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TX-2

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TX-2
Circuit module from the TX-2.
DeveloperMIT Lincoln Laboratory
Product familyTX
Release date1958 (1958)
PredecessorTX-0

The MIT Lincoln Laboratory TX-2 computer was the successor to the Lincoln TX-0 and was known for its role in advancing both artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction. Wesley A. Clark was the chief architect of the TX-2.[1]

Specifications

The TX-2 was a transistor-based computer using the then-huge amount of 64K 36-bit words of core memory. The TX-2 became operational in 1958.[2][3] Because of its powerful capabilities Ivan Sutherland's revolutionary Sketchpad program was developed for and ran on the TX-2.[4][5] One of its key features was its possibility to directly interact with the computer through screen. [6]

Relationship with DEC

Digital Equipment Corporation was a spin-off of the TX-0 and TX-2 projects. A TX-1 was planned as the successor for the TX-0, but the project was deemed too ambitious and was scaled back to the TX-2. The TX-2 Tape System was a block addressable 1/2" tape developed for the TX-2 by Tom Stockebrand which evolved into LINCtape and DECtape.

References

  1. ^ Joseph November (2012). "The LINC Revolution". Biomedial Computing, Digitizing Life in the United States. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 144.
  2. ^ Computers and People. Berkeley Enterprises. 1961. p. 312.
  3. ^ Boast, Robin (2017-03-15). The Machine in the Ghost: Digitality and Its Consequences. Reaktion Books. pp. 131–132. ISBN 9781780237879.
  4. ^ Reilly, Edwin D. (2003) Milestones in Computer Science and Information Technology Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 9781573565219 pg 261
  5. ^ Kalay, Yehuda E. (2004) Architecture's New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-aided Design MIT Press ISBN 9780262112840 pg 66
  6. ^ Naughton, John (1999): A brief history of the future: the origins of the internet, London, p. 71