alt Hacker NewsNo questions, but I really enjoyed the article - thank you for sharing. It amazes me how few vacuum tubes these early computers use, compared to the billions and trillions of mosfet transistors used in modern devices.
Replies
kens • today at 6:51 PM
One way they get away with using relatively few tubes is that most of the Boolean logic is done with semiconductor (germanium) diodes, using tubes to amplify the results.
userbinator • today at 7:43 PM
The 604 isn't really a "computer", but more like an ALU hardwired to some I/O.
The Gamma 3, which competed with the 604, only had about 400 tubes as far as I remember: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Gamma_3
Both the 604 and the G3 were bit serial to save components.