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SEAC Maintenance Manual: The Outscriber

Published

Author(s)

Russell A. Kirsch

Abstract

One of the more serious problems in the design of automatic digital computers is that of getting the calculated results out of the machine rapidly enought to avoid delaying the further progress of the calculations. In many of the problems to which a general-purpose computer is applied the amount of output data is relatively great -- so great that serious inefficiency would result from forcing the computer to wait for these data to be typed on existing printing devices. This difficulty has been solved in the SEAC by providing magnetic recording devices as output units. These devices are able to receive information from the machine at rates upto 100 times as fast as an electric typewriter can be operated. Thus, better efficiency is achieved in recording the output data; transcription can be made later from the magnetic recording device to a printing device without tying up the main computer.
Citation
NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 2794
Report Number
2794

Keywords

automatic digital computers, SEAC magnetic recording

Citation

Kirsch, R. (1960), SEAC Maintenance Manual: The Outscriber, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=821709 (Accessed December 8, 2024)

Issues

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Created January 1, 1960, Updated October 16, 2008