Mailüfterl
Mailüfterl is an Austrian nickname for the first transistorized computer on the European mainland. World-wide, the first computers of this kind were TRADIC, Harwell CADET and TX-0.
Mailüfterl was built in 1955 at the Vienna University of Technology by Heinz Zemanek. The name originates in a word-play by Zemanek: Even if it cannot match the rapid calculation speed of American models called "Whirlwind" or "Typhoon", it will be enough for a "Wiener Mailüfterl" (which means something like Viennese May breeze).The official name of the machine is Binär dezimaler Volltransistor-Rechenautomat (binary-decimal fully transistored computing automaton).
The computer consists of 3.000 transistors, 5.000 diodes, 1.000 assembly platelets, 100.000 solder joints, 15.000 resistors, 5.000 capacitors and 20,000 meters switching wire. With a width of 4 meters, a height of 2.5 meters and a depth of 50 centimeters, the machine was comparable in calculating power to what were then considered small tube computers.
Zemanek said about his famous project later that it was a "half-illegal" exercise of a senior student, which he realized without official authorization and hence without financial support from the university, together with a group of other students. In 1954 he traveled to Philips in Holland, where he asked for a donation in kind. The amount of 1,000 transistors was very difficult to obtain at any price, only seven years after their invention and with their commercialization just picking up speed. Yet Zemanek received a commitment for 1000 - rather slow - hearing aid transistors [1] and Philips finally shipped a total of 4,000 high-quality transistors to the Austrians.
[edit] Sources
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Oral history interview with Heinz Zemanek, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. Zemanek discusses his engineering education and work in radar technology during World War II. Zemanek then focuses on the development of computers in Austria: magnetic drums and magnetic memory, the MAILUFTERL computer, LOGALGOL and other compilers, the University of Vienna where Zemanek worked on his computer, the subsequent sponsorship of the project by International Business Machines Europe, and ALGOL and PL/I language standards development.
- Extensive site on the topic (German)
- Editorial contribution to pressetext.eu (German)
- Mailüfterl emulator in Java
