Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
BINAC
BINAC, the Binary Automatic Computer, was an early electronic computer designed for Northrop Aircraft Company by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly in 1949.
The BINAC was a bit-serial binary computer with two independent CPUs, each with its own 512-word acoustic mercury delay line memory. The CPUs continously compared results to check for errors caused by hardware failures. The 512-word acoustic mercury delay line memories were divided into 16 channels each holding 32 words (31-bit) with an additional 11-bit space between words to allow for circuit delays in switching. The clock rate was 4.25 MHz which yielded a word time of about 10 microseconds.
New programs or data had to be entered manually in octal using an eight-key keypad.
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10-26-2009 08:16:03
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details