...
Div | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||
|
Out of 72 proposals, 12 labs were chosen to evaluate the LINC. Many of the scientists had no prior training in computer programming or circuitry, but all learned enough over the course of a month to assemble the machines in their labs and operate them without help. The test labs worked on a variety of systems and questions, ranging from blood flow calculations in dogs, to operant conditioning in rats, to activation of single neurons in mice. After two years, all of the test labs agreed that the LINC had greatly enhanced their research, and all were loath to give up the machines loaned to them for the evaluation.
...
class | usa-width-one-half |
---|
...
Fifty original LINCs were produced and shipped to laboratories around the country at a cost of $35,000 per unit—expensive, but affordable for important laboratory equipment. A typical LINC configuration included the computer and a rack holding the tape drive, a small Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display, a control panel, and a keyboard. In contrast to the large mainframe computers typical of the time, the LINC could fit into eight square feet of space, and its components could be arranged in a variety of ways to make use of small amounts of precious bench space. Later LINC models were produced by private industry, and some of these companies were able to build on the underlying circuitry and programming to produce ever smaller computers for personal use, which eventually evolved into what we think of as personal computers today; however, the original machine, a highly specialized device for a very specific use, would never have been developed without government funding. [89.0001.014]
...