simulation
running the simulation
There are three ways to run the simulation. All of them have in common, that a Java runtime environment (at least version 1.7) must be installed on your computer. You can find the recent version of the JRE at http://www.java.com/download/.
- If you want to start the applet in your browser, the Java-Plugin must be installed. The plugin is bundled with the JRE mentioned above. Click here to start the ENIAC simulation as Java Applet. A small new browser window will pop up, triggering the applet to be loaded. Don't close this window, unless you want to quit the ENIAC simulation. When the applet starts, you will be prompted to accept a certificate. If you refuse to accept, the applet will be loaded anyway, but you won't be able to save any wirings to your hard disk.
- Probably the easiest way to view the ENIAC simulation is to run it by Java-Webstart. To do so, you need to have the SUN Java-Webstart client installed, that is also bundled with the SUN JRE. Click here to start the ENIAC simulation by Java Webstart. You will be requested to accept a certificate as well, otherwise you cannot run the program.
- You can also download the ENIAC simulation as an executable jar file. Click here to download the ENIAC simulation as an executable jar-file. When the download completes, you simply can try to (double-)click the jar-file. If the jar-file type is registered at your operating system, this will start the simulation. Otherwise you need to open a shell and type java -jar eniac.jar .
documentation
If you are looking for documentation, you might be interested in A Java Simulator for the ENIAC, an 11 pages article about the ENIAC simulation.
For further details, you can download the author's diploma thesis Simulating the ENIAC as a Java applet. The thesis contains an introduction to the applet from the user's point of view, a brief chapter about the ENIAC's history and details about the imlementation.
As well the slides of a talk about the simulation are available (German language).