roccoschili Page 455
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Shanghai Institute of Computer Science.
"Old Li, is this the first mass-produced C55?"
Li Qiang: "Yes. Although it is clumsy and runs slowly, it looks quite pleasing to the eye."
唐华面前是四台C55“飓风”计算机，机柜和T50/T51的差不多大，前面四张办公桌上摆着4台显示器和4套键盘。
Tang Hua: "We released the C55 a little early, and the refurbished machines have not been sold out yet. It is conservatively estimated that we will have time to release the C3 in Hong Kong in March next year."
"The main reason is that the cabinet of C55 is too simple," Li Qiang said, "It is enough to use the cabinet of T51 and increase the main frequency to the level of T54. The display is a little troublesome, but Huawei's custom-made display for C55 is delivered quickly. Now there are 4 here, and there are 6 more over there, which have not been unpacked."
A large lacquered iron cabinet with 12 plug-in computing units in 12 round holes on the front. A line of gaudy English "Hurricane" (hurricane) is engraved on the most conspicuous part of the cabinet, and the words C55 and the company logo are below it.
For the underground computer sales network in the United States, the current old T51 and T50 machines are slowly refitted from a counterfeit street in Zhongguancun, Beijing, and a refurbished street in Zhongguancun. .
After shipping out of Hong Kong, Senator Nolan's channel is the main channel.
Tang Hua: "It's only the beginning of November,...but it's okay, I have made the C11 and sent the blueprints to the factory for mass production, so I can concentrate on preparing for the production of the T55 in Shanghai."
Li Qiang picked up a data backup tape, inserted it into the tape drive under the C55, and copied it to the C55.The computer's operating system is only a few K, and the commonly used software is also a few K, accounting for about one-third of the 50K (42K) magnetic core memory capacity.
这个数据备份磁带也不是1954年的25M磁带系统，而是3.5M的。之所以给C55上磁带机，是因为雷明顿·兰德的UNIVAC-1商用计算机已经配上了磁带机，但是现在最大容量只有1M到2M，所以也不用给C55配太大容量的磁带。
A few kilobytes of files were copied into the computer in less than half a minute, and now it can be run after restarting the computer.
Li Qiang: "The circuit system of the display used to use a lot of third-generation transistors. After replacing them all with second-generation transistors, the circuit part is a bit larger, so the display has also become fatter. Although all components use old models, the mapping and collection of these things , mainly rely on our patent protection in the United States.”
"Patents are not omnipotent, and there is no way to stop people who are determined to copy. Even if commercial computers can go to court, if they are copied by the military and used in the army, we may not know." Tang Hua said, "Americans are not It’s a good thing, if the commercial lawsuit can recover some dollars, it’s a victory, and I don’t plan to ask for sky-high compensation.”
Li Qiang: "The most important component is not letting them know it is the most important."
The computer turns on.
In addition to the operating system, there are also two software pre-installed: the English names are Wordstar and Excel.
Wordstar is a word processor and Excel is a spreadsheet.
Obviously, both of them are office specialists...
Wordstar combines a computer with a dot matrix printer, allowing users to conveniently type, modify, and print out the document after it has been proofread and corrected. This process can save a lot of office work time and a lot of paper.
Of course, the function of this Wordstar is far from that of Word in the Microsoft era. The word size and font cannot be adjusted.
Excel is also a very primitive form input and output tool.
Of course, the C55 computer does not have a Chinese system, which can only be installed in the T10 with a 54M hard disk.
……
After using the C55 casually for a while, Tang Hua turned his head and asked, "What about the cube game?"
Li Qiang: "Oh! Let me find a tape"
The tape was found, and the Cube game was copied into the memory of the C55.Tang Hua tried the speed and was quite satisfied. It seems that even a second-generation computer, as long as the overclocking is in place (the frequency is high enough), the speed is also very good.
Tang Hua: "Wang Shoujue and his group from the Shanghai Institute of Computer Science, have they also written a few other games in the past two years?"
Li Qiang: "Yes....Do you want to copy these games into the computer as bonus software?"
Tang Hua: "That's not true...but I think we can put these games on tapes and sell them."
……
USA, Chicago.
William Nolan doesn't hide the fact that he is selling computers from China to the United States.
Of course, William Nolan will never tell anyone that he has a company with three vests nested in the business of secretly selling contraband to China.
As for the fact that his vest company had long been engaged in the business of selling contraband to the Soviet Union, William Nolan didn't even tell Gu Weijun.
Otherwise, when Nolan and Gu Weijun talked about how to transport controlled export goods, they looked confident as soon as they were exported, because they had made a lot of Soviet orders in the past few years.
"Your company has 120 flights a day. The departure time, landing time, how many tickets are sold, and what seats are sold for each plane. I think it must be a headache for your statistics office, because when I fly, at least Encountered wrong tickets sold twice."
Nolan talks with CEO Willander at United's Chicago headquarters.
"As long as machines can do things, machines must be more reliable than humans. You only need a computer, and you can hand over the information of all flights departing in Chicago to the computer. There will be no omissions, and no duplicate tickets will be issued. , and more importantly, you only need to hire one person for the job that used to be done by five people.”
Wieland is not someone who knows nothing about computers.After listening to Nolan's introduction, he asked Nolan:
"This knowledge has been instilled in me by the salesman of Remington Rand last year. Mr. Congressman, but I have a little doubt that I have to figure out. How did you get the Chinese computer you mentioned from the Chinese?" ?”
"Wow, I can't go into details about this. I can only remind you," Nolan said mysteriously in a low voice, "I and the Chinese ambassador to the United States, ah no, maybe the charge d'affaires, Mr. Gu, are very good friends. These computers are all high-performance computers used by the Chinese military. They are definitely not commercial products like UNIVAC-1. It is because of Mr. Gu’s relationship that I bribed Chinese factories, customs and military personnel to get the secret access to these computers."
Weiland: "I hope that the quotation you provided to me is not a quotation for military high-performance computers."
Nolan: "Obviously, although it is a high-performance computer used by the Chinese military, I obtained it through abnormal channels, so even if I add the cost of opening up the joints, its cost performance can definitely crush Remington Rand or IBM."
Nolan's assistant handed Weiland a document and a page of quotations.
The quotation was printed in large font, and the words "$799,800 per computer" were in the most prominent position.
The pupils of Weiland's eyes dilated slightly, and he was indeed tempted.
According to the price list provided by the salesman of Remington Rand, the price of a UNIVAC-1 is between 115 million and 125 million US dollars depending on the configuration.The Chinese computers cost $80 each.
There is no need to follow Nolan's boast that "the performance crushes civilian computers such as UNIVAC-1". As long as it is comparable to UNIVAC-1, or even slightly inferior in performance, United Airlines will not hesitate to choose a Chinese computer.
"You can talk to my assistant about the rest of the details," William Nolan got up, "I'm going to New York to watch my team sweep the New York Knicks. I wish you a happy negotiation."
Chapter 64, Song Jingshi
How many computers are suitable for selling to the United States?This is a figure that has to be weighed and studied repeatedly.
If it sells too much, a large number of scientific research institutions and even weapon research and development institutions will obtain enough computers, which can indirectly promote the development of American technology and military equipment.
There are fewer sales, and there is a shortage of computers in the market. Then IBM, Remington Rand and other new electronic companies have inferior computers but they are not worried about selling them. Huge sales = huge profits. The industry will therefore accelerate development, loss.
For the past six months, Tang Hua has been thinking about how to get a just right number so that the number of computers in the United States stays at a balance point that is most beneficial to us.
Tang Hua's previous estimate was 100 units, just as the market was saturated, but Mr. Nolan asked his subordinates to make a market report. After reading the market report, Tang Hua felt that part of it was right, and the previous estimate was conservative.
Even if the government and commercial departments use computers, after tasting the sweetness, adjacent departments and neighboring companies that did not plan to purchase computers will also look for computers in the market, and this market has been "cultivated".Just as in 1950 and 1951, the sales of T50 and T51 computers in the Soviet Union rose internally.
在上海，唐华又和李强碰了个头，两人合计，1955年2月之前把120台翻新机出给诺兰；1955年3月开始出C55，供货量保持在每个月5~10台。
This will probably allow China's interests to obtain the optimal solution or be close to the optimal solution.