3 ms·
I guess it is largely forgotten, but computers used to have a front panel with enough switches to enable you to input a full word into memory, and step forward.
by Isamu 5y ago
I guess it is largely forgotten, but computers used to have a front panel with enough switches to enable you to input a full word into memory, and step forward. This is how bootstraps could be entered if you didn’t have a bootstrap device.
Even the first hobby computer had a front panel. The Apple 1 was a user-friendly improvement in that regard.
- philipswood 5y agoAfter reading The Knowledge and watching some homebuilt relay computers I've been wondering if you could start computing from basic relay computers. i.e. build a minimal, very small, inspectable relay computer as an initial bootstrap step.