What were the physical components used in the first generation of computers?

The physical device used in the first generation of computers was: electron tubes. "ENIAC" is the world's first electronic computer. It covers an area of 170 square meters, weighs 30 tons, consumes about 150 kilowatts per hour, and can perform 5,000 operations per second; it is used by the U.S. Department of Defense for ballistic calculations. .

The physical device used in the first generation of computers was: electron tubes.

The world's first general-purpose computer "ENIAC" was born on February 14, 1946 at the University of Pennsylvania. The inventors are Americans John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert.

The U.S. Department of Defense uses it for ballistic calculations. It is a huge thing, using 18,000 electron tubes, covering an area of 170 square meters, weighing 30 tons, consuming about 150 kilowatts of power, and can perform 5,000 operations per second. This seems insignificant now, but at the time it was Unprecedented.

ENIAC uses electron tubes as components, so it is also called a tube computer and is the first generation of computers.

Since the electron tubes used in electron tube computers are large in size, consume a lot of power, and are prone to heat, they cannot work for too long.

Knowledge expansion:

Development of domestic computers (1965-1972)

In 1965, the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully developed China’s first large-scale computer Transistor computer: 109 B machine; the 109 B machine was improved, and two years later the 109 C machine was launched. It played an important role in the trial production of China's two bombs and was hailed as a "meritorious machine" by users.

The North China Computing Institute has successfully developed the 108 machine, 108 B machine (DJS-6), 121 machine (DJS-21) and 320 machine (DJS-8), and produced them in five factories including the 738 factory. From 1965 to 1975, Factory 738 produced a total of 320 machines and more than 380 second-generation products.

Harbin Military Industry (the predecessor of the National University of Defense Technology) successfully launched the 441B transistor computer in February 1965 and produced more than 40 units in small batches.

Computer development of small and medium-sized integrated circuits in China (1973-early 1980s)

In 1973, Peking University cooperated with Beijing Cable Power Plant and other units to successfully develop a large-scale computer with a computing speed of 1 million times per second. A general-purpose computer, Tsinghua University and other units jointly designed and successfully developed the DJS-130 minicomputer in 1974, and later launched the DJS-140 minicomputer, forming the 100 series of products.

At the same time, with the North China Computing Institute as the main base, 57 units across the country were organized to jointly design the DJS-200 series of computers, and also designed and developed the DJS-180 series of super minicomputers. In the late 1970s, the 32nd Institute of Electronics of the Ministry of Electronics and the National Defense University of Science and Technology successfully developed the 655 aircraft and the 151 aircraft respectively, with speeds in the million-level range. In the 1980s, China's high-speed computers, especially vector computers, experienced new developments.

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