L-1

The L-1 was a unique computer created in 1960 by Wes Clark at the Lincoln Laboratory, for processing RF receiver signals in real-time. One of his previous devices - the ARC-1 - was hard-wired, and Clark noted it would have been more flexible as a stored-program computer. These ideas were borne out in the L-1.

It was somewhat novel in its day, when most computers were large constructs devoted to handling human-originated data, for a computer to be used for a task that would previously been performed by a custom hardware instrument. Lincoln Laboratory, of course, had extensive previous experience of working with computer handling of analog data in the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment project.

External links

• A Functional Description of the L-1 Computer
• Wesley A. Clark, The LINC Was Early and Small, ACM, Proceedings of the ACM Conference on the History of Personal Workstations, 1986, pp. 133-155 - covers the L-1 on pp. 136-137