On 9/23/22 10:38, Paul Koning wrote: > Yes, I was thinking "mainframes" not limited to "supercomputers". Then > again, from what I remember of the one starring in "War Games", the > Connection Machine had oodles of lights.
When I first encountered the 7600 MCU, I thought it was a stroke of genius. Other than guessing or probing with a 'scope, one could see what everything was doing--and control much of it. The STAR took this one step further--the MCU there had its own drum (loaded by paper tape) for storage and a display not connected to the operating system. Lots and lots of monitoring and control The I/O station buffer units also had their own drums and CRT displays/keyboards. --Chuck
