Chapter 103: Simple Things Are More Troublesome (3k)

Chief Engineer Chi quickly sent someone to prepare it, then turned to Gao Zhendong and said, "Because we saw that there was memory in the transistor computer, we didn't prepare it. I'll arrange it right away."

Director Li and his partner looked at Gao Zhendong's work plan and reminded Gao Zhendong: "Our department leaders said that they would notify all units that may use this system to come for training, but time is tight and they haven't all come yet. Comrade Zhendong, you may need to consider this situation."

Gao Zhendong thought for a moment and said, "It's not a big problem. At the beginning, the manufacturing staff will definitely be there first, followed by the maintenance staff, and the design staff will be there last. When the manufacturing staff's work is finished, the maintenance staff should also be there, so there will be enough time."

Chief Engineer Chi was a little puzzled: "Designers are ranked last?"

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Yes, the most urgent task is to mass produce them and then use them as soon as possible. As for design improvements, they can be put aside for a while. The replacement is not too urgent in the short term."

Li and Chi thought about it and felt that it made sense. He was worthy of being the one who wrote the "Project Management System".

They also received the training intention notice for this book and arranged for key members including themselves to participate. However, they did not expect that the training teacher would be brought to the Institute of Computing before the training even started.

Gao Zhendong looked at the design data printed by the Institute of Operations again. Each copy of the data was numbered. According to Director Li, in principle, it was issued every day, collected every day, signed for, and assigned to individuals with specific responsibilities.

It seems that the Institute of Operations also took confidentiality into consideration, but this is very troublesome, and there is no need to distribute the entire book.

Gao Zhendong suggested to Director Li that the entire document should be split up. The manufacturing and design parts could be managed in this way, but the characteristic parameters and usage parts were not necessary. The machine instruction set, assembly language description, maintenance methods, etc. did not have much confidentiality value.

In this way, what should be kept confidential can be kept confidential, and what should be let go to everyone can be let go to everyone, so that this thing can be promoted quickly.

Computers are different from weapons. The characteristics and parameters of weapons are absolutely secret, but computers are not. It is useless to know how fast I calculate, how much power I consume, how much storage I have, etc. The key is that you don't know what I use to calculate.

What if I use it to write a poem, like "Big mushroom smoke straight, long core falls."

When the two people from the Operation Office heard this, they praised it and immediately asked the comrades from the Confidential Office to handle it.

Gao Zhendong didn't think that they couldn't even think of this, but sometimes, there were some things that were inconvenient for them to do, and they would rather have more trouble than more trouble. Gao Zhendong's identity made it easier for him to say this.

After discussing the work plan with Director Li and Chief Engineer Chi, Director Li and Chief Engineer Chi said a few words respectively, and then invited Gao Zhendong to the stage.

Gao Zhendong was not polite. He greeted everyone on stage, expressed his willingness to work closely with everyone, and then began to arrange work: "Comrades, this system has a lot of things. Let's do it step by step. Next, the comrades involved in the next step of mass production of the system will stay. Other comrades who have work can go to work."

What I mean is that if you have time, you can come and listen if you want, but there is no doubt that there are not many idle people these days, so the number of people has suddenly decreased a lot.

In fact, the manufacturing part is not troublesome. After all, it is working according to the drawings. Gao Zhendong has already drawn all the drawings, including schematic diagrams, circuit board diagrams, dimension diagrams, wiring diagrams, interface diagrams, and structure diagrams.

As for the technology, transistor computers are high-tech and sophisticated in a single direction. The most troublesome things are actually creativity, principles, circuit design, and electromagnetic compatibility. All these things have been done in Gao Zhendong's drawings.

Unlike airplanes and ships, which are an entire industry integrated with countless subsystems, at this point, the advancement of a single technology has become less important, and the strength of the system integration capability is where the real skill is demonstrated.

Regarding this, the famous "Fifth Division Scientist"'s Engineering Cybernetics explains it very clearly.

For those who did well, look at the Russians before they were buried. They could use a bunch of not-so-advanced technologies to make something usable, such as the famous "flying stainless steel" - the MiG-25.

The typical example of a bad performer is the Japanese. They can use a bunch of advanced single technologies to create a bunch of indescribable shit, such as the SpaceJet (MRJ) that has been discontinued.

Back to the manufacturing of transistor computers, what actually needs further work now are two things that don’t seem so advanced: keyboard and monitor.

Therefore, the first things Gao Zhendong had to assign tasks to were these two.

Dividing the comrades in charge of the display into a group, Gao Zhendong said: "Comrades, your task is divided into two steps."

"The first step is to manufacture a signal converter from computer to TV according to the drawings I gave you. With this step, any 400-line TV that supports the PAL format can be used, which will solve the urgent problem."

An impatient comrade asked, "Director Gao, what about the second step?"

Gao Zhendong took out a printed copy of design materials that he had left behind and turned to the image output interface section: "You should select a suitable CRT tube and design a dedicated display according to the physical specifications and electrical requirements of this interface. It doesn't seem appropriate to put a TV next to each computer." All the comrades laughed, and the training room was filled with a happy atmosphere.

Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "The monitor I'm using now is a temporary modification of the TV at home. When I was researching this thing, I focused my main energy on the computer and the supporting programs. So this monitor is just so-so, it can be used as a makeshift, but it's not very suitable as a serious display device. This step depends on the efforts of comrades. Of course, I will give you the specifications of the dedicated monitor later."

Some comrades below were listening and talking quietly to the people around them.

"He was willing to modify his own TV, which is incredible."

"You're kidding. I heard that he's the youngest level 8 engineer in the Third Steel Rolling Mill. That's a lot of money."

"You're still a Level 7 engineer, why haven't I seen you change one?"

"I'm not very skilled."

"You're really nice."

Look, as long as a person is sincere enough, he is impeccable.

At this time, Gao Zhendong had already started to gather people to make keyboards.

"Keyboard warriors, comrades in the keyboard group, your task is similar to theirs, but your task is heavier and more urgent. Here are the keyboard design requirements and keyboard scanning circuit drawings that I have sorted out. You need to quickly carry out structural design, material selection, processing technology research, and mass production process deepening according to the design drawings, and make the keyboard as soon as possible."

A comrade raised his hand and asked, "Director Gao, isn't there already a keyboard here? Can't we produce it based on this one?"

Gao Zhendong patted the current keyboard and said with a smile: "This won't work. This keyboard is modified from an old typewriter. There are not enough keys. If it is produced according to this, it will be very inconvenient to use and will not be able to take advantage of the full set of character sets I have designed."

"Moreover, the shape and structure of this thing are not optimized. It is heavy, has a long key travel, high keystroke force, and a hard bottoming, which is very bad for the user's hand health."

Listening to Gao Zhendong's words, Director Li and Chief Engineer Chi were both impressed. They didn't expect that the design of a simple keyboard could involve so many details. Gao Zhendong even took the health of the user into consideration. They were really moved.

In fact, there was one more thing Gao Zhendong didn't say. If this thing were to be modified like a typewriter, it would be very difficult. Just the densely packed row of connecting rods would be enough to give the people in the Arithmetic Institute a headache. The Arithmetic Institute was not the Mechanical Institute.

Gao Zhendong himself always asked Yi Zhonghai, an eighth-level fitter in the yard, to solve the problems. In this regard, the entire computing institute was far behind Yi Zhonghai. Asking them to come up with this skill in a short time was obviously a joke.

Director Li interjected, "Will it be in time for the training?"

Gao Zhendong made a "reassured" expression: "Director Li, it's not a big problem. If transistor computers come out first, then we can put aside other requirements and make some keyboards that can output normally. During the training, you can first draw some paper simulation keyboards according to the keyboard key map I gave you, and familiarize yourself with the key positions first."

This makeshift method of drawing equipment on paper and practicing first is also an old tradition of ours. Don’t say it’s crude, it really works.

When Director Li heard this, he thought it was a good idea. With a set of smooth little combos, the problem could basically be solved.

What remains is the most important thing - the manufacture of the transistor computer body and memory.

What the comrades at the Institute of Operations did not expect was that this aspect was actually the simplest, because all the information was provided by the system, without any errors or problems. From material selection to technology, drawings to specifications, everything was standard, feasible, mature and clear.

Therefore, Gao Zhendong did not say too much about this most important thing: "Comrades from the computer group and the memory group, this is much easier for you. All my energy has been basically consumed by these two treasures, so they are the most mature and complete. Your task is to work with me to fully digest and absorb them and create them as quickly as possible!"

In fact, as long as the production equipment and components are complete, it is not a big problem to produce one in five to ten days.

All that needs to be done in manufacturing is board making, plug-in, welding, error checking, cleaning, and assembly. Gao Zhendong may not be able to do it alone, but there are many people in the computing institute.

Listening to Gao Zhendong's preliminary arrangements, everyone was full of energy and laughter.

At this time, in various units that had received confidential notices from the 12th Ministry of Machine Building with photos of the actual machine, several bigwigs in various places were carefully checking the photos and system parameters in the notice with excited expressions.

(End of this chapter)