Z2 (computer)

The Zuse Z2 was a prototype of a computer by Konrad Zuse to test the relay technology. Since the mechanical contacts of the Z1, Zuse's first calculating machine, entangled in the operation, he wanted to check if relays are more reliable components. He used about 200 old relay, which he had bought from phone companies to build both the calculator and the program control unit of Z2.

The Z2 was finished in 1939. She had a frequency of approximately 10 Hertz, a binary fixed-point arithmetic unit, which dominated the four basic arithmetic operations, a 16 -bit memory and weighed 300 kilograms.

The plans and any photos of the Z2 were destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II. Due to the reliability of electrical relays Zuse began the building of his next computing machine, the Zuse Z3, only one relay.

More Zuse computer

  • Zuse Z1 (1937 )
  • Zuse Z3 (1941 )
  • Zuse Z4 (1942 )
  • Zuse Z22 (1955 )
Z1 (computer) Elementary arithmetic Z3 (computer) Z4 (computer)
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