Mark I Perceptron machine - photo

[Altair]

Mark I Perceptron machine, an early computer designed in the 1950s that could learn new skills by trial and error using a type of neural network.




Previously:

Engineer wiring an early IBM computer - photo
World's first computer bug - photo
4.5 megabytes of data represented by punch cards - photo
ENIAC data cable - GIF
Changing ENIAC's vacuum tubes - photo

[schuylergrace]

That reminds me of the wire closets I found when I came out here to work for America West Airlines. On my first day as Network Manager, our main hub airport (Phoenix Sky Harbor) went down, and the guys who went out to troubleshoot/fix it weren't getting anywhere, so I went to see if I could help. I had never seen such a rat's nest as those closets were, and I've seen some really bad ones. I eventually had our intern go from site to site on slow travel days, pull all the hundreds of patch cords out of each wire closet, and repatch the closets reasonably neatly. During that process, I got an alarmed call from someone out at the hangar one Saturday to let me know there was a "chick in a miniskirt" ripping all the wires out! This isn't one of ours, but they pretty much all looked like this one.