> In 1948, Manchester Baby, the first electronic programmable stored-program computer, had a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display that allowed users to peer directly into its 32-bit word memory. This worked because the CRT itself - what was known as a ‘Williams Tube’ - was memory.
There were four CRTs, three of which were memory (one for RAM, two for registers) and the other was a display device. This is because to be used as memory, the CRT needed a metal plate in front of it. So the Baby put the same data on both the memory and display CRTs, one of which was mounted in its front panel.
msla•8mo ago
> In 1948, Manchester Baby, the first electronic programmable stored-program computer, had a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display that allowed users to peer directly into its 32-bit word memory. This worked because the CRT itself - what was known as a ‘Williams Tube’ - was memory.
There were four CRTs, three of which were memory (one for RAM, two for registers) and the other was a display device. This is because to be used as memory, the CRT needed a metal plate in front of it. So the Baby put the same data on both the memory and display CRTs, one of which was mounted in its front panel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_tube
klelatti•8mo ago