# " COMPUTERS " 1970 EDUCATIONAL FILM IBM MAINFRAME PUNCHCARD & MAGNETIC TAPE BASED COMPUTERS XD11964

Released by BFA in 1970, "Computers" was created by Victor and Ellen Landweber. The film was apparently shot at, and had cooperation from, the Rand Corporation of Santa Monica, California. The film is notable in that it was produced roughly a decade prior to the arrival of the IBM Personal Computer, which revolutionized computing worldwide. "Computers" primarily shows mainframe and office type computers made by IBM, including the System/360 mainframe with its tape drives and hard drives. The System/360 was the first family of computers designed to cover both commercial and scientific applications and to cover a complete range of applications from small to large.. The film begins by showing an old adding machine (0:12). Then it shows a 100-year-old counting engine (0:18), probably designed by Charles Babbage. Modern computers including an IBM/360 model 65 (0:27). A person counting with their fingers appears on screen and the narrator states that humanity has needed to count since their beginning (1:08). Then the video shows an abacus or counting machine (1:24). Then, much older counting machines appear on screen (1:42). Then the mechanical counting machines that were invented 300 years ago are shown (2:00). A portrait of Charles Babbage is shown on screen (2:09). The film then shows the Analytical Engine, created by Babbage (2:16). An electronic circuit is shown in the palm of a person’s hand (2:37). The video zooms in to show the circuit and its wiring (2:43). “All…

- Kind: Educational
- By: PeriscopeFilm
- Genres: Education, Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/xd-11964-bfa-computers-vwr)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/xd-11964-bfa-computers-vwr?play=1)