More IBM-tans III: The One With Actually More IBM-tans

[Bella]

Astrotype-tan: AKA ICS Astrotype, AKA Astrocomp AKA Astrocomp 8
-A successful example of IBM/DEC cooperation, her parents are Selectric-kun and PDP-8. (ICS used Selectric terminals with a PDP-8/L and DECTape drives)

Took me nearly five years to register that PDP-8-tan and Selectric-kun have a kid together. What, why and how?

[stewartsage]

Took me nearly five years to register that PDP-8-tan and Selectric-kun have a kid together. What, why and how?

Seriously?  I've brought it up since even!  Corporate synergy to all three.

[Bella]

Seriously?  I've brought it up since even!  Corporate synergy to all three.

Is that what we're calling it now? 🤔🤨

[stewartsage]

Is that what we're calling it now? 🤔🤨

Well, PDP-8 has a lot of kids already with the various OSes, I can easily see her teaming up with Selectric, who's a pretty affable guy to bring a joint DEC/IBM into the world for no other reason then it would be fun!

[Bella]

Well, PDP-8 has a lot of kids already with the various OSes, I can easily see her teaming up with Selectric, who's a pretty affable guy to bring a joint DEC/IBM into the world for no other reason then it would be fun!

Obsessed with PDP-8-tan and Selectric-kun overcoming a decade of DEC-IBM enmity through the power of "it would be fun". But where is LINC-tan in all this? :O

[Bella]

Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC)-tan

General facts:
- Philadelphian-turned-Marylander
    - Created at the Moore School, transported to Aberdeen Proving Ground.
- Automaton
    - Dual allusion to the simple, modular nature of ENIAC and a hint at something transcendental or supernatural about ENIAC-tan.
- Physically constrained by her construction but doesn't view it as a limitation.
    - Programmers cleverly overcame hardware limitations and used idiosyncrasies to their advantage.
- Can control different parts even if they're not articulated together. Limbs can be swapped out.
    - Modules operated independently before being linked.
- Initially animated by coordinated manipulation of her wires.
    - Early programming required manual timekeeping and rewiring.
- Poor memory in her youth. Improved later on.
    - Not stored program, originally.
- Loves her fathers & uncles, but largely socializes with and prefers the company of women otherwise.
    - Women primarily programmed & operated ENIAC.
- Lived an anchorite-like existence in her youth, walled into her "hermitage", interacted indirectly with all but her creators.
    - Security/secrecy prevented early programmers from interacting with the computer.
- Eventually debuted, but maintains a "walled garden" philosophy toward computers.
    - Proprietary approach toward ENIAC and derivatives.
- Expert marksman.
    - Used for ordnance & ballistics.
- Helped develop the hydrogen bomb, unclear whether she did so knowingly.
    - Secretly used for H-bomb calculations.
- Badly injured en route her new home.
    - Damaged in transport.
- An overhaul increased her mobility and independence at the cost of her sheer power.
    - Conversion code process made the ENIAC easier to program at the cost of speed.

Relationships:
- Daughter/heir EDVAC-tan, who has several half-sisters: EDSAC, Manchester Baby/Mark I, and IAS-tan.
    - EDVAC made by original ENIAC team. EDSAC, Manchester & IAS all derived from the "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC", sent to different organizations before completion.
- Contemptuous toward IAS-tan, whom she blames both for personal betrayal and profaning computer-kind by releasing them to the wider world.
    - Conflict surrounding ENIAC patent rights and attribution of invention of the stored program computer.
- Socialized with more computers after she moved.
- Matriarch of the Univac clan.
    - Same creative team.

Appearance & personality:
- Doll-like body, exposed sockets & wires, taller than average, medium-olive skintone, black hair styled into curls/rolls, amber-red eyes.
- Full length black dress reminiscent of a nun's habit or puritan's robes, many panels fastened with glass buttons allow her servants to maintain and swap out parts.
- Veiled wide brimmed hat generally covering her face.
- Accessories: pocket-belt, various counting beads, abacii and other calculation devices, artillery charts rolled up and carried on her back.
- Prim and proper, regal bearing that comes off as intimidating whether or not she's trying to, has a bit of a well-founded superiority complex as a computer. Gracious and patient with her caretakers. Became more relaxed and sociable with time. Trust issues, does not forget or forgive offenses.
- Philosophical about the nature and duty of computers, ruminates frequently on her own purpose and place in the cosmos and that of others.

Status:
- Died to a lightening strike in 1955.
- Rumors abound that her spirit stalks the earth.
    - There are a *lot* of ENIAC emulators.
- Elaborate mythology (or is it?) about her haunting the many-times-great-grandchildren of her betrayer.