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New York, 6:21 PM
Mon Dec 14
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  • posts about #sage more →

    Computing Classic: Video on How the Airforce Protected Us from Attacks in the 1960s

    Computing Classic: The 1954 SAGE Protected the US From Invasions That Never Came
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    Image of Brian Lam Brian Lam
    06/24/09

    In reply to Computing Classic: The 1954 SAGE Protected the US From Invasions That Never Came
    Thanks for the comments in this thread, everyone. I could not hope to know more about this than all of you. Except that clown guy. (Kidding, clown guy. Clowns scare me, I am just terrified of you.)
     Reply
    Brian Lam was starred Brian Lam was unstarred
    Image of not_a_virus.exe.vbs not_a_virus.exe.vbs
    06/21/09

    In reply to Computing Classic: The 1954 SAGE Protected the US From Invasions That Never Came
    Cool computer interface: In the main first pic, on the console , to the left of that thing that looks like a laser gun, keep going to the left and you see a hole with a silver lip, that is actually a cigarette lighter.
     Reply
    not_a_virus.exe.vbs was starred not_a_virus.exe.vbs was unstarred
    Image of heroineworshipper heroineworshipper
    06/20/09

    In reply to Computing Classic: The 1954 SAGE Protected the US From Invasions That Never Came
    It's nothing compared to what Japan has to do to protect itself from N. Korea. Thank God US doesn't have to do that crap anymore.
     Reply
    heroineworshipper was starred heroineworshipper was unstarred
    Image of Nick Nick
    06/20/09

    @heroineworshipper: actually, we have several bases located in s. korea and japan which are considered american soil. if ever you get a chance -- one of funniest sites i remember as a child were buildings with trees on top of them. not the most high tech solution against attack, but if it works what the hay
     Reply
    Nick was starred Nick was unstarred
    Image of dinsey dinsey
    06/20/09

    In reply to Computing Classic: The 1954 SAGE Protected the US From Invasions That Never Came
    I think you'd get a difference in opinion as to the effectiveness of SAGE in the pre-ICBM era. We had a comprehensive supersonic interceptor network, and continuous improvements in SAMs. I wouldn't be so quick to snarkily write it off as obsolete from the beginning.


    Sure it's ironic that we had to go to the USSR to get replacement tubes, but that only indicates how much longer the USSR had to live with its own obsolete equipment.


    Overall, good article with lots of info. But if you're going to bump it up a notch, please be advised that it's spelled "God", not "god". It's a proper name whether you believe that he exists or not. You don't see people writing "santa claus", do you?

     Reply
    dinsey was starred dinsey was unstarred
    Image of nutbastard nutbastard
    06/24/09

    @dinsey:


    "please be advised that it's spelled "God", not "god". It's a proper name whether you believe that he exists or not."


    you mean whether He (big H) exists or not.

     Reply
    nutbastard was starred nutbastard was unstarred
    Image of Jrsy Devil's Advocate® Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
    06/20/09

    In reply to Computing Classic: The 1954 SAGE Protected the US From Invasions That Never Came
    Wow, all this talk about SAGE and not one reference to Montauk Project.


    I thought there were at least one or two conspiracy wingnuts around here...

     Reply
    Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was starred Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was unstarred
    Image of Jrsy Devil's Advocate® Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
    06/20/09

    @Jrsy Devil's Food Cake®: * reference to the*
     Reply
    Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was starred Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was unstarred
    Image of AriellaDrury AriellaDrury
    06/19/09

    In reply to Computing Classic: The 1954 SAGE Protected the US From Invasions That Never Came
    You can visit another site in the SAGE chain in the SF Bay Area. Nike Site SF-88 is located in the park area just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. It's open one Sunday each month, and some of the docents are retired soldiers and airmen that used to work there. Details include a large analog fire control computer, and an elevator that lifts 40-foot missiles up out of the ground, which you can ride!
     Reply
    AriellaDrury was starred AriellaDrury was unstarred
    Image of Brian Lam Brian Lam
    06/19/09

    @AriellaDrury: WHAT THE HELL! Email me more please!
     Reply
    Brian Lam was starred Brian Lam was unstarred
    Image of Brian Lam Brian Lam
    06/19/09

    In reply to Computing Classic: The 1954 SAGE Protected the US From Invasions That Never Came
    Great info in these comments. Keep em coming. Man, our readers are smart!
     Reply
    Brian Lam was starred Brian Lam was unstarred
    Image of dingus dingus
    06/19/09

    In reply to Computing Classic: The 1954 SAGE Protected the US From Invasions That Never Came
    One crazy fact about this machine is that for every one of those terminals there were two magnetic drums for each console. These drums were the wax cylinder phonograph equivalent to a modern hard disk, storing data on the magnetic surface of a rotating drum with tens of fixed heads going down its side. Each drum buffered data from the computer for the displays. The computer would write data to the drum only when it changed, and the console would constantly refresh from the drums.


    In effect, this was electromechanical video memory.

     Reply
    dingus was starred dingus was unstarred
    Image of dingus dingus
    06/19/09

    @dingus: Also, IIRC, both displays used a character mask for text on the screens instead of a character generator ROM like more recent computers. This was done by defocusing an electron beam a bit and passing it through a metal stencil with all of the possible characters. Steering electrodes before and after the stencil would select the character and put it back on path to hit the phosphor wherever the computer wanted to print it.


    The radar display mixed text and graphics by having one gun and electrode set for vector graphics and a gun / electrode / mask set for character generation. Operating these together gave true GUIs with graphics and sharp text mixed on one screen.

     Reply
    dingus was starred dingus was unstarred
    Image of Brian Lam Brian Lam
    06/19/09

    @dingus: how do you know so much about this thing? email me!
     Reply
    Brian Lam was starred Brian Lam was unstarred
    Image of Terry Terry
    06/19/09

    In reply to Computing Classic: The 1954 SAGE Protected the US From Invasions That Never Came
    Brian -


    This is - by far - the best piece I've ever read here at Giz. While this site is always entertaining, it's usually not terribly informative.


    Thanks.

     Reply
    Terry was starred Terry was unstarred
    Image of FightingChance FightingChance
    06/19/09

    @Terry: Yeah, I thought I was at Boing Boing for a moment.
     Reply
    FightingChance was starred FightingChance was unstarred
    Image of Brian Lam Brian Lam
    06/19/09

    @FightingChance: well that's a nice thing to say. I love Boingboing.
     Reply
    Brian Lam was starred Brian Lam was unstarred
    Image of four12 four12
    06/20/09

    @Terry: While this is a nice article and brings to light information about the SAGE and the CHM, a majority of the text of the article is copy/paste from the CHM website.
     Reply
    four12 was starred four12 was unstarred
    Image of Brian Lam Brian Lam
    06/24/09

    @four12: I beg your pardon? Actually, I copied and pasted none of it. I paraphrased it, with the links below, and the leading quote was from Dag spicer, the lead curator at the CHM.
     Reply
    Brian Lam was starred Brian Lam was unstarred
    Image of Brian Lam Brian Lam
    06/24/09

    @four12: PS, I hate clowns.
     Reply
    Brian Lam was starred Brian Lam was unstarred
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