🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <38...@apple.Apple.COM>, stu...@Apple.COM (Harold Stuart) writes:
> It was called "DIGICOMP", and came in both basic and advanced models, as I
> remember.

    I just dug my DIGI-COMP 1 (the "first real operating digital
    computer in plastic") out of a box on the top of the shelf in my
    office.  It's in pretty good shape considering it's moved about
    seven times - the only things missing are the little L-shaped
    springs that served to keep the flips from flopping.

    The maker was E.S.R., inc. (Edmund Scientific???), Montclair, NJ:

	"E.S.R., Inc. was founded several years ago by three scientists
	and engineers who wanted to provide toys and educational
	devices that would have those qualities that lead children and
	adults to fuller and more successful lives - and yet bring
	enjoyment to all.  Their first attempt, DIGI-COMP 1, was an
	instant success.  Today, tens of thousands of youngsters and
	adults in America and Canada have enjoyed DIGI-COMP and now
	have been introduced to the computer field.  Over a thousand
	public and private schools have used DIGI-COMP for classroom
	demonstrations.  New textbooks in Science and Mathematics are
	including a discussion of DIGI-COMP.  With the new advanced
	manual now available for DIGI-COMP a very though examination of
	computer math an fundamentals is now a reality for all."

    Rather poignantly, the coupon for the "Detailed Programming of
    the Experiments in Digi-Comp 1" manual on the back of the `old
    unadvanced' manual that I do have is filled out in my adolescent
    scrawl.  The manual cost a dollar that I suppose I didn't have at
    the time.

    I always wondered about the `1' part of the name, perhaps the
    DIGI-COMP 2 manipulated more than a single octal digit!

> The program I remember simulated an elevator.

    The manual (dated 1963) lists the following `experiments':

	Check Out
	Final Count Down
	Automatic Elevator
	Bank Lock
	Sequential Bank Lock
	Ho-Hum (described as a `logical riddle')
	Space Ship Check Out
	Guess The Number
	Space Capsule Re-Entry
	Binary Counter
	Game of NIM
	Binary Number Comparator
	Binary addition, subtraction, multiplication, (no division...)

    The section titled `What is a Computer?' concludes with:

	"EVERYTHING YOU LEARN ON DIGI-COMP CAN BE USED ON LARGE
	ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTERS"  (capitals theirs)

Rob Seaman (Nat'l. Optical Astronomy Obs., sea...@noao.edu)