|
HISTORY OF
ELECTRICAL AND
ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
AT CAL POLY
|
BY
WAYNE E.
McMORRAN
1998
|
2
|
COMPUTATION IN THE EE (EL) DEPARTMENT |
|
Engineers have always needed to compute things. The idea
of a digital computer was developed in the 19th center but technology limited
what could be done. In 1946, when the EE and the EL departments were
formed, the only computer in existence (in the U.S.) was the EINIAC.
No commercial computers were available until 1951 (the UNIVAC). So, then,
what did students in EE and EL use for computing resources?
|
|
Above is shown a Pickett company slide rule (photo courtesy
of Pickett) similar to the one owned by the author. It was metal
and about a foot long. The author also owned a K&E slide rule
similar to the one below (courtesy of K&E).
|
 |
No engineering student would dare venture out in public
(on campus) without his (or her) slide rule in its "holster" and hanging
from the belt. It didn't matter whether you planned to use it or
not, you just had to have it there! There were continual debates
on whether one should use a wood (bamboo) or metal slide rule; whether
K&E, Post, Pickett, etc. made the best rule; what scales it should
have; etc. If you were really into it, you bought a really long one
(about 20 inches) so you could get better precision. There were also circular
ones. As simple a mechanism as the slide rule was, with a lot a practice
and training, one could do really significant computations rapidly with
one. An excellent source of additional information on slide rules
may be found at: http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/sruniverse.html
|
One can not comment on computing in the EE and EL Department
without commenting some on computing on the campus as a whole. The
first computer on the Cal Poly campus was a Bendix G15 computer, obtained
in 1960. It was a small, vacuum tube computer which was being repaired
more than it was being used to compute. Professor Ralph Weston, of
the Math Department, taught courses in programming this machine and was
the "director of the computer center" (a half-time position)
|
The first "real" computer on campus was an IBM 1620 Computer,
obtained in 1963. This was a "fabulous" machine with a total of 20KB
of memory (Yes, that is a K, not an M, and the bytes were 6-bit ones).
We could have gotten more done with it by increasing the size of the memory
to 40K but the University could not afford the cost of leasing it.
Shortly after its arrival, the EL department managed to obtain IBM's original
entry into circuit analysis with ECAP (Electric Circuit Analysis Program).
It did DC, AC and Transient analysis. The author decided once
decided to try the transient analysis part. A simple problem
was loaded into memory and the program started at about 5:00PM one day.
The lights were turned off and the door of the computer center locked.
The author returned the next morning to see the program finish up at about
9:00 AM! The data was wrong so the output was useless! So much
for any real circuit analysis. The only significant use of
this computer by Engineering Students was in learning the FORTRAN language.
|
In the late '60s, the current Computer Science Building
was constructed. along with it came an IBM system 360, model 40 computer.
With this addition, it was possible to assign engineering homework that
involved computer solutions. Most professors were reluctant to assign
any significant homework to be done on the computer due to the slow "turn
around time." Students would punch their programs and/or data up
on IBM cards and submit them to the computer center. If they were
really lucky, they could pickup the computer output the next day.
usually it was two and sometimes three days. Then, if an error was
made in punching a card, the process would have to be repeated.
|
In the early '70s, a DEC PDP11 minicomputer was acquired
along with a number of remote terminals - the first "timeshare" system
on campus. This eliminated the turn around time experience with the
system 360. With interactive computing, the results were returned
immediately. This was truly a novel experience. Now some professor
began to rely on this system to provide solutions to homework problems.
There was still a reluctance on the part of many faculty to rely very heavily
on campus computer resources. It was not until the department obtained
its own resources that extensive use was made of the computer in the class
room.
|
| DEPARTMENTAL COMPUTERS |
The only computer that the EE Department owned prior to
the merger of it and the EL department was the Burroughs computer, described
in Professor Anderson's history. It was a vacuum tube machine and
never was put into a fully operational state.
|
The EL department was later in getting any computers.
In the early '60s, Clearance Radius (the Department Head) would call me
into his office and ask if we should accept a computer that some company
wished to donate. I would ask one question; "Is a vacuum tube computer?"
The answer was invariably "yes" and my response was "no!" Companies
were unloading their vacuum tube computers because of the tremendous maintenance
costs. If they couldn't afford it, we surely couldn't.
|
The first computer the EL Department obtained was a new,
solid state "Bi-Tran-6" computer manufactured by Fabritek. It had
128 6-bit bytes of memory! It obviously was not meant for doing computation.
It was for laboratory experiments. Every flip-flop and register was
brought out on the front panel to an indicator and push button. It
was a really neat machine to teach basic computer architecture on (although
its architecture was a bit strange).
|
The next computer was a Univac missile guidance computer.
It, too, was solid state and cost the U.S. tax payer over $5M (in 1998
dollars). It was an unusual machine in a number of aspects.
It had two consols, the one located with the tracking equipment and used
to guide the missile and another maintenance console where every flip-flop
and register could be viewed and set or reset manually. We only got
the maintenance console which was very useful in teaching computer architecture.
It was extremely reliable (no faiures in the time we had it) and it ought
to have been with gold plated contacts and with the PC boards hermetically
sealed in stainless steel cans. It also had a "battle short" button
which we, evenetially, learned was pressed 5 seconds before a missile was
launched - it bypassed all the fuses and circuit breakers in the machine
- the machine would melt down before it would quit!
|
The first "real" computer acquired was an HP2115 minicomputer,
acquired in the mid '70s. It was used in laboratory work for many
years. Since then the number of computers in the department has grown
exponentially with computers on every laboratory work station, every faculty
and staff office, and other places as well, including the machine bringing
you this information.
|
| PERSONAL COMPUTERS |
| We have already noted that every student had his or her
own personal computer from the beginning - a slide rule. The slide
rule gave way to the "electronic slide rule" (electronic calculators in
the 70's. The advantage of this over the slide rule, as Professor
Cirovic was quick to point out, was that the student could now get the
wrong answer to much greater precision! While the calculator is still
useful where one may not want to carry a computer around, today's engineering
student is at a considerable loss if he or she does not have their own
computer. Comparing prices (in constant 1998 dollars) a student in
1956 (when I became a student at Cal Poly) would have to spend about $300
for a good engineering slide rule and another $600 or $700 for a typewriter.
For $1000 today, a student can buy a fairly decent computer system (although
a somewhat more expensive one would be a wiser buy) |
