The news that CPT had developed the first transistor computer blew through like a whirlwind, blowing American technology companies to pieces.

Before the advent of transistor computers, the world's fastest computers were capable of tens of thousands of calculations per second. However, Carpenter Electronics has built millions of computers! This is a very big leap forward, knocking other tube computers directly into the museum of history.

One of these companies that made tube computers was particularly concerned about the emergence of the "first" transistor computer. This company is IBM, and they claim to be the blue giant of the computer market!

A veteran computer columnist once wrote, "You can't talk about computers without talking about IBM." ”

Some people even asserted: "The history of computers is the history of IBM." ”

Although these remarks are biased, they are not without some truth. IBM's history does encompass most of the history of computing. But that was IBM without Alex, and in that normal historical line, the blue giant IBM had dominated most of the computer market in the United States as early as the fifties and sixties, and as early as the outbreak of World War II, they entered the computer field for the first time.

In 1944, Watson invested 1 million yuan to develop his grandmother's "Mark I" computer at Harvard University. It is an electromagnetic computer, 15 meters long, about 2.4 meters high, weighing 31.5 tons, and can do 1 addition operation per second. Unfortunately, it was not long before it was surpassed by computers produced by other companies.

In 1947, IBM invested another $1 million in the development of a computer. This computer was called a "giant tech dinosaur" by the industry, and was eventually replaced by other computers.

The elder Watson was defeated repeatedly, but still refused to admit defeat, and he pretended to be calm and said: "The demand for computers in the world market is only about 5. ”

Whether the old Watson admits it or not, his investment has been wasted again, he is too old, already in his seventies. The rapid upgrading of high-tech is a phantom that can never catch up with him. To be the most successful, he had to make changes to the company, but he didn't have that much energy.

Most of Watson's senior engineers were too old to keep up with the times, and almost none of them understood what an electronic computer was. In order to make the "tech dinosaur" possible, the chief designer had to go to the university for help, and a few young guys who had just graduated overstepped the line, because these old guys didn't know how to install such a new thing as a tube.

One day, the elder Watson was angry with his engineer when a young man quietly walked over. He told the old Watson a statement of the last battle, which was organized and reasonable, and people could leave a deep impression after listening to it.

The young man was dressed almost identically to the old Watson, wearing the same top hat, a suit of one color, and the corners of his eyes and eyebrows all looked like they were made of the same mold. Crucially, his name is also Thomas Watson, and this person is the eldest son of Watson Sr., the executive vice president of IBM, who is known as Watson Jr.

Old Watson was not very reassuring about his son, and he knew a lot about Watson Jr., and he always felt a little apprehensive.

Watson Jr. is a typical playboy who causes trouble everywhere, changing schools three times in middle school, still failing several classes, and falling into the bad habit of drinking when he goes to college. These are still remembered by the old Watson, like a lingering shadow.

Watson Jr. waited for his father's anger to subside, and then he whispered his idea: "IBM should take decisive action." I've been to Pennsylvania and I've had a good look at Eleek, and if we want to build a similar machine, the first priority is to recruit a large number of young engineers from all over the country who know how to use electronics. ”

Old Watson immediately asked, "Are you talking about dozens of people?" I can do it if I stay here. ”

"No, at least a few thousand, IBM engineers have to change their blood, and the days of hammering machines out of metal plates are gone."

Old Watson nodded, and he thought silently: "Maybe this kid has a point, let him try it." ”

As a child, Watson Jr. was a gentleman, but during the five years of World War II, he flew bombers for 2,500 hours and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. The war taught him to move forward and strategize, and to organize and unite his subordinates.

After several failures, Watson Sr. put the direction of IBM in the hands of his eldest son, Thomas Watson Jr. Soon, Watson Jr. implemented fundamental reforms in the direction of the company's development, and IBM began to leapfrog the tradition.

Watson Jr. promoted Wally McDowell to head of research, hired von Neumann as a stake in the company, and recruited more than 4,000 energetic young engineers and technicians. He also secured a U.S. Air Force defense engineering program and trained thousands of manufacturing and assembly workers.

After the team was ready, Watson Jr. invested $12 million at one time to develop a full-purpose electronic computer for the Department of Defense, which was called the "Defense Computer", which was later renamed the IBM 701 mainframe.

They ditched punch cards and replaced them with things they weren't familiar with in the past — tube logic circuits, core memory and tape processors — and enabled the machines to execute 17,000 instructions per second.

But what they didn't expect was that their computer was in the process of being developed, but it was completely blinded by an earth-shattering news. Carpenter's transistor computers were much better than theirs, almost two hundred times faster, and one-tenth the size and weight of them.

"Tell me! Why is it that a little-known electronics company can develop such an advanced computer! ”

When Watson Jr. learned the detailed parameters of the "first" computer, he only felt that the world was spinning. He knew that he had failed this time.

In a rage, he summoned his researchers and held an emergency meeting.

At the meeting, everyone had data from the "first" transistor computers announced by Carpenter Electronics, as well as photographs and so on. It's almost impossible to believe that their computers are a generation behind others in the development process.

Wally, who is the head of computer research and development at IBM, was careful to phrase it: "I looked at their computers and saw that they were logic modules made of bipolar transistors and integrated circuit boards, which became their CPUs." This kind of bipolar transistor and integrated circuit board has only recently been invented, and they are still inventing it themselves. In other words, if we want to reach their level, we have to design with the same transistors and integrated circuit boards. ”

The meaning of his remarks is very clear, that is, the tube computer is outdated, and the transistor computer must be used. However, the emergence of bipolar transistors and integrated circuit boards has not been long ago, which naturally has an inherent advantage for Carpenter Electronics. In other words, IBM is lagging behind people, and it is not a crime of war.

It's not that Watson Jr. doesn't understand the reasoning, it's just that he has received a notice from the Ministry of Defense that they don't need to continue to develop "defense computers". The government department has already forwarded the order to Carpenter Electronics, and the Department of Defense does not want to be a big step behind before the computer it uses has been developed.

"Then we'll overturn the plan and redo it right now!" Watson Jr. immediately said that he could not lag behind any longer, and if he failed once, IBM would probably have to withdraw from the computer field altogether.

"However, our order has not been ......," someone immediately reminded.

"Do as I say, even if we don't have an order, we will make the fastest computer in the world." Watson Jr. was angry when he heard this, but fortunately the $12 million in funds in his hand had not been fully spent, and if Carpenter Electronics had released the news of the transistor computer a year or two later, he would really not have been able to turn over completely.

On this day, Watson Jr. wrote excitedly in his memo: "We are a large enterprise with very strong funds and personnel, I really can't understand, why can't IBM be one step ahead of CPT?" The appliance subsidiary had just been acquired and reorganized from the brink of bankruptcy, and it was still producing garbage like radios for the first few months. But now the fastest computer in the world has been built all at once, which is unbelievable! ”

At this time, compared with IBM's gloomy clouds, Carpenter Electronics was jubilant. Bart had just learned that the Ministry of Defense had ordered 12 "first-generation" transistor computers at once. The profit was as high as $2 million each, which made Bart laugh so much that he couldn't close his mouth.

Not only the Ministry of Defense needs it, but other government departments have also stepped in. For them, this transistor computer is fast, small, inexpensive, and more practical. If it weren't for the production capacity of Carpenter Electronics, maybe this year's profit might have exceeded 100 million.

After the first transistor computer was unveiled, Carpenter Electronics also held a special unveiling ceremony. This was not suggested by Alex, but by Old Joe. When Bart heard this, he thought it was a good idea, so he struck while the iron was hot and invited many celebrities and journalists from the scientific community to come over.

In the face of great anticipation, 150 guests, including Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb", attended the unveiling ceremony of the "first generation" transistor computer at Carpenter Electronics, which they praised as "a contribution to the extreme intelligence of mankind."

Seeing so many scientists appear, Alex's little hands itched, and he wanted to take the sheep and copy the skills of those scientists. It's a pity that he can only copy one of them, and now he's using Shockley's skills so well that he doesn't really want to change them. In the end, I can only give up, and when I need it in the future, I will find a way to contact them.

With these powerful people on the side, Carpenter Electronics suddenly became famous in the world. Many scientists and students know that there is such a company that produced the world's first transistor computer.

Now, not only government departments want to order computers from them, but even some large enterprises have called one after another to inquire about the purchase of computers. Orders are like snowflakes, flying non-stop.

"Alex, is there any way you can add a few more lines?" Seeing this, Bart could no longer sit still. The biggest problem, he says, is that Carpenter Electronics is too slow to produce more computers.

This transistor computer is not produced by a fully mechanically automated production line, and is still built by hand.

Skilled mechanics also need to be trained to be competent, and if something goes wrong in one area, it can lead to scrap. Besides, this kind of computer with the fastest computing speed in the world, but the high-tech products that all countries want to get their hands on, without some protective measures, the US government will not be assured that Carpenter Electronics will do it.

Under various constraints, Carpenter Electronics can only produce less than 50 units per year, which is already a high output.

Alex shook his head and said, "You can discuss the production matter with others." There's nothing I can do. ”

Bart looked at Alex with a bitter face and said, "What about the new computer?" Aren't you going to get another one out again? ”

"Huh? Are you still engaged? This computer has been sold for a long time. Alex thinks Bart is a little greedy and wants a faster computer.

Barton nodded and said, "It's been a long time since it was sold." However, other companies have also started to develop transistor computers, and we have to speed up the development. ”

"So I put Seymour? Clay came in to help with the research. ”

"He? That's not going to work, he didn't even know much about transistors and computers before that. I don't dare expect him to make anything good. ”

Alex had no choice but to explain: "He was inexperienced, so I asked him to improve on the 'first' first." I think he'll soon have the experience and knowledge to do that. ”

Bart thought about it, but he had to do it. What he and Alex don't know is that there are many things in this "first generation" that are only available in later generations, and some of the design concepts in it make Seymour? Clay was eye-opening. In a hurry, Seymour? Clay was fascinated by the whimsical computer architecture. For several months, it was not possible to make a better and improved model from the original.

However, Seymour? Clay is one of the best in computer history, and it took him several years to get to the bottom of the "first" transistor computer that Alex had inadvertently leaked.

Soon, he came up with a more advanced design, which was the "Clay I" computer. This machine is much faster than the CDC7600 he originally developed in 1969, and can perform 12 million operations per second.

Inadvertently, Alex's flapping wings completely changed the scientific and technological development of this world, fanning people and things in this world to another trajectory.