How Computers Work -- Circa 1979

Guinnessy writes "In a younger, more innocent time, Ladybird Books came out with a series of children's books called "How things work." Someone has put the 1971 and 1979 versions of How Computers Work onto the web. It's a fascinating glance at how much computers have advanced since the silicon chip was introduced. State-of-the-art in 1971 consisted of fitting thirty components into a 1 cm3 volume."

OMG is this mirrored?!

[0xdeaddead]

I feel it being /.'d like now... Although I know why my computer room sucks now, our tiles are not orange... :|

dupe!!

[gambit3]

Dibs on dupe!!

Do I get a prize?

[joke]

[Lord Bitman]

[insert joke about how fascinating it is looking back at what links from two+ years ago were like here]

W00t!!1!

[Monte]

Check out those pictures of hot data-processing chixors! Man, 70s era DP babes. Be still, my heart.

Second that!

[imsabbel]

Wanted to get the link to the old article, only to realizs just HOW RETARTED ./s search fuction really is. My guess is it doesnt actually search, but randomly choses articles, and the search term seeds the rendom number generator

l337

[razathorn]

If I went back in time with my old 266 laptop and spoke leet speak... I'd get all the compu-hotties.

How Slashdot works...The Dupe!

[toupsie]

10 STORY = "How Computers Work -- Circa 1979"
20 POST STORY
30 SLEEP RAND(TIME)
40 GOTO 20

November Deja Vu

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering that Taco's original department was "doomed-to-repeat-ourselves dept" it only seems appropriate that they would rerun this one...

But, but,

[Hawthorne01]

There's no mention of Windows(tm) anywhere! How do computers work without Windows?

Re:Repost!

[madprof]

It is fascinating to see how Slashdot editing has advanced over time.
Back in November 2004 dupes were occuring only a few days apart. In July 2005 they are taking 8 months to occur!

DP, huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Man, 70s era DP babes. Be still, my heart.

Brother, double-penetration is hot, no matter what the era.

Re:How Slashdot works...The Dupe!

[hexed_2050]

That's not a correct assumption. You saw the punch cards. They said COBOL on them.

Re:But, but,

[Linker3000]

How do computers work without Windows?

Better.

Missing pages

[nizo]

The only thing missing from this manual is the picture of a crying/screaming user standing in a pile of unlabelled cards that he just spilled on the floor.

Re:Repost!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, technically it's a repost from 1979, but...

Re:How Slashdot works...The Dupe!

[ncc74656]

10 STORY = "How Computers Work -- Circa 1979"
20 POST STORY
30 SLEEP RAND(TIME)
40 GOTO 20

]RUN

?TYPE MISMATCH ERROR IN 10
]

(Hey, somebody had to post it...)

I want to be the first to do these...

[plexx]

In Soviet Russia, Computers understand how you work. In Soviet Russia, Cards punch you.

Re:Illustrations

[Monte]

Your a geek.

What about my a geek?

(I'm a grammar nazi, too.)

Re:I've got the 1979 version of this book...

[The Snowman]

Was there a "How it Works... The Woman" version of those books too?

No, there are some mysteries of the universe that cannot be explained.