A front panel was used on early electronic computers to display and allow the alteration of the state of the machine's internal registers and memory. Usually consisting of a number of indicator lamps, toggle switches, push buttons mounted on a sheet metal face plate (in early machines, an oscilloscope might also be used), an operator would sit at the front panel to bootstrap the computer, to debug running programs and find hardware faults. In computer architecture, a processor register is a small amount of very fast computer memory used to speed the execution of computer programs by providing quick access to commonly used values—typically, the values being in the midst of a calculation at a given point in time. ... The terms storage (U.K.) or memory (U.S.) refer to the parts of a digital computer that retain physical state (data) for some interval of time, possibly even after electrical power to the computer is turned off. ... A lamp, in technical usage, is a replaceable component such as an incandescent light bulb, which is designed to produce light from electricity. ... A toggle switch is a generic class of electric switch that uses a mechanical lever, handle or rocking mechanism to actuate it. ... A button (control) is a simple physical mechanism for controlling some aspect of a machine. ... A Tektronix model 475A portable analogue oscilloscope, a very typical instrument of the late 1970s. ... Bootstrapping alludes to a German legend about a Baron Münchhausen, who was able to lift himself out of a swamp by pulling himself up by his bootstraps. ... Debugging is a methodical process of finding and reducing the number of bugs, or defects, in a computer program or a piece of electronic hardware thus making it behave as expected. ... Computer hardware is the physical part of a computer, including the digital circuitry, as distinguished from the computer software that executes within the hardware. ...

A picture to go here.

Something about how used to go here.

Some example machines (e.g., PDP-8) to go here. A PDP-8 on display at the Smithsonians National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.. This example is from the first generation of PDP-8s, built with discrete transistors and later known as the Straight 8. ...

Something about early (1970's) hobby machines (e.g., MITS Altair 8800) to go here. The MITS Altair 8800 is a microcomputer design from 1975, based on the Intel 8080A CPU. Sold as a kit through Popular Electronics magazine, the designers intended to sell only a few hundred to hobbyists, and were surprised when they sold over ten times that many in the first month. ...

Something about ze Blinkenlights, etc, to go here. Blinkenlights is a hackers neologism for diagnostic lights on old mainframe computers and modern network hardware. ...