mesbooks Chapter 714 Pangu No. 1 Makes a Stunning Debut
Chapter 714 Pangu No. 1 Makes a Stunning Debut
A Chinese engineer in his thirties, wearing black-rimmed glasses and a neat white lab coat, walked onto the stage.
Behind him, staff pushed up a huge square object covered with dark red velvet.
A few whispers arose from the audience.
Electronic computing?
This term is still unfamiliar to most ordinary people.
Only a few well-informed people or industry insiders vaguely knew that a university in the White Eagles seemed to be working on some kind of massive general-purpose computer.
Engineer Fang Qiming, with the focused expression typical of a technologist, first bowed slightly to the audience, then walked to the covered object. Without any further pleasantries, he reached out and lifted the velvet cloth.
Under the spotlight, a light gray, simple and square metal cabinet, about the size of two large standing freezers, was presented to the crowd.
There are several indicator lights on the front of the cabinet, a narrow display window at the top, and a keyboard with many keys embedded in it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first commercial electronic computer launched by our Nanhua Electronics Manufacturing Group - Pangu No. 1 Commercial Edition."
Fang Qiming's voice came through the loudspeaker clearly.
He began by introducing the technical specifications:
"This machine uses transistors as the core logic element, with approximately 6000 transistors integrated throughout. Compared to traditional vacuum tubes, it has significant advantages in terms of small size, low power consumption, long lifespan, and high reliability."
"Its continuous computing speed can reach 10,000 addition operations per second, or other calculations of corresponding complexity."
"Equipped with direct keyboard input and 512 bytes of magnetic core memory, it can temporarily store programs and data, enabling a more flexible computing process."
"The requirements for the overall operating environment have been greatly reduced; it can operate with only standard mains power and a normal indoor environment..."
His introduction was professional and down-to-earth, without any exaggerated adjectives.
But with each parameter announced, the expressions of those in the know in the audience changed slightly.
In the front row of the audience, a bald, middle-aged white man in a wrinkled Brazilian suit, happily drinking a bottle of pineapple soda (a specialty of Southeast Asia), suddenly widened his eyes upon hearing "ten thousand times per second," letting out a strange gurgling sound. The next second—
"puff--!!!"
The pale yellow soda mixed with saliva sprayed in a mist all over the back of the neck of the unlucky guy in front of him.
But he was completely oblivious, staring intently at the machine on the stage, his mouth agape as if he could fit a pineapple inside.
He is William Harkness, Associate Dean of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and a key participant in the ENIAC project.
His trip was commissioned by the university and some foundations, ostensibly for academic exchange, but in reality, he was driven by a condescending curiosity to see what this backward and barbaric corner of Asia could produce, and incidentally to assess whether there were any pitiful technological sparks that could be offered guidance.
He was just enjoying his Nanyang-style fruit-flavored soda, but now he felt his worldview had been shattered by that gray metal cabinet.
"How many? Ten thousand times? Fxxk!" Harkness blurted out a curse instinctively, drawing stares from those around him, but he didn't care about etiquette. "The volume... is only that small? Damn, how did they do that? Transistors? Texas Instruments only started mass production of those not long ago, did they?"
We used 18000 vacuum tubes, occupied an entire basketball court, and the speed... the speed was only 5000 times.
ENIAC is the "world's first" that he and his colleagues and students have spent years and a lot of money building. It is their pride in proving to the world that White Eagle Technology is absolutely leading.
But this machine from Southeast Asia is so small it could fit in an office, twice as fast, and uses advanced transistors? Keyboard input? Internal memory?
"Price? What did they say? Commercial version? Mass production? Not a prototype?" Harkness felt his blood pressure soar and his ears ring. "Really? Are you kidding me? This can't be."
When Fang Qiming calmly announced the "base price, three hundred thousand dollars," Harkness completely lost his composure. He grabbed his hair and groaned, "Oh my God, three hundred thousand? Cheaper than the cost of ENIAC? What are we building then? Expensive junk?!"
Harkness's outburst was just the tip of the iceberg.
After a few seconds of dead silence, the knowledgeable Western engineers, scholars, military attachés, and intelligence personnel in the audience erupted into a huge uproar.
"impossible."
"It's a lie, absolutely an exaggeration."
"Transistors? Aren't those still in the laboratory stage?"
"Ten thousand times? I need to see actual testing."
"Three hundred thousand? Are they crazy, or am I crazy?"
Many people instinctively stood up, craned their necks, and squeezed forward to get a better view.
The scene became chaotic for a moment, and staff had to rush forward to maintain order, shouting, "Please keep order!"
Engineer Fang Qiming on the stage seemed to have anticipated the commotion below the stage, or perhaps he simply didn't care.
He waited until the noise subsided slightly, then said into the microphone, "Next, we'll demonstrate the features."
He walked over to the machine and pressed a switch.
The machine emitted a low, steady hum, the cooling fan started spinning, and the indicator light lit up.
He sat down at a simple table connected to the host computer and placed his hands on the keyboard.
"The first demonstration is calculating the ballistic parabolic function; the parameters are already preset." He said, while skillfully typing a few lines on the keyboard.
The keyboard emitted a crisp "click-clack" sound, a stark contrast to ENIAC's cumbersome process of preparing punched paper tape and connecting countless wires.
The numbers in the display window jumped rapidly, and the result was clearly displayed almost the instant he pressed the last key.
Harkness was struck dumb; he was an expert in ballistic calculations and knew all too well the implications.
"They...they really used computers for military calculations, and so conveniently. Our ENIAC was originally designed for this, but it was much more complicated to operate. This keyboard...God, this input method is so advanced."
Before everyone could process what was happening, Fang Qiming adjusted his glasses and said:
"Computers can be used not only for serious scientific and engineering calculations, but also for simple logical entertainment. Here is a demonstration of a pre-built program."
He made a few more keystrokes on the keyboard, and the digital display in the window changed, showing a simple "maze" made up of light dots and a moving bright spot.
"This is a simple logic game. It's controlled using the arrow keys on the keyboard. I call it 'Snake'."
He operated it himself a few times, and the bright spot ate another light spot and grew longer.
"boom--!!!"
The audience erupted in cheers.
If the previous computational demonstrations fell into the category of powerful tools, then using this supercomputing device to play games—an effortless and even slightly showy display of skill—conveys a far more impactful message.
The people of Southeast Asia have mastered this machine so easily that they can use it for entertainment!
The technological maturity, software development capabilities, and almost extravagant confidence behind this are enough to make anyone in the know shudder.