The computer age dawns : the secret pioneers

Some of the boldest early steps into the computer age were taken in Britain. Alan Tu
ring, the father of modern computing, did his main work at Cambridge University before joining the team of code-breakers at Bletchley Park near Milton Keynes.

First electronic computer (1943) : the building of Colossus

By designing a huge machine now generally regarded as the world’s first programmable electronic computer, the then Post Office Research Branch
played a crucial but secret role in helping to win the Second World War. The purpose of Colossus was to decipher messages that came in on a German cipher machine, called the Lorenz SZ.

The original Colossus used a vast array of telephone exchange parts together with 1,500 electronic valves and was the size of a small room, weighing around a ton. This ‘string and sealing wax affair’ could process 5,000 characters a second to run through the many millions of possible settings for the code wheels on the Lorenz system in hours – rather than weeks.

Both machines were designed and constructed by a Post Office Research team headed by Tommy Flowers  at Dollis Hill and transported to the secret code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, where it was demonstrated on December 8, 1943. We have to fast forward nearly thirty years to 1972 for the arrival of the first desktop all-in-one computer, which are more familar to us today. That honour falls to the HP9830.  But unfortunately few people got to hear about it because Hewlett Packard marketed it primarily to scientists and engineers – by nature very quiet people!

Colossus (1941) : inside the machine

During the Second World War the Germans used a Lorenz encoding teleprinter to transmit their high-command radio messages. The teleprinter used something called the 5-bit Baudot code, which enciphered the original text by adding to it successively two characters before transmission. The same two characters were applied to the received text at the other end to reveal the original message.

Gilbert Vernam had developed this scheme in America, using two synchronised tapes to generate the additional random characters. Lorenz replaced the tapes with mechanical gearing – so it wasn’t a genuinely random sequence – just extremely complex.

But in August 1941 the Germans made a bad mistake. A tired operator sent almost the same message again, using the same wheel settings. It meant the British were able to calculate the logical structure inside the Lorenz.

Colossus was then built to find the Lorenz wheel settings used for each message, using a large electronic programmable logic calculator, driven by up to 2,500 thermionic valves. The computer was fast, even by today’s standards. It could break the combination in about two hours – the same as today’s modern Pentium PC.

Colossus Mk II (1944) : a bigger better Colossus

Without the contribution of the codebreaking activity, in which Colossus played such a major part, the Second World War would have lasted considerably longer.

By the time of the Allied invasion of France in the early summer of 1944, a Colossus Mk II (using nearly twice as many valves to power it) was almost ready.

The head of the Post Office Research Team, Tommy Flowers, had been told that Colossus Mk II had to be ready by June 1944 or it would not be of any use. He was not told the reason for the deadline, but realising that it was significant he ensured that the new version was ready for June 1, five days before D-Day.

It was in the build-up to D-Day and during the European campaign that followed that Colossus proved most valuable, since it was able to track in detail communications between Hitler and his field commanders.

Top secret : the ultimate Chinese walls

Colossus weighed around 35 tonnes in Mark II form. Its 2,500 valves, consuming 4.5 Kwatts, were spread over two banks of racks 7 feet 6 inches high by 16 feet wide spaced 6 feet apart. Thus the whole machine was around 80 feet long and 40 feet wide.

This huge machine was also one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war yet required dozens of people to build, many of them outside the military establishment in the Post Office.

Tommy Flowers was one of the very few entrusted with the overall plan – and even he didn’t know the full details of the German codes.

In order to ensure security, Colossus was broken down into modules – each given to a separate Post Office team at Dollis Hill. The teams were kept apart – each having no idea of the overall shape of the ground breaking machines they were creating.

The building of SIGSALY (1943) : pioneer digital telephone system

Another secret wartime computer whose existence was finally revealed many years later was SIGSALY – the secret ‘scrambling’ system devised to protect the security of high level Allied telephone traffic.

SIGSALY – originally codenamed Project X – was also known as ‘Green Hornet’. It was the first unbreakable speech coding system, using digital cryptography techniques, with one time digital keys being supplied by synchronised gramophone discs.

SIGSALY was built in the USA, though using pulse code modulation (PCM) digital encoding techniques invented in 1937 by the English engineer Alec Reeves.

The first priority was to protect the hotline between the Cabinet War Room bunker under Downing Street and the White House in Washington D.C. The 50-ton London terminal was shipped over in 1943 and housed in the basement of the Selfridges annexe in Oxford Street, under tight guard.

 

Source: http://www.connected-earth.com/Galleries/Frombuttonstobytes/Intothedigitalera/Thecomputeragedawns/index.htm?gclid=CL_nxPGgxJYCFRX5egodzFGrzQ

Computer memory is an essential part of the computer because it allows it to store vital information that you will need. Whether the information is in the form of pictures, data or sounds, a computer with a lot of memory can store it for you. There are three basic types of computer memory and you will need to know a little bit about each to ensure your computer is running effectively.

Random access memory or RAM is the same thing as your computer memory. RAM is the main memory center, so essentially, it is the most important. Your RAM is used almost every second you’re on your computer each day. The reason RAM is so crucial is that it is used to store your files and programs and it affects many other computer aspects as well.

DDR computer memory can be bought to increase the amount of memory you have, but first you will want to learn a little more about your computer. Understanding how it works will help you work better with your computer.

The more RAM computer memory your computer has, the faster it will work for you. If you find that you’re computer has been very slow lately, you might want to look into buying some DDR for it. If you aren’t sure what to buy or how to install it, it’s best to let a professional do it this time around. You will find that all electronic stores that sell RAM will offer optional installation services for a small fee. If you choose this option, it would be a great idea to ask them exactly what they did so you can do it yourself if the need ever arises again.

But, if you know a little something already about computer memory, why not install your DDR program yourself? It will save you some time and money and your computer will be back to working at optimal speed in no time. Either route you choose, don’t neglect the health of your computer. If it starts working differently than it ever has, get it checked out or troubleshoot the problem yourself. This will ensure that it stays working great for years to come.

 

source: http://www.articlecircle.com/computers/hardware/computer-memory-is-an-essential-part-of-the-computer.html

If your computer is shared between yourself, your children and/or your spouse you might want to know what others are using it for. Parents might need to know that their children or teens are safely surfing online and are not involved in anything they shouldn’t be. Employers might want to ensure that their employees are truly productive and not jeopardizing company security practices with their online habits and individuals may need some reassurance about what their mate is doing online.

There are several things you can do to investigate what’s happening on your computer. Computer browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape and others generally have an area within the menu of recently visited websites, Internet search history or cached temporary pages. You can manually search through these pages to obtain this information. You can sometimes see cached images or a history of URL visits or cookie listings. Alternatively, you can run software to do this for you.

It may be necessary to take the alternate route, as some individuals tend to cover their tracks by erasing the temporary cache or removing the recent history at the end of each session. Some do this to hide their tracks or protect their privacy and others have set this up manually to protect their information from Spyware. If you can’t find the information you are looking for within the computer, you can download software to help you.

One option is to download the trial version of computer monitoring software. If you like the features, you can purchase a permanent edition. Packages will allow you to install this program easily and have it run secretly in the background of the computer system. This will send you an encrypted file to any e-mail address with all the information you want. IT can tell you passwords, keystrokes, screen snapshots and more. If you want a time stamped log of every web page visited, every new instant messenger’s chat transcript, every e-mail sent or every file accessed on the hard drive you can have it all neatly sent to you in an e-mailed report.

This information can be invaluable in helping you
-Protect your children and teenagers
-Ascertain what your employees are doing on their computers
-Determine if your spouse is doing anything against the rules of your relationship such as infidelity, gambling or pornography

Investigating what’s happening may be necessary to bring you peace of mind or to protect yourself and your family. The Internet is a phenomenal tool that can help you in your day-to-day life but knowing exactly what’s going on, on that computer can also be detrimental for you.

 

source: http://www.articlecircle.com/computers/software/internet-sleuthing-for-beginners.html