Apollo Guidance Computer

this is the start of links to very good Internet documentation
Started Dec 22, 2018 - Ended next day - I had no idea there is so much on line, this list would extend "forever".
  1. "The Ultmate Apollo Guidance Computer Talk"
    Michael Steil, Christian Hessmann -
    - an excellent, very techie introduction -
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx7Lfh5SKUQ
    (Hang onto your hat !! - This is a very fast moving one hour!)
    "Values were metric internally, but converted to Imperial Units for the American Astronauts ;-))"
    "At that point in time, ... activates program 79, which..."

    Some books and a web site briefly flashed in this presentation
        - "The Apollo Guidance Computer - architecture and operation", by Frank O'Brien
        - "Digital Apollo", by David Mindell
        - "Journey to the Moon", by Eldon Hall
        - https:///www.ibiblio.org/apollo/ - another whole world of info
             including simulation https://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/yaAGC.html

  2. Carl Claunch at SVFIG 15Dec2018 Afternoon
    Carl's presentation starts at 52:06 and ends at 1:44:46
    - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rz7gAOWVsI&feature=youtu.be&t=3188
    Carl has another series including Saturday, June 8, 2019 - Continuing the restoration of the Apollo Guidance Computer see right side bar for more in the series

  3. CuriousMarc's Restoration of Apollo Guidance Computer series
         a record of a trip to Texas to work on #14
    Apollo AGC Part 1: Restoring the computer that put man on the Moon
    We embark on the restoration of a very rare and historically significant machine: the Apollo Guidance Computer, or AGC. It was the revolutionary MIT-designed computer aboard Apollo that brought man on the Moon (and back!). Mike Stewart, space engineer extraordinaire and living AGC encyclopedia, spearheads this restoration effort.

    In this first episode, we setup a makeshift lab in his hotel room, somewhere in Houston. The computer belongs to a delightful private collector, Jimmie Loocke, who has generously allowed us to dive in the guts of his precious machine, with the hope of restoring it to full functionality by July 2019, the anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.

    Apollo AGC Part 2: Power supplies test
    Apollo AGC Part 3: Main Bus B Undervolt
    Apollo AGC Part 4: We are "go" for power up
    Apollo AGC Part 4 ½: Bonus material, full Logic Analyzer trace explanation uncut
    Apollo AGC Part 5: We run a chunk of original Apollo code!
    Got to catch an airplane -
    "We left with plenty of work to do:
         - I got the core memory module
         - Ken got the rope modules
         - Carl has work on the DKSY display and keyboard
         - Mike has a real satellite to launch..."

  4. Ken Shirriff (who worked on the restoration with Carl and Marc - above)
    posted this on twitter

  5. Mike Stewart posted about FPGA Support

  6. (Added April 2019) "Apollo guidance, navigation and control - Design survey of the Apollo inertial subsystem" descriptive link, link to .pdf file
    and Apollo Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) - NTRS - NASA "this still clarified all the acronyms and how it is all hooked together."
    Another recommended resource is https://wehackthemoon.com with DSKY

  7. (Added July 27, 2019) Carl Claunch sent:
    "Goes through all the planning, workarounds and alternatives during the Apollo 13 rescue. Very interesting reading indeed.
    https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a13/A13_MissionOpReport.pdf

A big surprise to me was the construction of the "rope" memory. I had seen "ropes" of fine copper wire with many magnetic cores wired in by one or more of the copper wires. Apparently the real "rope" memories were much more formal structures, carefully organized as in Apollo Rope Memory Modules (Part 2 - Construction) and included many diodes.