Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 334 You have deep blue, I have deep red

In early autumn, in the factory buildings of Area 51, rows of newly manufactured computers stand here. They look a bit bulky, with chassis welded from domestically produced steel plates. Inside, they are equipped with a self-developed 32-bit architecture operating system that is compatible with multitasking and virtual memory systems, fully comparable to IBM's System/360 series.

Now that they've made it back to GATT, how could they not use a machine like this to make a name for themselves?

Manufacturing computers has a much higher barrier to entry and a deeper competitive advantage than manufacturing portable calculators; it's a lucrative business.

Wang Shouwu stood in front of the control panel, holding a stack of punch cards in his hand, his eyes fixed on the machine's indicator lights.

Dean Qian stood aside and watched, his heart unmoved.

People's expectations have been raised too high by the Raspberry Pi. This thing is just a copy of the System 360. It took them so long, and with the help of Eastern Europe, to catch up with America's publicly sold level.

In their view, this progress was really not impressive.

At this moment, Dean Qian even thought of the Imperial Seal of the State across the ocean. When he saw the news of the assassination of the Imperial Seal of the State in the internal report, he wondered if this was going to be a repeat of history.

In history, the Imperial Seal of the State was smashed and a piece of its corner was replaced with gold. In reality, our Imperial Seal of the State, which has been lost in exile, is also going to be assassinated and have a piece of its corner missing.

Lin Ran was unaware that China was comparing him to the Imperial Seal of the State.

If Lin Ran chooses to replicate the future T-shirt that was assassinated and is missing an ear, then it would truly be a one-to-one replica of the Imperial Seal of the State.

Dean Qian thought to himself, if the Imperial Seal knew about their progress, would it scold them for being so slow? The Americans are already going to the moon to immigrate, how come you've only just built System 360?

If it were ten years ago, he would have been so excited to know that China could catch up with IBM in the field of computers that he couldn't sleep all night.

Right now, none of you here are excited. Is there anything to be excited about?
"Engineer Wang, the machine is working!" the engineer surnamed Zhao exclaimed excitedly. He pressed the start button, and the machine's indicator lights lit up one by one as the magnetic tape began to slowly rotate. "We used the latest generation of transistors. The floating-point unit can process data to 16 decimal places with precision, similar to IBM's single-precision transistors."

The virtual memory system is also stable and can simulate the execution of multiple programs.

The engineer surnamed Zhao only started working at Area 51 four years ago. In his view, this is the most vibrant and dynamic place in the entire country, where you can see the latest technology, no less than that of America.

The Crimson One, which rivals the IBM System 360, boasts performance that even its predecessor couldn't match, making it unique in the entire socialist camp. Xiao Zhao couldn't understand why none of the bigwigs present showed any excitement or enthusiasm.

He understood that the big shot was at a very high level, having reached a point where he was neither elated by external gains nor saddened by personal losses, but that did not diminish his happiness.

Wang Shouwu nodded, but there wasn't much joy on his face.

"Xiao Zhao, start Crimson. We need to verify this function. After all, we'll be showcasing our computer performance and programming capabilities to the foreigners in Leipzig!" Wang Shouwu said.

The Chinese version of the chess program is called Crimson; you have Crimson Blue, I have Crimson Red.

You've probably never heard of deepred.

The Deep Red One satellite is equipped with Deep Red.

Xiao Zhao wiped his sweat and inserted a stack of punch cards.

The machine made a series of noises, and the screen was a simple cathode ray tube display that began to show a chessboard. Diode displays were still under development.

The program was developed by them based on the Minimax algorithm, similar to Deep Blue, but on a much smaller scale.

With only a few thousand lines of assembly code, it utilizes Alpha-Beta pruning to optimize the search tree, achieving a depth of 5-6 levels. It can evaluate the value function of a game, including pawn and knight positions, capture priority, and king safety.

"The program is loading. The evaluation function designed by Dean Hua and his team is really useful. During the last test, it played the classic opening of the Rook, Horse, and Cannon." Xiao Zhao said while adjusting the knob to ensure the tape wouldn't jam.

“Let’s start the game. I’ll be your opponent,” Wang Shouwu said.

Xiao Zhao nodded, "Okay."

His hands trembled slightly, not from nervousness, but from excitement, because he knew that this was not just a game of chess, but evidence that China's technology could catch up with the world's most advanced level.

On the screen, the chessboard appears, with the computer playing black and moving first.

Looking at the chessboard, Wang Shouwu pondered: The core of this program is recursive search and heuristic evaluation. If we go a step deeper, we can simulate more variations. I'll ask Dean Hua and the others to work on it then.

However, this thing is more than enough for the Leipzig Trade Fair.

After the game ended, a round of polite applause rang out. Xiao Zhao stood up, intending to raise his arms and shout, but seeing how calm the big shots were, he could only clap his hands simply.

Dean Qian and Wang Shouwu were already whispering to each other, "Old Wang, have you finished training the people going to Leipzig this time?"

Wang Shouwu nodded and said, "Dean Qian, don't worry. They are currently in Chengdu. I will send people to Chengdu to give them lessons and provide special training for this group of Crimson No. 1s."

When we go to Leipzig, we will give the engineers a detailed introduction to everything from the assembly and configuration of the Crimson computer cluster to its startup, performance, and program overview.

In addition to the hardware itself, we will also market the database programs we develop specifically for that hardware.

Area 51 doesn't just know how to sell hardware; they even know that selling software is more profitable than selling hardware.

With Y.K. Pao serving as the managing director of the Global Maritime Standards Committee, China has already planned to replace all data processing systems and computer hardware used in global maritime applications with Chinese-made products.

Zhou Nan, who was far away in Hong Kong, had already received a task to first contact Bao Yugang regarding this matter.

China is particularly proactive in earning foreign exchange.

Dean Qian took a deep breath: "That's good. What we need this time is to make a splash. We can only succeed, we can't fail." Wang Shouwu nodded and said: "Don't worry about that, we must succeed."

The Russians will probably be shocked; they didn't expect us to progress so quickly. By the time they replicate the Panda portable calculator, we'll already have Crimson One.

Dean Qian grinned as well, and then asked, "When will the LCD TV be ready?"

That guy is our top priority in the short term.

After thinking for a moment, Wang Shouwu said, "Large panels will probably take another year or two, and large-scale industrial production, with guaranteed yield, will probably take three years. But I expect that game consoles with small panels and chips can be completed by next spring."

Dean Qian's eyes lit up: "Great!"

After a brief pause, Dean Qian said, "Also, remember to send someone to train the People's Bank of China. They've been urging Crimson One for a long time."

Wang Shouwu nodded: "Okay."

Banks need computers the most. After 78, the People's Bank of China was the first to import IBM mainframe computers. The difference between having computers and not having computers in the People's Bank of China's settlement process is significant.

The first to implement IT infrastructure were major banks; in the past, banks even had dedicated computer departments.

The straight-line distance from Area 51 to Yanjing is over 1500 kilometers, but there are frequent flights between the two places.

The atmosphere in Yanjing was lively.

Li Mingde was still leading the delegation to the Leipzig Autumn Trade Fair, but he had removed the "deputy" from the list.

He used to be the Deputy Secretary-General of the Trade Promotion Council, and now he is the Secretary-General.

He has even heard rumors that, thanks to its return to GATT, the Trade Promotion Council is likely to be merged into the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.

This merger is no small matter; it's a major merger. All functional departments related to foreign trade will be merged into the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. Li Mingde even heard that the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation will be renamed the Ministry of Trade and Economic Cooperation, dropping the "foreign" prefix.

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation has always existed. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Central Trade Department was first established in Beijing to manage national trade. Later, in 1952, the Central Trade Department was split into the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Trade, with the former in charge of domestic trade and the latter in charge of foreign trade.

In the original timeline, it wasn't until 1982 that the four subordinate functional departments of the Import and Export Management Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Cooperation, and the Foreign Investment Management Commission were merged into the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, which is familiar to modern Chinese people.

Jack Ma was initially recruited by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation to serve as the general manager of the information department of their International E-commerce Center. At that time, a series of websites, such as the online Canton Fair, the online China Commodity Trading Market, the online China Technology Export Fair, China Investment Promotion, and China Foreign Trade, were built by Jack Ma and his team.

Thanks to the return to GATT, the Ministry of Foreign Trade was established many, many years earlier.

For Li Mingde, this trip to Leipzig was a big deal. He was confident that the impact of this big deal at the Leipzig Trade Fair would be no less than that of China's first atomic bomb explosion four years ago.

This trip to Leipzig is also crucial to his advancement, as he aims to secure a good position in the newly established Ministry of Foreign Trade and further advance his career.

On the private plane to Leipzig, Li Mingde repeatedly communicated with the engineer surnamed Li who was in charge of maintenance, debugging and demonstration: "Xiao Li, are you sure the crimson is fixed?"

Li Hongbo said helplessly that since he boarded the plane, Secretary-General Li had repeatedly asked him this question, and he replied, "Don't worry, everything will be fine, there's no way anything will happen!"

Even if something goes wrong, we have spare parts that can be replaced at any time. Rest assured, our Crimson-1 uses the world's most advanced distributed design, meaning that any damaged individual component can be replaced immediately.

Li Hongbo was very confident.

In this timeline, China was definitely the first country to realize the power that computers could unleash, and also the country that most believed in Lin Ran's singularity theory.

This is one of the core reasons why Area 51 became a paradise.

At this point, four years had passed since he obtained the Raspberry Pi, and more than a year had passed since he obtained Lin Ran's complete technical data.

Lin Ran anticipated that China's catching-up speed would be very fast.

Especially when there is direction, information, and motivation,

China's pace of catching up is absolutely astonishing.

Whether in the 1950s or later in the 1990s, China has been far ahead of the competition in catching up with technology.

While both countries received technology transfer from the Soviet Union, China's mastery of technology was far superior to India's. With the same production lines, China was able to innovate and create its own products.

For example, the Dongfeng series missiles were originally provided by the Russians as an S2, which was significantly downgraded compared to the original. Ultimately, China developed the globally renowned Dongfeng series based on this.

While both involved missile technology transfers, the technology transferred to India was of slightly better quality. However, India's missile development lags far behind China's, and its domestically produced technology is even inferior to that of its neighbor.

Therefore, Lin Ran never worried that China would have problems with replicating.

Having the information means having everything.

The plane landed in Leipzig, carrying a full eight Deep Red One satellites. The Chinese side had also communicated with East Germany in advance, reserving the best and most central location for them, saying they wanted to give the site a surprise.

With the personal mediation of Yenching officials, East Germany agreed.

They were also eager to see what the Chinese were up to.

(End of this chapter)