Re: Early 360 machines (Was: Front panel switches - what did they do?)

[Jon Elson]

On 05/25/2016 12:01 PM, Noel Chiappa wrote:
     > From: Jon Elson
     > the /20 was intended for very specific uses in 360 shops, and maybe as
     > an entry-level "foot in the door" to move totally tab card shops into
     > the 360 family. The only /20s I ever saw were used as offline spool
     > printers and card readers in large 360 shops.

I interned at IBM Bermuda, and they had a 360/20 as their main service bureau
machine; it had (IIRC) a card reader/punch, 4 tape drives, and a 4301
printer. When I got there, they had just gotten in a System 3 (two
single-platter hard drives, a 4301 printer, and I'm not sure what else) to
replace it.


I'm guessing, maybe, that would be a 1403 printer?  There 
were 1403 and 1443 printers.

The only language supported on the 360/20 was RPG.  For a 
mostly tab card type of operation, you could actually do a 
lot in RPG. Otherwise, you had to write in machine language 
and get it assembled on another system.

Jon