Stories of the Development of Large Scale Scientific Computing at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Stories of the Development of Large Scale Scientific Computing

at

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

An Oral and Pictorial History

Contents Back to The Main Page Page 1: Interviews of people who were part of the development of computing at LLNL Page 2: Contributions from some not directly interviewed Page 3: People we'd like to interview You are on Page 4 Page 5: Fun stuff from the Glory Days at LLNL Page 6: Other Web Sites That May Be Of Interest Send us your comments!
Page 4: Significant Hardware and Software Work
Some Charts and Tables of Interest
A Timeline of Computer Acquisitions	A Plot of Computer Performance over Time

EARLY COMPUTERS IN THE UNITED STATES This table lists the types of computers which began operation in the U.S. through 1953. During March 1951, serial #1 of the first large computer developed for commerce, the Remington Rand UNIVAC-1, was delivered to the U.S. Bureau Of The Census. Aggressive marketing of computers dates from this time.
1940 Bell Labs MODEL-l, "Complex Calculator." 1943 Bell Labs MODEL-2, "Relay Interpolator." 1944 Harvard MARK-l, "Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator." 1944 Bell Labs MODEL-3, "Bal1istic Computer." 1945 ENIAC, "Electronic Numerica1 Integrator And Computer." 1945 Bell Labs MODEL-4, "Error Detector." 1946 Bell Labs MODEL-5. 1948 Harvard MARK-2, "Aiken Relay Calculator." 1948 IBM 604, "Electronic Calculating Punch." 1949 BINAC, "Binary Automatic Computer." 1949 IBM CPC, "Card-Programmed Electronic Calculator." 1950 Bell Labs MODEL-6. 1950 NEPA, "Fairchild Nuclear Energy For Propulsion Of Aircraft Computer."	1950 EDVAC, "Electronic Discrete Variable Computer." 1950 SEAC, "Standards Eastern Automatic Computer." 1951 Harvard MARK-3. 1951 ERA 1101, "Engineering Research Associates Computer." 1951 ONR, "Office Of Naval Research Relay Computer. 1951 WHIRLWIND, "MIT Digital Computer Laboratory Computer." 1951 BLC, "Burroughs Laboratory Computer." 1951 UNIVAC-l, "Remington Rand Universal Automatic Computer." 1952 The University of California Radiation Laboratory formed (Later became LLNL). 1953 IBM 701, LLNL's first scientific system is delivered (see table below).
* Electromechanical computer.

Changing Specifications of Early LLNL Computing Systems
Specs of Livermore's First 36 Major Computer Systems
Clock Rate (Hz)	Cycle Times (nanoseconds)
Instruction Issues per Cycle	Peak System Rates (MegaFlops/sec.)

A Video:

Computing at the Livermore Lab
Narrated by John Fletcher, 1983

.mp4 (149 MB) .wmv (69 MB) .wmv (soon...) .mpg (soon...) .mov (soon...)

Computers and Computer Systems

The UNIVAC-1 Computer

The Remington Rand LARC (Livermore Advanced Research Computer):

An Album of LARC Images
The Remington Rand LARC, by Charles Cole
The Remington Rand LARC, by Norman Hardy

Early IBM Systems:

Control Data Systems:

Digital Equipment Corp. Systems:

Software Systems and Projects

Storage Systems and Devices

Networks and Peripheral Devices

Operating Systems Development:

SAP & FAP
A RATS retrospective, by Charles Landau
RISOS
GOB
LTSS & NLTSS:
- Gathering People To Write An Operating System: An Early Exercise in Software and Social Engineering, by Jim Minton, Edited by Donna Mecozzi
- Capability Computing at LLNL, by Jed Donnelley
- Network Livermore Time Sharing System (NLTSS),
  by S. T. Brugger, M. Gandhi, and G. Streletz
- Components of a Network Operating System, by Jed Donnelley

Publications:
      The Octogram
      The Tentacle:
            September 1981, Volume I Number 2
            December 1986, Volume VI Number 11

Character Set Specifications