This is a list of transistorized computers, which were digital computers that used discrete transistors as their primary logic elements. Discrete transistors were a feature of logic design for computers from about 1960, when reliable transistors became economically available, until monolithic integrated circuits displaced them in the 1970s. The list is organized by operational date or delivery year to customers. Computers announced, but never completed, are not included. Some very early "transistor" computers may still have included vacuum tubes in the power supply or for auxiliary functions.
1950s
Harwell CADET
1953
University of Manchester Transistor Computer 1953 (prototype) 1955 (full scale) experimental
1954
Bell Labs TRADIC for U.S. Air Force
1955
Harwell CADET demonstrated February 1955, one-off scientific computer
1956
Electrotechnical Laboratory ETL Mark III (Japan) experimental, began development 1954, completed 1956,[1] Japan's first transistorized stored-program computer[2][3][4]
MIT TX-0
Metrovick 950
1957
Burroughs SM-65 Atlas ICBM Guidance Computer MOD1, AN/GSQ-33 (no relation to Manchester ATLAS)
Univac ATHENA, US Air Force missile guidance (ground control)
IBM 608 transistor calculator (its development was preceded by the prototyping of an experimental all-transistor version of the 604 demonstrated in October 1954), announced 1955, first shipped December 1957
DRTE Computer, Canadian experimental system delivered 1957, added parallel math unit and other improvements in 1960.[8]
ETL Mark IV computer, upgraded to the ETL Mark IV A in 1958, a transistor-based computer built at the Japanese government's ElectroTechnical Laboratory, inspired almost every Japanese computer company.[9][10][11][12]
Packard Bell CorporationPB 250[26][27][28] (PB250; no relation to the modern brand of personal computers) used, among others, as the controller for hybrid digital/analog system TRICE[29][30] and HYCOMP 250,[31] and as the control computer for mobile data systems[32]
D4a built in 1963 by Joachim Lehmann at the TU Dresden in about 10 exemplars.[NB 1] After modifications produced from 1967 as Cellatron 8201.[NB 2][86][87][88][89][90]
^Fransman, Martin (1993-02-25). The Market and Beyond: Cooperation and Competition in Information Technology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 19–20. ISBN 9780521435253.
^Grabbe, E. M. (February 7, 1957), "The Ramo- Wooldridge Corporation" (PDF), SOME RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN DIGITAL CONTROL SYSTEMS, Instrumentation and Control in the Process Industries Conference, Chicago, p. 5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^"RW-30 advertisement". The Michigan Technic. LXXVI (4). UM Libraries: 61. January 1958.
^Boslaugh, David L. (2003). When Computers Went to Sea: The Digitization of the United States Navy. John Wiley & Sons. p. 113. ISBN 9780471472209.
^Sigeru Takahashi (April–June 1986). "Early Transistor Computers in Japan". Annals of the History of Computing. 8 (2): 144–154. doi:10.1109/MAHC.1986.10039.
^Saul Rosen (June 1991). PHILCO: Some Recollections of the PHILCO TRANSAC S-2000 (Computer Science Technical Reports / Purdue e-Pubs). Purdue University. Here: page 2
^"READERS' AND EDITOR'S FORUM: The Siemens 2002, MAJER-TRENDEL" (PDF). Computers and Automation. 10 (3): 21. March 1961.
^"COMPUTERS AND CENTERS, OVERSEAS: 10. Siemens & Halske AG, Siemens 2002, Munich, Germany". Digital Computer Newsletter. 11 (2): 19–23. April 1959.
^"COMPUTERS AND CENTERS, OVERSEAS: 10. Siemens & Halske AG, Siemens 2002, Munich, Germany". Digital Computer Newsletter. 12 (1): 19–20. January 1960.
^Computer Characteristics Quarterly(PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 44.
^Weik, Martin H. (March 1961). "RW-300". A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems. Ballistic Research Laboratories Report No. 1115.
^ abIsaac L. Auerbach (January 1961). "European Information Technology - A Report on the Industry and the State-of-the-Art" (PDF). Proceedings of the IRE. 49 (1): 347.
^"REFERENCE INFORMATION: A Survey of European Digital Computers, Part 2" (PDF). Computers and Automation. 9 (3): 28–29. March 1960.
^"COMPUTERS AND CENTERS, OVERSEAS: 1. Standard Elektrik Lorenz AG, ER 56, Stuttgart, Germany". Digital Computer Newsletter. 12 (2): 13–14. April 1960.
^Foulkes, Ron (Summer 2008). "Computers at Metrovick : the MV 950 & AEI 1010". Resurrection - the Bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society (43). ISSN 0958-7403.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 12.
^"Control Data Corporation". Computing History. The Minnesota Computing History Project. 15 July 2018.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 44.
^Beck, Robert Mark (30 December 1960). PB-250 - A High Speed Serial General Purpose Computer Using Magnetostrictive Delay Line Storage. 1960 Fall Joint Computer Conference. p. 284. doi:10.1109/afips.1960.58. The first production computer was delivered in October 1960.
^ "PB-250". The Retro-Computing Society of RI, Inc.
^Weik, Martin H. (March 1961). "PACKARD BELL 250". A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems. Ballistic Research Laboratories Report No. 1115.
^Programming manual for TRICE and other material on DDA's 2nd edition | 102664334 | Computer History Museum. Packard Bell Electronics. Packard Bell Computer. 3 May 1960.
^Weik, Martin H. (March 1961). "TRICE". A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems. Ballistic Research Laboratories Report No. 1115.
^"Packard Bell Computer | Selling the Computer Revolution | Computer History Museum". www.computerhistory.org.
^"ACROSS THE EDITOR'S DESK: New Firms, Divisions, and Mergers - ON-CALL DATA VANS FOR HIRE" (PDF). Computers and Automation. XI (7): 28. July 1962.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 12.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 12.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 32.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 44.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 44.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 54.
^"AN/UYK-1 - A "Stored Logic" Multiple Purpose Computer" (PDF). Ramo-Woolridge. 1961-04-21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
^James P. Anderson; Samuel A. Hoffman; Joseph Shifman; Robert J. Williams (1962), D825 - a multiple-computer system for command & control, Proceedings of the Fall Joint Computer Conference, Spartan, pp. 86–96, doi:10.1109/AFIPS.1962.41
^"advertisement" (PDF). Datamation. Vol. 8, no. 11. FRANK D. THOMPSON. Nov 1962. pp. 12–14.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 26.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 44.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 44.
^Weik, Martin H. (March 1961). "RW 400". A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems. Ballistic Research Laboratories Report No. 1115.
^Culler, Glen; Huff, Robert (1962), "Managing Requirements Knowledge, International Workshop on", Solution of Non-Linear Integral Equations Using on-Line Computer Control, Proceedings of the Spring Joint Computer Conference, San Francisco, pp. 129–138, doi:10.1109/AFIPS.1962.26{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 32.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 32.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 32.
^"News Briefs in Datamation 1st 601 is on the air at NJ Bell" (PDF), Datamation, vol. 9, no. 6, GARDNER F. LANDON, p. 52
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 62.
^"COMPUTERS AND CENTERS, OVERSEAS: 2. Siemens and Halske A.G., 2002 and 3003 Computing Systems, Munich, Germany". Digital Computer Newsletter. 16 (2): 10–14. Apr 1964.
^"The Air Force comptroller". October 1967. Retrieved September 6, 2020. the 1604B was a three year old second generation computer [in 1967]
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 46.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 26.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 26.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 26.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 30.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 30.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 62.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 12.
^"Record of Revisions". Reference Manual Control Data 1604-Computer(PDF). CDC.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 26.
^Jones, Douglas W. "The PDP-8". THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA Department of Computer Science. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
^ abDavis, E.M.; et al. (April 1964). "Solid Logic Technology: Versatile, High-Performance Microelectronics". IBM Journal of Research and Development. 8 (2): 102–114. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.87.4832. doi:10.1147/rd.82.0102. A new microelectronics technique called Solid Logic Technology, or SLT, is utilized in the new family of IBM/360 computers. This new technology provides a hybrid, integrated circuit module which combines discrete, glass-encapsulated silicon transistors and diodes with stencil-screened land patterns and precision passive components.
^Georghiou, Luke; Evans, Janet; Ray, Tim; Metcalfe, J. Stanley; Gibbons, Michael (1986-03-10). "PART II CASE-STUDIES: 9. Ferranti: Monolithic Microcircuits". Post-Innovation Performance: Technological Development and Competition. Springer. pp. 146–156. ISBN 9781349074556.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 62.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 24.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 30.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 30.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 30.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 62.
^"Computer D4A". www.robotrontechnik.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-11-05.
^"Rechenautomaten mit Trommelspeicher" [Calculating machines with drum memory]. www.fv-tsd.de (in German).
^"Mercedes Büromaschinen-Werke in Zella-Mehlis – Rechenschieber.org" [Mercedes office machines in Zella-Mehlis – Rechenschieber.org]. www.rechenschieber.org (in German). 2009. pp. 22–28.
^"Das Leben und Wirken von Prof. N. J. Lehmann" [The life and work of prof. N. J. Lehmann]. www.math.tu-dresden.de (in German). pp. 15–19.
^"Computer Characteristics Quarterly" (PDF). Adams Associates. 1967. p. 32.
^U.S. Government Research & Development Reports. National Technical Information Service. 1971. p. 102.