’s efficiency and correctness were proved.

The 1990s brought a great boom in laptops and development in this direction. While computing power grew, the power of the mass decreased, which caused the extension of users and gradually laptops became the basic equipment of ordinary users. Companies began to use them, a good laptop meant prestige.

Personal computers in the 1980s no longer occupied the entire room, and were successfully housed on the desk. One of the most popular PCs at the time was the Commodore 64, which debuted on the market in 1982 and cost $ 595. A small, beige central machine was attached to the TV. The computer already offered basic office software and you could play games on it. The processor clock frequency was 1 MHz. In addition, 64 KB of RAM and an external 5.25-inch floppy drive for the Commodore 1541 version, which could hold up to 170 KB of data.

Apple I was the first device that was sought after by private customers. Equipped with a processor clocked at 1-2 MHz, 4 kB RAM and 1 kB vRAM (it allowed to generate a text mode with 40 columns for 24 lines). It was extremely successful and popular in many homes. Interest in the computer turned out to be so great that the production of 200 pieces was simply not enough, an additional production line was launched. In a short time, the successor appeared, the Apple II, which was equipped with a faster CPU with the possibility of expanding memory to 48 kB.

The first desktop computers were created in the 1960s, they were so large that they occupied the entire desk. The supercomputer had high performance, the 3 MHz unit allowed to perform several operations at one time. The device uses freon for cooling and silicon transistors, which indicated an innovative construction design. The sale began in 1964, however, ordinary customers could buy it a year later due to a problem with overheating of components.

The career of laptops began in the 90s of the twentieth century, however, the first laptop appeared in the late 70s. Alan Key, an employee of Xerox PARC, is considered to be the originator of the laptop concept, originally referred to as “Dynabook”. Unfortunately, the solution he proposed was not widespread. In 1979, Grid Compass Computer debuted on the market. Its creator was the British engineer William Moggridge, and the first recipient – the American space agency NASA, which used the equipment in the space shuttle program. The price of Grid was high and not everyone could afford to buy the device: the cost was from 8 to even 10 thousand dollars. The laptop contained 340 KB RAM, an Intel 8086 processor and a display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. The Grid Compass Computer fit in the bag and was relatively light, weighing about 5 kg, and its housing was made of magnesium alloy. Grid also entered pop culture – in 1985 in the movie Perfect he was used by the hero played by John Travolta.

The premiere of the IBM 5150 PC took place on August 12, 1981 and up to the present day the standard for the production of a personal computer. The whole idea was that engineers use publicly available parts instead of producing their own. IBM was equipped with an Intel 8088 processor with a speed of 4.77 MHz, ram memory with a capacity of 16 Kb, which could be expanded to 640 Kb. His monitor had a resolution of 80 x 24 characters. The data was stored on 5.25-inch diskettes with a capacity of 160 Kb, it operated under the control of the Microsoft operating system IBM PC-DOS v. 1.0. The cost of 2.5 thousand dollars. The machine was ready in just a year.

If I mention computers, it is worth presenting the IBM 350, which turned out to be a real technological breakthrough when it comes to data storage. Thanks to the use of 50 magnetic discs with a diameter of 24 inches, rotating at 1200 revolutions per minute, it was ahead of the solutions popular at that time – punched cards and drum memory. In 1956-61, IBM produced over 1,000 IBM 305 RAMAC computers equipped with disk drives. Despite the passage of nearly 60 years, our modern hard drives still operate on the same principle as the IBM 350.

FACOM128B has been operating in Japanese laboratories Fujitsu for about 60 years. In my opinion, this is not an ordinary computer but it is an unusual device that has greatly helped rebuild the Japanese industry and stave off the post-war crisis. FACOM128B is based on relays, it is older technology than electronic lapms. The calculations were used in implementing large-scale lens production. It is thanks to FACOM128B that Japan has such a well-developed industry in this field. The computer uses a special Fujitsu program to maintain the efficiency of old machines. It’s a piece of history that may no longer play such a significant role as it used to be, but it certainly reminds you of its golden time where it played a significant role for decades.

One of the most important events of World War II is breaking the hashtag#code of the German “Enigma” cipher hashtag#machine. Today is “Cryptology Day” commemorating the success of Polish mathematicians.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/15/polish-codebreakers-cracked-enigma-before-alan-turing/