Z22 (computer)

Z22
Z22, built 1956; now at ZKM in Karlsruhe
DeveloperKonrad Zuse, Lorenz Hanewinkel
ManufacturerZuse KG
Release date1955; 69 years ago (1955)
Introductory priceDM 180,000 (equivalent to DM 480,849 in 2021) minimal
Units shipped55
CPU600 tubes working as flip-flops @ 3 kHz
Memory14 words of 38-bit as fast access RAM implemented as core memory; 8192 word (38-bit each) magnetic drum memory as RAM
Removable storagePunch tape
DisplayTeletype as console and main input/output device
InputTeletype, punch tape devices
Power380 V 16 A three-phase power supply
Mass1,000 kg (2,200 lb)
PredecessorZ11

The Z22 was the seventh computer model Konrad Zuse developed (the first six being the Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, Z5 and Z11, respectively). One of the early commercial computers, the Z22's design was finished about 1955. The major version jump from Z11 to Z22 was due to the use of vacuum tubes, as opposed to the electromechanical systems used in earlier models. The first machines built were shipped to Berlin and Aachen.

By the end of 1958 the ZMMD-group had built a working ALGOL 58 compiler for the Z22 computer. ZMMD was an abbreviation for Zürich (where Rutishauser worked), München (workplace of Bauer and Samelson), Mainz (location of the Z22 computer), Darmstadt (workplace of Bottenbruch).

In 1961, the Z22 was followed by a logically very similar transistorized version, the Z23. Already in 1954, Zuse had come to an agreement with Heinz Zemanek that his Zuse KG would finance the work of Rudolf Bodo, who helped Zemanek build the early European transistorized computer Mailüfterl, and that after that project Bodo should work for the Zuse KG—there he helped build the transistorized Z23.[1] Furthermore, all circuit diagrams of the Z22 were supplied to Bodo and Zemanek.

The University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe still has an operational Z22 which is on permanent loan at the ZKM in Karlsruhe.

Altogether 55 Z22 computers were produced.[2]

In the 1970s, clones of the Z22 using TTL were built by the company Thiemicke Computer.

  1. ^ Hans Dieter Hellige (ed.): Geschichten der Informatik. Visionen, Paradigmen, Leitmotive. Berlin, Springer 2004, ISBN 3-540-00217-0. p. 128.
  2. ^ Die algorithmische Revolution, Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe.