Pictured is an exhibit containing plug-in modules from the mainframe era of computing, plus a module from the Donner 3500, manuals, and a Digi-Comp 1. Click image for larger view

To the left is a plug-in module from the SAGE radar processing unit called AN/FST-2 (1955). The SAGE was a huge mainframe and there would have been hundreds of these modules in a single AN/FST-2. The AN/FST-2 had approximately 7100 vacuum tubes in three bays of racks, powered by two 400 cycle motor generator sets. The system would process the raw radar data, antenna position information, and IFF data, and transmit it at (?) 1200 baud over dedicated phone lines to the SAGE Direction Center, where it was processed and displayed by the AN/FSQ-7 located there. Click image for larger view. Picture 2

A tube module from the UNIVAC-II, built in 1958. The UNIVAC-II had a core memory capacity of 10,000 words. This was one of the first computers with some transistorized components. The Click image for larger view

Pictured to the right are a few logic modules from the UNIVAC 1219. By 1963 UNIVAC mainframes were much smaller and so were their components. You can barely see them behind the UNIVAC 1219 placard, note also the original sales brochure. The 1219 was used on Navy ships for target tracking. Note also the 1950's magazine covers with the UNIVAC-1 and the other with an early Tic-Tac-Toe computer built by Edmund Berkeley. Click image for larger view

There were no real personal computers in 1963, but one did see a few early computer kits, capable of basic digital calculations, such as with the 1963 $5.95 Digi-Comp I. Click image for larger view