- Feb 23, 2005
- 3,100
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Backgound:
My Grandfather worked for MIT as a physicist. He found this along with other parts in the "garbage pile" where they tossed old parts/systems that were no longer being used. It was never confirmed, but my grandfather believed they are parts from the Whirwind computer. Memory modules to be more precise.
I figured after having this sit in a drawer for years, I'd put it on the web to find out if jumps out to anyone. I'd love to know what it does and what it's from.
********Update*********
So I decided to throw this question on a subreddit to try and take another crack at figuring out what this is. That lead me to start googling a bit more, where I found the DUMBKOPF 1 listed on eBay (be sure to scroll down). It had parts that look exactly like the one I have. Getting excited, I started looking around for anything on this unit but only found a light discussion about it with not a lot of useful info. Then I took a closer look at the control panels on the DUMBKOPF and saw "Phone line Demodulator". I googled that with some other keywords, and that lead me to this document from MIT's archives.
Am I on to something here? I'm trying to get in touch with my grandfather to see if any of this rings some bells. This is starting to get exciting!
My Grandfather worked for MIT as a physicist. He found this along with other parts in the "garbage pile" where they tossed old parts/systems that were no longer being used. It was never confirmed, but my grandfather believed they are parts from the Whirwind computer. Memory modules to be more precise.
I figured after having this sit in a drawer for years, I'd put it on the web to find out if jumps out to anyone. I'd love to know what it does and what it's from.
********Update*********
So I decided to throw this question on a subreddit to try and take another crack at figuring out what this is. That lead me to start googling a bit more, where I found the DUMBKOPF 1 listed on eBay (be sure to scroll down). It had parts that look exactly like the one I have. Getting excited, I started looking around for anything on this unit but only found a light discussion about it with not a lot of useful info. Then I took a closer look at the control panels on the DUMBKOPF and saw "Phone line Demodulator". I googled that with some other keywords, and that lead me to this document from MIT's archives.
Am I on to something here? I'm trying to get in touch with my grandfather to see if any of this rings some bells. This is starting to get exciting!
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