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* [COFF] Re: "Hot Spot" High Performing Centres in Computing
@ 2023-10-02 13:08 Noel Chiappa
  2023-10-02 13:36 ` Dan Cross
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Noel Chiappa @ 2023-10-02 13:08 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: coff; +Cc: jnc

    > From: Larry McVoy

    > And the mouse unless my boomer memory fails me.

I think it might have; I'm pretty sure the first mice were done by
Engelbart's group at ARC (but I'm too lazy to check). ISTR that they were
used in the MOAD.

PARC's contribution to mice was the first decent mouse. I saw an ARC mouse at
MIT (before we got our Altos), and it was both large, and not smooth to use;
it was a medium-sized box (still one hand, though) with two large wheels
(with axes 90 degrees apart), so moving it sideways, you had to drag the
up/down sheel sideways (and vice versa).

PARC'S design (the inventor is known; I've forgetten his name) with the large
ball bearing, rotation of which was detected by two sensore, was _much_
better, and remained the standard until the invention of the optical mouse
(which was superior because the ball mouse picked up dirt, and had to be
cleaned out regularly).


PARC's other big contribution was the whole network-centric computing model,
with servers and workstations (the Alto). Hints of both of those existed
before, but PARC's unified implementation of both (and in a way that made
them cheap enough to deploy them widely) was a huge jump forward.

Although 'personal computers' had a long (if now poorly remembered) history
at that point (including the LINC, and ARC's station), the Alto showed what
could be done when you added a bit-mapped display to which the CPU had direct
access, and deployed a group of them in a network/server environment; having
so much computing power available, on an individual basis, that you could
'light your cigar with computes' radcally changed everything.

	Noel

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* [COFF] Re: "Hot Spot" High Performing Centres in Computing
@ 2023-10-03 21:10 Noel Chiappa
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Noel Chiappa @ 2023-10-03 21:10 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: coff; +Cc: jnc

    > From: Dan Cross

    > This is long, but very interesting: https://spectrum.ieee.org/xerox-parc

That is _very_ good, and I too recommend it.

Irritatingly, for such an otherwise-excellent piece, it contains two glaring,
minor errors: "information-processing techniques office" should be
'Information Processing Techniques Office' (its formal name; it's not a
description); "the 1,103 dynamic memory chips used in the MAXC design" -
that's the Intel 1103 chip.


    > Markov's book, "What the Dormouse Said" ... goes into great detail
    > about the interplay between Engelbart's group at SRI and PARC. It's a
    > very interesting read; highly recommended.

It is a good book; it goes a long way into explaining why the now-dominant form
of computer user experience appeared on the West coast, ad not the East.

One big gripe about it; it doesn't give enough space to Licklider, who more
than anyone had the idea that computers were a tool for _all_ information
(for everyone, from all walks of life), not just number crunching (for
scientists and engineers). Everyone and everything in Dormouse is a
descendant of his. Still, we have Mitchell Waldrop's "Dream Machine", which
does an excellent job of telling his story.

(Personal note: I am sad and ashamed to admit that for several years I had
the office literally right next door next to his - and I had no idea who he
was! This is kind of like a young physicist having the office right next door
next to Einstein, and not knowing who _he_ was! I can only say that the
senior people in my group didn't make much of Lick; which didn't help.)

Still, get "Dream Machine".

	Noel

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* [COFF] "Hot Spot" High Performing Centres in Computing
@ 2023-10-01  5:24 steve jenkin
  2023-10-01 14:29 ` [COFF] " Larry McVoy
  2023-10-01 16:42 ` Clem Cole
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: steve jenkin @ 2023-10-01  5:24 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: COFF

Bell Labs Dept 1127 / CSRC qualifies as “Very High Performing” to me (is there a better name?)

Before that, John von Neumann and his team were outstanding in the field.

DARPA, under Licklider then Bob Taylor & Ivan Sutherland and more people I don’t know,
went on to fund game-changing technologies, such TCP/IP, including over Wireless and Satellite links.

Engelbart’s Augmentation Research Centre was funded by DARPA, producing NLS, the "oN-Line System”.

Taylor founded Xerox PARC, taking many of Engelbart’s team when the ARC closed.
PARC invented so many things, it’s hard to list…
Ethernet, Laser printers, GUI & Windowing System, Object Oriented (? good ?), what became ’the PC'

Evans & Sutherland similarly defined the world of Graphics for many years.

MIPS Inc created the first commercial RISC processor with a small team, pioneering using 3rd Party “Fabs”.
At 200 Mhz, it was twice the speed of competitors.

Seymour Cray and his small team built (with ECL) the fastest computers for a decade.
I heard that CDC produced a large, slow Operating System, so Cray went and wrote a better one “in a weekend”.
A hardware & software whizz.

I’ve not intended to leave any of the "Hot Spots” out.
While MIT did produce some good stuff, I don’t see it as “very high performing”.
Happy to hear disconfirming opinion.

What does this has to do with now?

Google, AWS and Space-X have redefined the world of computing / space in the last 10-15 years.

They've become High Performing “Hot Spots”, building technology & systems that out-perform everyone else.

Again, not intentionally leaving out people, just what I know without deeply researching.

================

Is this a topic that’s been well addressed? If so, sorry for wasting time.

Otherwise, would appreicate pointers & comments, especially if anyone has created a ‘definitive’ list,
which would imply some criteria for admission.

================
--
Steve Jenkin, IT Systems and Design 
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 38, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA

mailto:sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
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-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2023-10-02 13:08 [COFF] Re: "Hot Spot" High Performing Centres in Computing Noel Chiappa
2023-10-02 13:36 ` Dan Cross
2023-10-02 14:50   ` Larry Stewart
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2023-10-03 21:10 Noel Chiappa
2023-10-01  5:24 [COFF] " steve jenkin
2023-10-01 14:29 ` [COFF] " Larry McVoy
2023-10-01 16:42 ` Clem Cole

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