Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-02-2016 01:08 PM
Francois Rautenbach, a computer hardware and software engineer from Tshwane, South Africa, rediscovered the Apollo Guidance Computer flown aboard AS-202 and recovered its software.
Apollo-Saturn 202, or Flight AS-202, as it was officially called, was the first to use an onboard computer – the same model that would eventually take Apollo 11 to the moon. Rautenbach argues that the computer on AS-202 was also the world’s first microcomputer. That title has been claimed for several computers made in later years, from the Datapoint 2200 built by CTC in 1970 to the Altair 8800 designed in 1974. The AS-202 flight computer goes back to the middle of the previous decade.
His video succinctly introduces the story: "On 25th August 1966, a very special computer was launched into space onboard Apollo flight AS-202. This was the first computer to use integrated circuits and the first release of the computer that took the astronauts to the moon. Until recently, the software for the Block 1 ACG (Apollo Guidance Computer) was thought to be lost..."
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 4437 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-02-2016 01:19 PM
These items likely originated from Jim Loocke.
Yellow stamps indicate flight vehicle affiliation, not necessarily that a given article was actually flown as there were multiple primary and spare modules produced not only for R&D but also to support swap-out in the event of faulty preflight checkout.
Glint Member
Posts: 1040 From: New Windsor, Maryland USA Registered: Jan 2004
posted 09-02-2016 01:43 PM
In the first video he says that 16 data lines are connected to the rope memory module allowing him to read two bits at a time. I wonder if he misspoke and intended to say two bytes at a time?
That would seem to be the case as 16 lines would allow 16 bits or two bytes to be read at once.
David Carey Member
Posts: 782 From: Registered: Mar 2009
posted 09-03-2016 11:17 AM
Certainly correct, but the oscilloscope is tracking just two data bits on successive/repeated read cycles as it appeared to me. Perhaps he meant two bits out of the available 16 were used for scope waveform monitoring.
He did say "two bits at a time" so maybe the 16-bit word was being multiplexed into 2-bit segments (half-nibbles vs bytes).
The gray/white wired pairs are the data lines from memory module to his 16-channel reader card so it appears parallel up to that point.
posted 09-02-2016 01:08 PM
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