Z4 (computer)
The Z4 computer was the world's second commercial digital computer, designed by German engineer Konrad Zuse and built by his company Zuse Apparatebau in 1944.
It was delivered to ETH Zürich, Switzerland, in September 1950. In 1954, the Z4 was transferred to the Institut Franco-Allemand des Recherches de St. Louis in France, where it was in use until 1959. Today, the Z4 is on display in the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
The Z4 inspired the ETH to build its own computer (mainly by Ambrosius P. Speiser), which was called ERMETH, an acronym for "Elektronische Rechenmaschine ETH" (i.e. Electronic Computing Machine ETH).
In 1950/1951 the Z4 was the only working digital computer in continental Europe, and the second digital computer in the world to be sold, beating the Ferranti Mark 1 by five months and the UNIVAC I by ten months, but in turn being beaten by the BINAC (although that never worked at the customer's site[1]). Other computers, all numbered with a leading Z, were built by Zuse and his company. Notable are the Z11, which was sold to the optics industry and to universities, and the Z22, the first computer with a memory based on magnetic storage.
The Z4 was used for calculations for work on the Grande Dixence Dam.
By 1967, the Zuse KG had built a total of 251 computers. Due to financial problems, the company was then sold to Siemens.
Quotation:
"At least Zürich has an interesting nightlife with the rattling of the Z4, even if it is only modest" (Konrad Zuse)
Specifications
- Frequency: (about) 40 Hertz
- Average calculation speed: 400 ms for an addition
- Input: Decimal numbers, punch tape
- Output: Decimal numbers, punch tape
- Word length: 32 bits
- Elements: (about) 2,500 relays, 21 step-wise relays
- Memory: Memory of the Z1 (64 words, 32 Bit)
- Power consumption: (about) 4 kW
References
- ^ "Description of the BINAC". citing Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 10 #1 1988. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
External links
- zuse.de homepage from Horst Zuse (son from Konrad Zuse) whit many infos about the Zuse computers
- Pictures of the Z4 at the ETH Zürich (with German text)
- "Textual and pictorial description of the Z4: history, instruction set and hardware features". Konrad Zuse's Computer. Technical University of Berlin. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
- Rojas, Raúl (Spring 2006), "The Zuse Computers", RESURRECTION The Bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society =, vol. 37, ISSN 0958-7403, retrieved 2008-07-26
- Zuse, Horst. "The Z4 Computer and the Zuse Apparatebau in Berlin (1940-1945)". The Life and Work of Konrad Zuse. Retrieved 2008-07-26.