Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
In 2008, the lecturers were Professors S. Noguchi and M. Nagao; in 2009, Profes-
sors K. Mori and K. Ikeda gave talks. We will have this session for a third time in
March 2010 when ISPJ holds the Congress. The talks by Professor S. Mizutani and
Honorable Chairman Mr. T. Yamamoto of Fujitsu Ltd. are now on the program.
7 The Information Processing Technology Heritages and Satellite
Museums
Besides the Virtual Computer Museum, the Committee has long yearned to have a
real museum, somewhat like the Computer History Museum in Mountain View,
California.
Recent computers are too tiny to see the computing mechanism. On the contrary,
ancient machines were very much instructive for studying architectures, memory
elements etc. Therefore, those machines are quite precious for preserving information
technology culture.
On the other hand, old machines have disappeared so fast. When those machines
ceased operation, they were instantly turned to useless debris, and it is quite natural
for the administrators of machines to throw them away to use the area for modern
successors.
While planning to open the real computer museum, the Committee suddenly real-
ized the need to collect the machines to display. Famous machines were disappearing
from sight too quickly; and therefore throwing them out should be stopped as urgently
and as soon as possible.
The conclusion by the Committee is to select valuable machines as Information
Processing Technology Heritages, issuing certificates and ask the administrators
not throw away these machines. The selection of heritage machines started in 2008.
On March 2, 2009, the first set of heritage computers, or hardware parts, were
nominated.
Soon after the nomination ceremony, the Committee restarted the selection of new
heritage machines for the fiscal year 2009. The list of heritages and satellite museums
will be announced in March 2010.
7.1 Information Processing Technology Heritages
The Information Processing Technology Heritages nominated for the year 2008 are as
follows:
•
Analogue Calculator for Simultaneous Equations of Order 9 (see the later section)
•
ETL Mark II (relay computer at the Electro Technical Laboratory)
•
ETL Mark IV Plug-in Packages and a Magnetic Drum
•
FACOM128B (relay computer still in working condition, Fujitsu make)
FUJIC (vacuum tube computer)
•
•
H-8564 Magnetic Disk Drive
•
HITAC 10 (one of the popular minicomputers)
•
HITAC 5020 (mainframe developed by Hitachi)
JW-10 (the first Japanese word processor, Toshiba)
•
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