MINOTAUR, A RELAY COMPUTER,
Abstract
The Minotaur was designed as an all-purpose demonstration digital computer. It has limited storage capacity, plugged program operation, and simple input-output facilities. The basic components of Minotaur are ordinary four-pole electromechanical relays. These are used for information storage, and as the basic operational units in the design of plugged program circuits. The Minotaur is not a logically assembled array of parts designed to operate in a prescribed fashion, according to a fixed repertoire of instructions. In Minotaur the programmer has at his disposal relays and auxiliary equipment which he must organize to perform the steps of the program. In particular, the adders, accumulators, or any registers must be designed and programmed for individual problems. The manual presents the operation and description of the Minotaur. The manual is divided into sections, each describing the machine's operation or some functional application. For each section describing a program, the manual gives an explanation of the problem with at least one illustration of the program. Sample programs are usually shown using logical block diagrams rather than in terms of actual machine components.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1960
- Accession Number
- AD0627412
Entities
People
- George J. Vasilakos
Organizations
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory