Retro computing ahead of its time

Today, CPU speeds are measured in gigahertz. Our RAM size is measured in gigabytes. Our machines are thousands of times faster than when home computing started. It’s easy to look at how far computing has progressed and be smug. But is it possible that we think we’ve progressed further than we really have?

Try watching old episodes of The Computer Chronicles or The Computer Programme (BBC, all on Youtube now) and it can be very surprising to see what they could do with technology of the past – computers that were thousands of times slower than what we have now, or just entirely different. From analogue and mechanical computing, to early inter-planetary digital photography; from early multimedia, to an internet before the internet – history is full of technological sophistication, largely driven by methodologies that have fallen out of favor.

Join us as we look back through computing history at accomplishments that seem almost impossible for the tech of the day. We’ll look at computing before the modern digital age, 20th-century technology ahead of its time, and a special look at the most tech-mad decade of all: The 80s.

Ancient and not-so-ancient computing feats

Computing’s distant past is full of incredible engineering feats, with computing accomplishments that boggle the 21st-century mind. Here’s a small selection of computing feats that happened earlier than anyone would believe.

Ismail al-Jazari: ancient robotics

Considered by many as the father of robotics, Ismail al-Jazari (1136-1206) designed the first humanoid “automatons,” and could also be considered as a sort of ancient open-source advocate.

In 1206 al-Jazari compiled his works into a tome dubbed The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices. Al-Jazari included meticulous diagrams on how his machines were constructed, and his book is often considered a DIY guide. While other inventors used obscure language, limiting their works to elite circles, al-Jazari used plain language that was accessible to a wider audience in the hope that others would continue his work.

Al-Jazari’s inventions were