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Seymour Cray's Only Surviving Talk: "Cray-1 Introduction" (1976, LANL)

UC Berkeley Events · 58.8K views · 2010-09-17 · 1:02:09

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Overview

Seymour Cray's only surviving recorded talk, introducing the Cray-1 supercomputer in 1976. He describes the machine's design, including its vector architecture and cooling through the frame.

On Hacker News

Cited as a rare first-hand account from Cray, loved for details like the aluminum machining invented to carry Freon through the frame.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2016–2026

Topics

Computer architecture & CPUsHistory of computingTech pioneers & interviews
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cray-1seymour crayvector processingcomputer historycooling

What people said

themafia · 2026-01 · Strong recommendation

Cray himself. Here's a talk about designing it. My favorite part is his description of the aluminum machining they had to invent in order to move the freon through the frame to keep the machine from melting. It's a great talk. [VIDEO]

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akira2501 · 2023-12 · Reference

It reminds me of Seymour Cray's solution. Well, series of solutions, to run Freon directly through the frame of the Cray-1. [VIDEO]

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davidf18 · 2016-05 · Reference

This is the Watson "janitor" letter: [LINK] Here is a talk of his: [VIDEO] Bill Norris mentioned was the CEO of CDC.

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Sources

Video by UC Berkeley Events, played through YouTube.

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