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

[stewartsage]

If only she'll give him a chance (and the 7090 girls don't sabotage him?)

[Bella]

Plot twist: the ordnance computers and 7090s try to set them up instead.

[stewartsage]

This is why I had to explain the plot of The Pajama Game to you, leading right to this very moment 

[Bella]

This is why I had to explain the plot of The Pajama Game to you, leading right to this very moment 

Diabolical. I need to draw EDVAC-tan and 728-kun like this immediately:


Additionally (I leave you to figure out who's who):

[Bella]

ACTUAL IBM-TAN ALERT!!!

Pic here

Harvard Mark I-tan a.k.a. Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) a.k.a. "Bessy, the Bessel Engine"
- Slow overall, especially in speech
    - 3 hertz clock speed
- Old fashioned even for a computer of her era
    - Debuted shortly before the rise of electronic computers
- Fondness for the Victorian era
    - Modern continuation of ideas first explored in the Difference & Analytical Engines.
- Likes textile crafts
    - See above, Jacquard Loom heritage.
- Could be said to "not fit in", but thinks of herself as standing out.
    - Aiken confident about mechanical computers, not much hand-wringing about not competing with electronic machines.
- "Clockwork"-style automaton operated by crank
    - Electro-mechanical, powered by a driveshaft.
- Fussy about appearance
    - IBM insisted upon an aesthetic case for the machine.
- Owing her New York/Bostonian/"Victorian English" heritage, has a pronounced transatlantic accent.
    - Combined with her cadence she definitely "talks oddly"
- Divorced from her IBM heritage, does not like to talk about it
    - IBM - Aiken falling out.
- Trained in astronomy, but never used her skills
    - Word length chosen for astronomical calculations, never used.
- Trouble making decisions, got better with it over time
    - No branching logic, originally.
- Meticulous with detail and planning
    - Programs had to be painstakingly prepared and checked before execution.
- Expert penmanship
    - Extremely good printing capabilities.
- Helped on the A-bomb.
    - Ran calculations for Los Alamos.

Status: ... prooooobably dead? (Has been broken into multiple pieces, though large portions of it remain remarkably intact.)

Relationships:
- Eldest of her sisters.
- Gets along well with Harvard Marks II & III
    - Mks. II & III based on Mk. I
- Largely ignores her youngest sister, Mk. IV.
    - Lone electronic computer in the lineup.
- Estranged cousin to SSEC-tan
    - Built by IBM after the falling out with Aiken.
- Maintains a friendship with Whirlwind-tan despite their differences.
    - Contemporaries as the first computers in Cambridge.
- Charmed by the smaller and simpler mechanical computer GENIAC-chan.
- Has something to say about the Bell Labs Relay Calculators, but they haven't been personified (...yet!)

Appearance & Personality:
- Average height, red-brown hair tied into two buns at the sides of her face a la Ada Lovelace, pale skin, light green eyes. Exposed metal (silver/bronze) frame on her lower legs and arms. Chest encased in glass revealing clockwork mechanisms inside.
- Has a windup-key. (Head or back, undecided.)
- Dresses in 1940s era clothing refashioned in the shape of Victorian-era garb, colorways tending toward light green, cream and bronze. Pearl necklace with one sapphire bead. Paper tape headbands and florettes, and wide paper tape ribbon on her bustle.
- Antiquated in an elevated, almost regal way. Demanding of her servants, smug about her way of doing things. Indecisiveness combined with her other quirks makes her come off as a bit spacey, in reality extremely detail-oriented and obsessive. Moves at her own pace, unbothered. Doesn't seem to care much about electronic computers, very secure in herself, no sense of inferiority even if she's not as fast or powerful as some of her contemporaries.
- Not contemplative (or ruminative) like ENIAC-sama about the nature of computers, her place in the world or legacy. Just happy to be here doing what she does best!

[stewartsage]

Hooray, Mark I!  Long overdue I think, the whole Harvard line.  Probably because they were ultimately kind of a dead end, but a very impressive one.

Her clothing in the other thread really fits the ideas you laid out.

I'm glad GENIAC-chan has another, much closer, big mechanical sister to look up to!  And another friend for Whirlwind!  The era's really starting to get crowded.

Did any institution keep a good relationship with a manufacturer long-term?

I didn't know her printer was that good, or she was originally intended for astronomical use.

[Bella]

Hooray, Mark I!  Long overdue I think, the whole Harvard line.  Probably because they were ultimately kind of a dead end, but a very impressive one.

Unfortunately I think the characterizations are going to get exponentially hard with Mks. II - IV. The documentation really falls off a cliff (unsurprising, knowing what I've learned about the isolation of Harvard's early CS program).

I'm glad GENIAC-chan has another, much closer, big mechanical sister to look up to!  And another friend for Whirlwind!  The era's really starting to get crowded.

GENIAC-chan deserves all the friends. Moreso when it's a big doll girl to look up to. I think Mk. I-tan would be a good role model and GENIAC-chan would help remind Mk. I-tan to have fun.

Is there much IRL reason for Mk. I & Whirlwind to be friends? Not really (besides MITs computer program being the only one Harvard paid much attention to, allegedly), but I'm charmed by the idea of them being fascinated with each other as reflections of who they could have been. Whirlwind-tan, if she'd lived up to her original design as a mechanical computer, and Mk. 1-tan, if fate has aligned in a way where her creator has pursued electronics instead. I do think both are grateful that the didn't turn out like the other, but feel a connection in that sense.

Also, they were two of the only local computers for awhile (with Mk. II & III moving away quite young.)

I didn't know her printer was that good, or she was originally intended for astronomical use.

Had to look up the quote myself because I couldn't remember -

The reason for the 23-decimal-digit precision is not generally known. I once queried Aiken on this point, and he replied that it had been planned to utilize the calculator to recompute the orbits of all the major planets in the solar system, and that a precision of 23 digits was judged to be necessary for this task. As it turned out, however, the machine was never used for this purpose.