The Univac 1830, DOD designated CP-823/U Digital Avionics Engineering Prototype computer is a direct descendant of several discrete 30-bit Univac / Military shipboard computers. The AN/USQ-17 (NTDS) 6-built, the CP-642A (Univac 1206) 142 built and the CP-642B (Univac 1212) 241 built. Although the CP-823/U was the first digital computing system and was designed and built from the ground up, the 30-bit Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) it used was tried and true.
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The CP-823/U was extensively tested in and out of the aircraft from 1965-1968. After the U.S. Navy was finished with the CP-823/U (Univac 1830) and Project A-NEW MOD III, the computing system was donated to the Drexel Institute of Technology, name changed to Drexel University in 1970. I have a few documents from Drexel in 1970-1973: The work order to rewire the room used to house the Univac 1830, the generator manual, daily logs of operation of the 1830, an Operator's Manual written by Drexel students and a list of students operating the CP-823/U. The fact that the Univac 1830 was in operation at one of the country's premier research technical schools explains the high hours of usage shown on the control panel, (assuming the hours clock was operational). This could have been the beginning of Drexel's Electrical Engineering lab expanding into a Computer Science lab. These days, it's easy to forget that these early computers were based on electrical currents and magnetic fields. |
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