The Sperry Rand Corporation
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The Sperry Rand Corporation
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Re: The Sperry Rand Corporation
#2> the Apollo missions maintained a 48kbps data connection via a UNIVAC on the ground
Intrigued by this. Found this [0] with more details, anyone know of others?
[0] https://www.zdnet.com/article/to-the-moon-ibm-and-univac-app...
Re: The Sperry Rand Corporation
#3> the Apollo missions maintained a 48kbps data connection via a UNIVAC on the ground Intrigued by this. Found this [0] with more details, anyone know of others? [0] https://www.zdnet.com/article/to-the-moon-ibm-and-univac-app...
If you want to go crazy deep into the spacecraft side, CuriousMarc has a restoration/replication series on youtube that explains it.
Re: The Sperry Rand Corporation
#4The quadrate Sperry logo is cool. It was giving me Saul Bass vibes, but I looked it up and it was from Gerald Stahl Associates. I don't have JSTOR access but would like to read this if I did: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002224296402800102 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1249219
Also really love that Varian Data Machines logo. Down-Up-G with Up interrupted (iykyk) https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Varian_Data_Machin...
Re: The Sperry Rand Corporation
#5> the Apollo missions maintained a 48kbps data connection via a UNIVAC on the ground Intrigued by this. Found this [0] with more details, anyone know of others? [0] https://www.zdnet.com/article/to-the-moon-ibm-and-univac-app...
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19670009662/downloads/19...
“The data processing system selected for the Apollo remote sites is being manufactured and assembled by the UMVAC Military System, Division of the Sperry Rand Corporation, located in St. Paul, Minnesota. The computer is identified as the UNIVAC 642 B Modified and has been designed to meet military specification. There will be two identical computing subsystems installed on each of the sites of the Apollo Tracking Network. These subsystems are identical in every respect with the exception of the mission requirements which will be assigned to each subsystem. One computer subsystem will be used for the processing of telemetry data and will also provide a command processing back-up capability. The second computer subsystem will be used for the processing of command data and will also provide a telemetry processing back-up capability. The purpose of the back-up capability is to provide continuous operation for the remote site computing requirements should either computer malfunction during a critical period of the mission.”
Re: The Sperry Rand Corporation
#6The founder of Sperry Corp is this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Ambrose_Sperry who has an incredible dossier of inventions to his name and his son Lawerence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Sperry was an aviation pioneer and inventor who invented the first guided missile, autopilot, and much more, as well as being accredited to starting the "Mile High Club". I'm reading the Elmer Sperry biography currently and its incredible how many projects they worked on in such a short span. Makes you question how productive we are in the computer age...
Re: The Sperry Rand Corporation
#7>What little hardware R&D in which the company was still engaged was split between AI focused LISP machines for which there was no immediate market, and mainframes that were a rapidly shrinking market
Sounds familiar, eliminate "LISP machines" I wonder if history is repeating itself today for many companies.
Re: The Sperry Rand Corporation
#8The quadrate Sperry logo is cool. It was giving me Saul Bass vibes, but I looked it up and it was from Gerald Stahl Associates. I don't have JSTOR access but would like to read this if I did: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002224296402800102 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1249219 Also really love that Varian Data Machines logo. Down-Up-G with Up interrupted (iykyk) https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Va…
> Also really love that Varian Data Machines logo.
I am much more familiar with seeing that logo on diffusion pumps and klystrons. Never knew they made computers.
Re: The Sperry Rand Corporation
#9The founder of Sperry Corp is this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Ambrose_Sperry who has an incredible dossier of inventions to his name and his son Lawerence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Sperry was an aviation pioneer and inventor who invented the first guided missile, autopilot, and much more, as well as being accredited to starting the "Mile High Club". I'm reading the Elmer Sperry biography cur…
> Makes you question how productive we are in the computer age...
The difference is that modern society isn’t optimized for productivity, it’s optimized for consumption and attention. 30 years ago you could go days without seeing ads, now companies send notifications to the nuisance devices in your pocket and on your wrist. It’s no wonder we have a harder time focusing and accomplishing things. Even being aware of the problem isn’t enough to fully protect one’s attention and intention.
Re: The Sperry Rand Corporation
#10The quadrate Sperry logo is cool. It was giving me Saul Bass vibes, but I looked it up and it was from Gerald Stahl Associates. I don't have JSTOR access but would like to read this if I did: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002224296402800102 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1249219 Also really love that Varian Data Machines logo. Down-Up-G with Up interrupted (iykyk) https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Va…
> Also really love that Varian Data Machines logo. I am much more familiar with seeing that logo on diffusion pumps and klystrons. Never knew they made computers.
> diffusion pumps and klystrons
Companies like Sperry Rand and Honeywell are like that. They don't put their logos on the outside boxes, but their logos are inside just about everything.