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A Brief-ish History of the Computer
Abacus: the first computer prototype?Surprisingly, the history of computers is a long one, with the abacus being considered the first, developed over 5,000 years ago. By sliding the beads arranged on the rack, merchants could keep track of business transactions. The device is still in use today. Later, in Europe the use of pencil and paper to record transactions replaced the need for the abacus. It was not until the 17th century that the next step was taken to develop a counting machine. The 17th- through 19th-century generations of proto-computers relied upon mechanical parts--gears and levers--that moved to calculate mathematical problems. The first was built by Wilhelm Schickard in 1623, followed by a device designed by mathematician-turned-philosopher Blaise Pascal in 1642.

Pascal's Pascaline
Pascal's numerical wheel calculator was developed to help his father with his duties as a tax collector. The principle was a simple one; each time one of the wheels reached ten it moved the next wheel one notch. Of course, the device could only add and needed a decimal-based system of finance. Gottfried Wilhem von Leibniz, a German, improved the Pascaline by creating a machine that could also multiply in 1694. Leibniz's mechanical multiplier also worked by a system of gears and dial. A stepped-drum gear design.

ETHICAL COMPUTER SERVICE

Service-oriented computer repair is here. We are fast, friendly and local. We believe in treating customers well, being fair and ethical and establishing long-lasting relationships with those who live and work in our community. Our office is located in Asheville, on Merrimon Avenue.

Services provided in our shop or at your home or office

When you call us at Christopher's Computers you will be greeted by a friendly person who will listen to the issues you are experiencing, take some information from you, and either advise you to bring your computer in to us of make an appointment for us to come out to your location. We can usually get to you within 48 hours or less. We will then travel to your Home or Office. With your input and instruction we will make an analysis of your needs. We will diagnose your individual situation and present you with options for how we can best help you. We will then follow through in an effecient way ensuring you are informed along the way as to our progress. If we must take your computer away with us for repair in our shop, or if you bring your computer in to our shop, we will stay in contact with you regarding your computer's wellbeing.

Family Owned And Operated

We are a family owned and operated business in operation since 2004

Empowerment

If you want personal attention with a friendly and knowledgeable company that offers genuine guidance, discusses options and empowers you, call us. Don't worry, we'll take care of you!

Liebniz's Calculator could multiply!
However, widespread adoption of the mechanical calculator would have to wait until 1820, and the invention of one that could add, subtract, multiply and divide by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar, a Frenchman. Colmar's arithometer was widely used into the early 20th century.
The first desktop computer: The Arithometer
As long as the computer consisted of only gears and levers, its potential use was limited. A new blueprint would need to be developed. A true computer would require a way to input data, some method of processing the information, and an output medium decipherable by anyone. The integrated solution came from the mind of Charles Babbage, an English mathematics professor. His design for a computer was never actually constructed during his lifetime, but he is credited as the true father of computing. Babbage's conclusion that machines were best at performing repetitive tasks without mistakes, led to his proposal of a Difference Engine to perform differential equations in 1822. Its goal was to output data as printed tables, a necessity for a number of financial, military, government, and engineering endeavors. Ten years later Babbage proposed a more general-purpose computer, and called it an Analytical Engine.
Babbage's Difference Engine was powered by steam!
The Analytical Engine would use steam for power, have storage capacity (memory of 1,000 numbers of up to 50 decimal digits long), and the ability to process instructions in any sequence. For input, the computer would use punch cards to enter the machine's instructions. This was borrowed from the cloth industry which used perforated cards running on automated looms to generate repeated designs in wool and cotton articles. Babbage's engine used punched cards for multiple purposes, including operations and variables. This would allow the machine to make decisions based on calculations it had performed. The engine could choose to perform the next operation depending on how the previous operations turned out, and was not limited to sequential calculations producing static tables. Real computers allow symbolic manipulation, not just numeric operations.

Hollerith's Punch Card Reader

The next major innovations in computer history were the development of a universal language for computers and the use of all electrical circuitry. All modern computers, including personal computers share these features. Both were pioneered by John V. Atanasoff and Clifford Berry of Iowa State University. They drew upon the binary system of algebra developed by George Boole in the mid-19th century, and applied it to computer circuitry. If all mathematical equations could be stated simply as either true or false, electronic circuits in computers could mimic such logic by being either on or off. Atanasoff and Berry used binary code to develop the first all-electronic computer by 1940.

ENIAC: 18,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors and 5 million soldered joints

The University of Pennsylvania's ENIAC (mid-1940's) was 1,000 times faster than Mark I. EDVAC (1945) was the first to fully bring to life Babbage's dream, it could hold both stored data and a program at the same time. UNIVAC (1951) was the first commercially available computer with a central processing unit. It was purchased by customers such as the U.S. Census and General Electric. Binary-coded operating systems had to be written for each computer task on first generation computers. Vacuum tubes (responsible for the overall largeness of computers) and magnetic drums for data storage typified computers of the era.
Second generation computers replaced vacuum tubes with transistors, the first appearing in a computer in 1956. Just as the switch to transistors changed the way radios and television were designed and serviced, solid state designed computers became smaller and faster. By the early 1960's, such computers from companies like Burroughs, Control Data, Honeywell, IBM, and Sperry-Rand, made their way into business, universities, and government. All the parts of contemporary computer were added: printers, tape or disk storage, memory, operating systems, and stored programs. The first nonbinary languages, COBOL and FORTRAN were developed. Programmers could now interact with the computer using words, sentences, and mathematical formulas.

IBM 1401: A second generation mainframe computer

What characterized third generation computers of the late 1960's was the switch from transistors to components that could be miniaturized. These included integrated circuits, semiconductors, and silicon discs. Operating systems were also developed, allowing computers to run many different programs at once (multitasking).

The fourth generation (1971 to present) gave birth to the personal computer as companies such as Intel developed chips capable of holding all the basic components of a computer (central processing unit, memory, and input and output controls). Size of computers could be reduced even further and power increased dramatically. In the future, fifth generation computers with genuine artificial intelligence may emerge. Fully conversational, voice-activated computers as have been seen on science fiction shows like Star Trek and Babylon Five are not that far away.

IBM PC arrived in 1983

The heart of the PC is its CPU (Central Processing Unit). With each chip generation, home computers became more powerful. Unfortunately, software programs continued to demand more and more processor power, making it appear that one continually needed to buy the newest and fastest computer. From the late 1980s, software giant Microsoft and CPU manufacturer Intel became locked together as partners (sometimes referred to as the Wintel monopoly), driving the hardware and software industries to keep up the frenetic pace. The major processor manufacturer is still Intel (though after 1997 some competition appeared); all of their current chips are based on Intel's 1978 original 8086 specifications. The subsequent series of Intel processors (286, 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium 2, Pentium 3, Pentium 4) advanced from a mere 2300 transistors that performed about 60,000 calculations in a second to 2001's microprocessor with more than 42 million transistors, performing hundreds of millions of calculations each second. Processor speed has gone from less than 66 mhz in 1990 to over 3,000 mhz by 2003. Chip development has followed Gordon Moore's law, first predicted in 1965. Each new chip has contained roughly twice as much capacity as its predecessor, and each chip was released within 18-24 months of the previous chip.

As processor speed increased, monitors were able to make the transition from monochrome to color. With the addition of separate video cards, computers could power larger monitors and display images at much higher resolutions. Fourteen inch monitors displaying images at 640 by 480 pixels have been upgraded to 17, 19 inch and larger models capable of high resolutions displaying millions of colors, permitting the screen workspace to be expanded dramatically.

The introduction of sound cards dramatically changed computers as well. A device that could only express its displeasure by "beeping" is now capable of being a complete multimedia development and delivery platform. The integration of computers and home entertainment systems has been fostered as well.

Computers could never have become as popular as they are today as long as they remained difficult to use. The key transition was the shift from text-based operating systems that required the user to learn a computer language to graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that permit point and click commands. First to offer such an interface was Apple, later Bill Gates would develop Windows as an alternative to DOS.

A Brief-ish History of the Computer

Pascal's Pascaline

ETHICAL COMPUTER SERVICE

Services provided in our shop or at your home or office

Family Owned And Operated

Empowerment

Liebniz's Calculator could multiply!

The first desktop computer: The Arithometer

Babbage's Difference Engine was powered by steam!

Hollerith's Punch Card Reader

ENIAC: 18,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors and 5 million soldered joints

IBM 1401: A second generation mainframe computer

IBM PC arrived in 1983