The computing world was our oyster

© Mark Ollig

From April 15 to 17, 1977, a first-of-its-kind computer convention called The West Coast Computer Faire took place.

The convention, held inside the San Francisco Civic Auditorium and Brooks Hall, was organized by Jim Warren and Bob Reiling.

Here, one could participate in computer-related conferences and technical seminars.

Attendees walked the show floor checking out the newest computers for 1977 tailored to small businesses and home computer users.

The computer fair showcased computing video games, speech recognition systems, musical synthesizers, and many new electronic devices, including a Projection TV system.

Two young men, Steve Wozniak, 26, and Steve Jobs, 22, introduced their new Apple II computer to the public during the computer fair.

As we all know, the Apple II became one of the first popular home computers, and the rest, as they say, is history.

A month after the West Coast Computer Faire, in the microcomputer magazine called BYTE, Steve Wozniak, when explaining the design for the Apple II, wrote, “To me, a personal computer should be small, reliable, convenient to use, and inexpensive.”

Other home computers introduced are the Tandy/Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Model 1 Micro Computer System and the Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) computer.

The West Coast Computer Faire was well-represented by people from the home computer hobbyist community, including the two largest amateur computer organizations: the Homebrew Computer Club and the Southern California Computer Society.

The computer fair showcased 180 exhibitors, and its official total attendance was 12,657.

A variety of computer terminals were on display, including the Dataspeed 40 computer terminal system. It operates at 1,200 bps (bits per second) and features a keyboard, CRT (cathode ray tube) display screen, and a small printer. This data terminal, made by the Teletype Corporation, which during 1977, is a subsidiary of Western Electric Company, the manufacturing arm of the Bell Telephone System owned by AT&T.

ComputerWorld magazine featured a 1977 ad for the Bell System Dataspeed 40 terminal system. I it saved at https://bit.ly/3gBGbOw.

Computer fair attendees played video games with names like Tank War, Space War, and Chase using the Cromemco Z-2 microcomputer system.

The games’ graphics and sound effects proved very popular with the younger kids (now in their mid to late 50s), who controlled the action using two joysticks.

The Cromemco Z-2 microcomputer used the Zilog Z80 8-bit microprocessor chip and a 4 MHZ 250-nanosecond cycle-time board.

This microcomputer’s all-metal, square-boxed chassis included 21 printed wiring card slots.

The Cromemco Z-2 microcomputer retailed for $595 ($2,600 in 2021) and could be ordered as a kit or fully assembled. I uploaded a picture of it from a 1977 magazine ad: https://bit.ly/2S9kOKp.

During the late 1970s, I read through many BYTE magazines, luring me with their stories of how I could build my very own computer and learn how to use DOS (disk operating system) commands.

Berkeley, CA-based NorthStar Computers, displayed their floppy-disk equipped North Star Micro Disk System at the West Coast Computer Faire.

Its operating system used North Star DOS (disk operating system) and its high-level computer programming language called North Star BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code).

Check out this 1977 copy of the 23-page “North Star BASIC Version 6” manual describing BASIC machine line commands: https://bit.ly/32MgjYb.

A company called Heuristics Inc. demonstrated their new product, called SpeechLab. This peripheral hardware allowed a computer to recognize human speech and cost $300 ($1,311 in 2021).

An Aug. 15, 1977 ComputerWorld magazine article explained how SpeechLab digitized and removed the data from a “speech wave form” and then applied a pattern-matching technique to recognize the vocal input.

SpeechLab used 64 bytes of storage per spoken word.

The article is titled, “System Allows S-100 Vocal Input.”

The screen snapshot I took of the complete article is here: https://bit.ly/2S8DfPn.

People curious to learn how a microcomputer and software could help their businesses in 1977 also attended the computer fair.

They learned about using word processing programs and how customized software could track their companies’ inventory.

The computer fair also had many individuals stopping in to see how a home personal computer could benefit their everyday lives.

Many of us who lived through it feel The West Coast Faire was the primary fuel for the start of the home personal computer and small-business computer era.

The 1977 poster announcing “The First West Coast Computer Faire” can be seen at https://bit.ly/3sT8niv.

Back then, 44 years ago, the small business and home computing world was our oyster.

‘And best wishes from this side of the pond!’

© Mark Ollig

In 1991, a group of academic researchers worked at the University of Cambridge, England, in a computer science study lab called the Trojan Room.

These researchers spent most nights busy on their computer keyboards writing and coding software programs.

Their computers operated over the university’s in-house local area network (LAN).

Like most coders and programmers, they consumed generous amounts of coffee.

Of course, having a freshly-brewed pot of coffee available at all times is of the utmost importance to most of us.

Walking up quite a few stairs to get to the coffee machine was required by the researchers working on the building’s lower floors, while those on the upper floors walked down several stairs.

They carried their empty coffee cup during the journey up and down the stairs, not knowing whether there would be any coffee available in the pot.

As you assumed, there was one coffee machine serving the whole building.

Understandably, frustration would set in whenever a researcher with an empty cup in hand discovered an empty coffee pot.

One practical solution would have been to install more coffee machines, but we must remember; the university and academic researchers were living within a nominal budget.

The researchers gathered, pooled their talents, and came up with a resourceful plan.

They decided each of their computer screens would show the amount of coffee remaining in the coffee pot in near real-time.

This innovative plan developed into what became known as XCoffee.

The Trojan Room contained several shelving racks containing new computer servers.

The researchers discovered a spare Acorn Archimedes computer server installed with the X Window System protocols, thus providing the name for XCoffee.

This computer contained a gray-scale video-frame grabber circuit card.

The frame grabber is a device that takes a picture, captures still-frame analog images, and saves them digitally.

The first frame grabbers could only grab and save one still-frame digital image at a time.

Using a retort stand for holding scientific equipment, the researchers mounted a video camera onto it and pointed the lens towards the coffee machine, zooming in on the coffee pot.

They then ran all the cabling under the floor from the coffee camera location to the Acorn Archimedes computer server in the Trojan Room.

Paul Jardetzky coded a server software computer program that would run on the Acorn Archimedes computer.

The computer’s video-frame grabber circuitry captured live still-frame images of the coffee pot about once every three seconds.

Quentin Stafford-Fraser, a researcher in the Trojan Room, worked on an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) communication switching network. He wrote the code for the “coffee client” software computing program.

Stafford-Fraser’s client software program operated on the researchers’ computers in the building connected to the university’s internal data network.

The client software then communicated with the Acorn Archimedes computer’s newly-written server software.

The client program displayed the latest image of the coffee pot onto a corner of the display screen on a researcher’s computer – so they saw a near real-time picture of the coffee pot and, thus, the amount of coffee in it.

It took about a day for the programmers to get the XCoffee camera software program fully up and running over the university’s LAN.

The program operated over an MSNL (Multi-Service Network Layer) protocol designed for ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) networks.

At the push of a button, updated images of the coffee pot appeared inside a small insert display on the researcher’s computer screen.

This solution was accepted by everyone because, according to Stafford-Fraser, the coffee pot filled rather slowly, and since they were using a greyscale photo capture, the images looked fine.

The researchers working at the university could see the amount of coffee remaining in the coffee pot on their computer screen.

They could now see when the coffee was brewing and confidently leave their computer station with a coffee cup in hand, knowing there was coffee waiting for them in the pot.

Regularly updated 128-by-128 greyscale pixel images of the coffee pot broadcast onto the internet beginning in 1992 became popular within the online community.

A 1992 snapshot from a MOSAIC (one of the first web browsers) of the XCoffee webcam is at https://bit.ly/3x9gISs.

A night light was placed near the coffee pot so that while Cambridge slept, online users worldwide could still monitor the updated images of the coffee pot.

“The lights in the Trojan Room aren’t always switched on, but we try to leave a small lamp pointing at the coffee pot so you can see it at night,” a message on the XCoffee webcam displayed.

By 1994, remotely monitoring the Cambridge coffee pot on the internet went viral all over the world.

The same year, a reporter from a local BBC radio station interviewed the XCoffee university researchers to discuss “The Cambridge University Coffee Machine.”

Here is the audio from the 1994 BBC Radio Cambridge interview: http://bit.ly/2ooUg4G.

You can see a photo of the famous coffee pot taken from one of the researcher’s computer screens at https://bit.ly/3n0eRut.

Sadly, the XCoffee webcam broadcast over the internet ended on Aug. 22, 2001.

A University of Cambridge link with the last message about the XCoffee webcam exists at http://bit.ly/2o6mKP7.

I corresponded with one of the researchers who built the XCoffee webcam, Quentin Stafford-Fraser, who still lives in England. I expressed my admiration regarding his ingenuity and that of the other researchers.

“Thanks Mark, and best wishes from this side of the pond!” Stafford-Fraser replied to me.

The actual image of the coffee pot has it
 appeared on one of the researcher’s computer screens.

Snapshot taken from a MOSAIC browser in about 1992.

Apollo 12 meets Surveyor 3 on the moon

© Mark Ollig

NASA’s Surveyor 3 robotic lander touched down on the moon, April 20, 1967, near the edge of a crater in the Oceans of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum).

Communication with Surveyor 3 took place using NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) radio-telemetry system.

The DSN is an interconnected global array of giant radio antennas located in California, Spain, and Australia. NASA uses it for communicating with Earth-orbiting and interplanetary spacecraft.

Surveyor 3’s lunar soil surface sampler dug 7 inches into the lunar soil and sent photographs of it back to NASA to determine the soil’s properties, including strength, texture, and structure.

The Hughes Aircraft Company manufactured the Surveyor 3 lunar lander, and its television camera used a Vidicon tube initially developed by RCA back in the 1950s.

The lander was operational on the moon until May 4, 1967, when NASA received its last stream of data.

NASA confirmed Surveyor 3 completed all of its mission objectives.

In all, Surveyor 3 transmitted 6,326 photographs back to Earth.

The Apollo 11 lunar module named Eagle landed on the moon, July 20, 1969, in the Sea of Tranquility.

The Eagle was 950 miles west of Surveyor 3.

Apollo 12 astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. and Alan Bean landed their lunar module named Intrepid, Nov. 19, 1969, just 535 feet northwest of Surveyor 3.

Some 60 miles above the moon inside the Apollo 12 command module named Yankee Clipper, astronaut and command module pilot Richard Gordon Jr. was able to see both the Intrepid and Surveyor 3 using a 28-power sextant telescope.

During the Intrepid astronauts’ second lunar extravehicular activity, November 20, astronauts Conrad and Bean walked to the Surveyor 3 landing site.

There, they retrieved parts from the lunar lander, including its 17-pound television camera, because NASA scientists wanted to study the effects of long-term exposure to the moon’s elements on the camera’s gears, motors, optics, metals, and lubricants.

The astronauts collected the camera, motorized soil scoop, television camera cable, and aluminum tubing.

The scientists back on Earth were particularly interested in the cable because of the biological organisms it carried from Earth and wanted to know if any had survived.

Conrad and Bean reported the Surveyor 3 footpad marks were still visible and that the entire spacecraft had a brownish appearance.

The astronauts took many photographs before removing any parts from Surveyor 3 to be brought back to Earth.

Surveyor 3’s television camera is now on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

It is important to note that about 37 seconds after Apollo 12 lifted off the launch pad from Cape Canaveral, it was struck by lightning, knocking out all of its onboard instrumentation systems and telemetry with Mission Control in Houston, TX.

“What the hell was that?” exclaimed the command module pilot Richard Gordon.

“I just lost the whole platform,” commander Charles Conrad Jr. reported to Mission Control.

“Okay. We just lost the platform, gang. I don’t know what happened here; we had everything in the world drop out,” Conrad said.

Loud voices in Mission Control were trying to figure out what course of action to take.

Mission Flight Controller John Aaron realized the Signal Conditioning Electronics were down.

“Flight try SCE to Aux,” Aaron recommended to Mission Flight Director Gerry Griffin.

Mission Control radioed Apollo 12, “Apollo 12, Houston. Try SCE to Auxiliary. Over.”

“Try FCE to Auxiliary. What the hell is that?” Conrad questioned Mission Control.

“SCE – SCE to Auxiliary,” Mission Control slowly repeated with emphasis.

“Try the buses. Get the buses back on the line,” Conrad urgently called out to the other two astronauts in the Command Module.

Meanwhile, there was genuine concern Mission Control would need to abort the Apollo 12 mission.

Fortunately, astronaut Alan Bean was familiar with the SCE switch located inside the command module. Turning around in his seat, he flipped SCE to AUX, which restored and normalized Apollo 12’s instrumentation data and telemetry transmissions.

Apollo 12 was able to complete its mission to the moon and visit the Surveyor 3 lunar lander.

Sadly, each year we are losing more astronauts who took part in those historic Apollo moon missions.

Apollo 12 Commander Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. died July 8, 1999, Command Module Pilot Richard Gordon Jr., Nov. 6, 2017, and Lunar Module Pilot, Alan Bean, passed away May 26, 2018.

A July 9, 2013 photograph taken from the moon orbiting Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the Apollo 12 Intrepid descent stage and the Surveyor 3 lunar lander on the moon’s surface. You can see this photo at https://go.nasa.gov/3dSRn6l.

My Apollo 12 "SCE to AUX" coffee cup, Lunar Module,
 and Astronaut.

Where no spacecraft has gone before

© Mark Ollig

 

In 1977, NASA launched two identical deep-space probes named Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 from Cape Canaveral, FL.

Because Voyager 2 needed to travel on a precise trajectory to pass closely by our solar system’s outermost planets, it launched on Aug. 20, 1977, 16 days ahead of Voyager 1, which launched on Sept. 5.

Each spacecraft measures 66-feet long, 12-feet wide, and 7.5-feet tall.

The two Voyagers have been operational for nearly 44 years. They continue to receive commands from NASA and transmit data back to Earth.

Both have explored our solar system, sending photos and scientific data back to Earth.

The two spacecraft have left our solar system by breaching the heliosphere and are currently voyaging through interstellar space.

Voyager 1 is presently 14.1 billion miles from Earth and traveling at 38,000 mph, while its companion, Voyager 2, is 11.8 billion miles out and moving at 34,300 mph.

To put these distances into perspective, Earth is now 240,377 miles from the moon, 93.03 million miles from the sun, and 168.4 million miles from Mars.

Because they are traveling away from the sun, the Voyagers cannot use solar panels to generate electricity.

Instead, with the Department of Energy’s cooperation, NASA placed ten pounds of plutonium-238 aboard each Voyager.

That’s right. Voyager is powered by “nuclear batteries.”

Each Voyager spacecraft power system consists of three separate 83-pound radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) that produce electrical power using heat from the plutonium’s natural radioactive decay.

After the Voyagers launched from Earth, the RTGs generated 400 watts of power to operate the scientific instrumentation, the crafts thruster maneuverability, and communications with Earth.

Over the years, NASA needed to turn off the cameras and some onboard electrical instrumentation to conserve energy.

Voyager 1 currently has four scientific instruments active, while Voyager 2 has five.

At this time, each spacecraft is operating using 249 watts of power.

As power availability decreases, NASA will send commands to turn off additional electrical instrumentation on each spacecraft to prevent power demands from exceeding its supply.

Because of their current distance away from our solar system, Voyager 1 and 2 have the best chance of escaping our eventual celestial cataclysm once the sun runs out of hydrogen and the Earth becomes no more.

Our world may disappear, but it is possible – barring any unforeseen accidents, such as an encounter with meteorites – that at least one of the Voyagers will survive and continue to carry with them information about Earth.

Attached to each Voyager spacecraft is Earth’s “message in a bottle” to whoever finds it in the vast ocean of space.

Both Voyagers carry duplicate messages etched onto a 12-inch gold-plated 33-RPM audio LP copper disk (a phonograph record) known as the “golden record.”

Each record contains the sounds and images selected to represent the diversity of life and culture on Earth.

NASA formed a committee headed by the late astronomer Carl Sagan to select the contents recorded on the golden records.

Sagan and his team included 115 images and 90 minutes of analog audio recordings, including Earth’s naturally made sounds such as wind, thunder, birds, whales, and other animalls.

Each disk attached to Voyager 1 and 2 includes music and spoken greetings in 60 human languages.

Each golden record is coated in copper and gold and is encased inside a protective aluminum jacket to protect them on their journey.

Fastened to the spacecraft are a stylus, cartridge, and symbolic language instructions explaining the Voyager spacecraft’s origin and how to play the record.

I wonder if NASA included a penny to place on the tonearm in case the needle skips.

But I digress.

In 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will be within 1.6 light-years (9.3 trillion miles) of a star in the constellation of Camelopardalis. In 1977, NASA scientists believed that this star might have planets nearby possessing an intelligent civilization.

NASA is still receiving Voyager 1 and 2’s telemetry data and can send commands to both, via the three giant radio antennas located in Australia, Spain, and the United States, which make up the Deep Space Network (DSN).

By 2025, the plutonium aboard both Voyagers will have decayed to the point where it will no longer be sufficient for the radioisotope thermoelectric generators to create the wattage needed to operate the electronic data-collection instruments, which, as a result, will begin to fail.

NASA states the DSN will still be able to track both Voyager spacecraft through 2036.

In 2167, 190 years after their launch, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 will have completely depleted their supply of plutonium-238.

Even without power, forward momentum will propel both spacecraft through interstellar space, with each carrying a golden record containing information about our world.

A logical, reasoning intellect may someday discover one of the Voyagers, obtain the information from the golden record, learn of our existence, listen to our long-stilled voices, and know we were here.

Check out Voyager’s golden record at https://go.nasa.gov/2OlA2Kv.

Space is the final frontier, and Voyager 1 and 2 continue to boldly go where no spacecraft has gone before.