Part One:

ENIAC:

ENIAC stands for Electrical Numerical Integrator and Computer. ENIAC, was the first general purpose electronic computer. The ENIAC was big it was, 30 tons and took up 1800 square feet of floor space. The ENIAC contained 6000 manual switches. The ENIAC was designed and built to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S Army’s Ballistic Research Laboratory.

Vacuum Tube Sizes:

In electronics, a vacuum tube is a device used to amplify, switch, otherwise modify, or create an electrical signal by controlling the movement of electrons in a low-pressure space. Some special function vacuum tubes are filled with low-pressure gas: these are so-called soft valves (or tubes), as distinct from the hard vacuum type which have the internal gas pressure reduced as far as possible. Almost all depend on the thermal emission of electrons, hence thermionic.
Vacuum tubes were critical to the development of electronics technology, which drove the expansion and commercialization of radio broadcasting, television, radar, sound reproduction, large telephone networks, analog and digital computers, and industrial process control. Some of these applications pre-dated electronics, but it was the vacuum tube that made them widespread and practical.
For most purposes, the vacuum tube has been replaced by solid-state devices such as transistors and solid-state diodes. Solid-state devices last much longer, are smaller, more efficient, more reliable, and cheaper than equivalent vacuum tube devices. However, tubes are still used in specialized applications: for engineering reasons, as in high-power radio frequency transmitters; or for their aesthetic appeal, as in audio amplification. Cathode ray tubes are still used as display devices in television sets, video monitors, and oscilloscopes, although they are being replaced by LCDs and other flat-panel displays. A specialized form of the electron tube, the magnetron, is the source of microwave energy in microwave ovens and some radar systems.

Transistors:

a transistor is a semiconductor device commonly used to amplify or switch electronic signals. A transistor is made of a solid piece of a semiconductor material, with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor’s terminals changes the current flowing through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled power can be much larger than the controlling power, the transistor provides amplification of a signal.

The key advantages that have allowed transistors to replace their vacuum tube predecessors in most applications are:

§         Small size and minimal weight, allowing the development of miniaturized electronic devices.

§         Highly automated manufacturing processes, resulting in low per-unit cost.

§         Lower possible operating voltages, making transistors suitable for small, battery-powered applications.

§         No warm-up period for cathode heaters required after power application.

§         Lower power dissipation and generally greater energy efficiency.

§         Higher reliability and greater physical ruggedness.

§         Extremely long life. Some transistorized devices produced more than 30 years ago are still in service.

§         Complementary devices available, facilitating the design of complementary-symmetry circuits, something not possible with vacuum tubes.

§         Though in most transistors the junctions have different doping levels and geometry, some allow bidirectional current flow.

§         Ability to control very large currents, as much as several hundred amperes.

§         Insensitivity to mechanical shock and vibration, thus avoiding the problem of microphonics in audio applications.

§         More sensitive than the hot and macroscopic tubes

The first transistor- The first patent for the field-effect transistor principle was filed in Canada by Austrian-Hungarian physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld on October 22, 1925, but Lilienfeld published no research articles about his devices, and they were ignored by industry. In 1934 German physicist Dr. Oskar Heil patented another field-effect transistor. There is no direct evidence that these devices were built, but later work in the 1990s show that one of Lilienfeld’s designs worked as described and gave substantial gain. Legal papers from the Bell Labs patent show that William Shockley and a co-worker at Bell Labs, Gerald Pearson, had built operational versions from Lilienfeld’s patents, yet they never referenced this work in any of their later research papers or historical articles.

Integrated Circuit:

In electronics, an integrated circuit (also known as IC, microcircuit, microchip, silicon chip, or chip) is a miniaturized electronic circuit (consisting mainly of semiconductor devices, as well as passive components) that has been manufactured in the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material. Integrated circuits are used in almost all electronic equipment in use today and have revolutionized the world of electronics.

A hybrid integrated circuit is a miniaturized electronic circuit constructed of individual semiconductor devices, as well as passive components, bonded to a substrate or circuit board.

Invention of IC – The integrated circuit was independently co-invented by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor around the same time. Kilby recorded his initial ideas concerning the integrated circuit in July 1958 and successfully demonstrated the first working integrated circuit on September 12, 1958. Kilby won the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for his part of the invention of the integrated circuit. Robert Noyce also came up with his own idea of integrated circuit, half a year later than Kilby. Noyce’s chip had solved many practical problems that the microchip developed by Kilby had not. Noyce’s chip, made at Fairchild, was made of silicon, whereas Kilby’s chip was made of germanium.

Timex Sinclair:

The keyboard is a ‘touch sensitive membrane’, a flexible plastic surface with the actual switches under the surface. While easy to clean and water resistant, it is very difficult and slow to type on, because you have to press hard and very deliberately to use the tiny, closely-spaced keys. Touch-typing is impossible. Resourceful users hacked into their system and added their own ‘real’ keyboard, external to the system.

First Home Computer:

A couple things that I’m looking forward to accomplish along this year is studying for tests because it will help me be prepared. Lastly, I would like to make the cuts for the senior boys basketball team and play in the BC Catholics.

What types of technology are you interested in? Why?

The things that I’m interested in includes my labtop, cellphone and xbox 360. My labtop is more unique then anyother computer or labtop because of all the programs on it. And my cellphone is special to me because I get to communicate with people anytime anywhere. Lastly my xbox is fun to play with, because most of my friends have one and we play online.

What piece of technology could you not live without? Why?

I could not live without my labtop because it gives me information to the world. It helps me with homework and I communicate to people through it.

What would you like to learn about this year in this course?

I would love to learn some tricks with command prompt and I would love to learn how to write viruses and trojans.