Commie tech wonders from the fabled east

Posted by Rob Beschizza, August 25, 2008 6:52 AM | permalink

The computer history section in Warsaw's Muzeum Techniki has everything you ever wanted, except the big fresnel lens. From Retro Thing:

the first transistor-based differential equation analyzer ... AKAT-1 is an analog computer. Back in the 1960s, this approach offered speed and acceptable accuracy without the complexity of digital logic.The result was a device that could solve relatively complex differential equations in real time, as long as you weren't after precise values. Alas, time has passed it by and it now leads a life of leisure...

Gallery [via Gadget Lab and Retro Thing]

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Discussion

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#1 posted by Alan , August 25, 2008 9:25 AM

It's... it's so beautiful...

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#2 posted by Otter , August 25, 2008 9:50 AM

Dang! While we were drawing the Jetsons, they were building the Jetsons.

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#3 posted by cephaloid , August 25, 2008 12:58 PM

What's that on the floor? Looks like some secret message tape

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#4 posted by btb , August 25, 2008 2:54 PM

Uhh, digital computers have finite precision too.

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#5 posted by btb , August 25, 2008 2:56 PM

The thing on the floor is Punched tape

somebody should translate what it says

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#6 posted by Not a Doktor , August 25, 2008 3:14 PM

I want to gut that and make the hippest synth ever.

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#7 posted by Downpressor , August 25, 2008 6:50 PM

Looks like a cross between my elementary school desk and an MCI mixer of the same era.

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#8 posted by WeightedCompanionCube , August 25, 2008 6:56 PM

wasn't that in Brazil

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#9 posted by farrellmcgovern , August 25, 2008 9:27 PM

Re: DOWNPRESSOR

I would love to build a studio with a board looking like that...image a DAW console with fully motorized sliders.......

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#10 posted by Falcon_Seven , August 26, 2008 3:13 AM

Anyone who would like to translate the code on the tape image on the floor of the picture should start with a Baudot reference. You'll probably be able to determine after a few characters whether it's in US or CCITT/ITU code -bets are on the latter.

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#11 posted by Captain Squiffy , August 26, 2008 7:34 AM

The other teachers at my school would be jealous if I had modern computers like that stuff, rather than the standard issue public school junk we use.