TR 4 (calculator)

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Telefunken TR 4

TR 4 ( Telefunken computer) is the name of the first mainframe computer developed in Europe . The prototype was designed in Backnang from 1956 by the Telefunken long-distance traffic systems division (AW). The first system was presented to the public at the Hanover Fair in 1962 and was at that time the largest digital computer developed in Europe . With peripherals it cost about 5 million German marks .

The first series system was put into operation in 1962 at the Institute for Applied Mathematics at the University of Hamburg . In the following two years, the Backnang plant delivered three more TR 4s to the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Federal Institute for Air Traffic Control (BFS) and the NRW Ministry of Finance , before mainframe development and production moved to the Telefunken facility established there in 1959 in Konstanz . Information technology department was relocated.

23 systems had been installed by 1967, 19 of them in Germany. A total of around 35 systems are said to have been in operation. The Telefunken mainframes were u. a. at the data centers of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , the University of Stuttgart , the University of Marburg , as well as the Bundeswehr , the financial administration, the Federal Post Office and the Federal Agency for Air Traffic Control.

The computer was a binary parallel computer with semiconductor circuits with a clock frequency of 2 MHz. As the main memory , it had a ferrite core memory with 28,672 words and a permanent memory with 4096 words of 50 bits each (2 bits of which were type IDs similar to those of its successor model TR 440 ), which corresponds to around 0.2 MB.

The data input and output was carried out by means of magnetic tape , punched tape and card reader or punch, line printer , plotter and control typewriter. Later a stepped disk space added.

The operating system was developed in cooperation between Telefunken and the Commission for Electronic Computing of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and the computer center of the Technical University of Munich (today Leibniz computer center ). In addition to the operating system and utilities were Assembler external code SUSA and TEXAS , the Algol - compiler ALCOR and a Fortran compiler available.

The computer was u. a. used by Rudolf Allmann , Hans Burzlaff , Erwin Hellner and Werner Fischer for crystal structure analyzes.

References and comments

  1. ↑ In relation to 1962, adjusted for inflation, this corresponds to around 11,060,000 euros in today's currency. This figure was based on the template: Inflation determined, rounded to 1000 euros and applies to the previous January
  2. ↑ a b c Gerd Sapper: TELEFUNKEN TR4 at the Leibniz data center. May 13, 2007, accessed August 18, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b Hans-Joachim Albinus: Hardware Museum (XII): AEG-Telefunken TR 440. (PDF) Die Zeit, November 6, 1996, accessed on August 18, 2014 (the TR 4 is briefly described here as the predecessor of the TR 440) .
  4. ↑ University Computing Center University of Marburg: Historical Development of the HRZ. May 5, 2012, accessed January 7, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Digital computing system TR 4. (PDF) Telefunken GmbH, June 1959, accessed on April 28, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Telefunken Informationstechnik digital computer TR 4 - information about the input and output
  7. ↑ a b Telefunken digital computer system TR4 - operating manual
  8. ^ O. Fröhlich: The central computer system of the Philipps University . In: alma mater philippina . WS 1970/71, pages 24-28
  9. ↑ University Computing Center University of Marburg: Historical Development of the HRZ. October 13, 2013, accessed January 7, 2015 .
  10. ↑ a b Telefunken mainframe system TR 4 - operating system
  11. ↑ Telefunken Informationstechnik digital computer TR 4 - service programs
  12. ↑ Telefunken programming manual digital computer system TR4 - Instructions for programming in external code
  13. ↑ Telefunken Informationstechnik digital computer TR 4 - ALCOR TR 4 (1) (ALGOL formula translator)
  14. ↑ Telefunken TR 4 program library TEXAS - Description of the language and the use of the TEXAS operator .
  15. ↑ Telefunken TR 4 program library - SUSA super program for symbolic addressing .
  16. ↑ Telefunken digital computing system TR4 - FORTRAN manual