https://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wang360.html
I had remembered it as one programmer shared by all 4 displays, I guess wrong. We must have had 4 programmer units. <pre>--Carey</pre> > On 04/16/2024 6:06 PM CDT Rick Bensene via cctalk <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Fred Cisin wrote > > > In 1970 or 1971, Wang had a tiny desktop calculator that had a card > > reader! The card reader was an external peripheral, that clam-shell > > > closed on individual port-a-punch cards (perforated normal sized > > > cards using every other column) > > It was actually available before 1970. It was Wang Laboratories' 300-Series > of electronic calculators. > > The "tiny" part was the visible part, which was just the keyboard and Nixie > tube display. It connected to an electronics package which was usually put > under a desk or sometimes even quite a distance from the keyboard/display > unit. > > The punched card programming peripheral sat between the keyboard/display and > the calculator electronics package, and effectively "pressed keys" on the > keyboard designated by the punches on the card, at high speed. > > On all but the 370 and 380 keyboard devices, the programs punched into the > cards were simple linear programs without test & branch capability, or > looping. Looping could be manually done by just restarting the program at > the beginning, and continuing to do so until the answer converged on the > final result. > > There were also the somewhat larger 360KT and 360KR keyboards that had > built-in diode ROM programs that calculated trig functions by sending the > keycodes to the electronics package to carry out the operations necessary to > perform the trig functions. > > There were a number of different electronics packages that were available, > with the low-end model (the 300E) having access to only the basic four math > functions. The 310E added square root and x^2, the 320E added natural > logarithm and e^x functions to the 310. The 360E added four store/recall > memory registers along with the functions of the 320E. > > The last of the 300-series was the 362E electronics package that provided > access to ten memory registers, each of which could be split in half to store > two five-digit numbers, along with the math functions of the 360E. > > Then there were the SE type electronics packages. To my knowledge, there > were the 310SE, 320SE, and 360SE. > > The SE electronics packages took the core calculating logic of the > 310E/320E/360E and stuffed some multiplexing logic around it, allowing up to > four keyboard/display units to be connected up to it that operated in a > round-robin timesharing mode. > > The 370 Programmer Keyboard Unit included a similar punched card reader, but > there was extra logic inside the keyboard that allowed conditional testing > and branching capability. Up to four of these card readers could be > daisy-chained to the 370 keyboard to allow programs up 320 steps. > > The program codes consumed 6 bits, so each column of the 40 column card (a > standard IBM punched card, but with pre-scored holes every other column) > could contain two instructions, allowing 80 instruction steps per card. > > The 380 Programmer Keyboard Unit was similar to the 370 in terms of > capability, but instead of using punched cards for "storing" the program, the > program steps were recorded on what was essentially an 8-Track tape cartridge > that was inserted into a slot on the back panel of the 380. The tape in the > cartridge was in a loop, and was positioned by a rather noisy ratcheting > system akin to a stepping relay that moved the tape forward. Branching was > accomplished by moving the tape forward until the target location was found. > Depending on where the branch was targeted, the tape could have to move to > the end of the program, then continue moving until the beginning of the > program is found, then searching for the loop target. This operation could > consume quite a bit of time. The tape cartridge allowed for considerably > larger programs, but was quite slow in terms of tape positioning for > branching and looping. > > The initial announcement of the 300-series calculator occurred in 1965, with > the 300E/310E/320E electronics units, and 300K, 310K, 320K keyboard units, > along with the CP-1 punched card reader, of which up to four could be > connected daisy-chain style between the keyboard unit and the electronics > unit. > > Later the 360E electronics package was added, and the 360K keyboard unit for > the 360E added keys to access the four memory registers. > > A bit later, the 360KT and 360KR trig keyboards were introduced, with the > 360KT accepting arguments and results in Degrees, and the 360KR in Radians. > > > The 310SE and 320SE four-user electronics packages came out sometime in 1967. > > > The 360SE four-user electronics package came out in 1968, and also the 370 > Programmer and 371 card reader as well as the 380 Programmer. > > Lastly, sometime in late '68 or early '69, the 362E electronics package came > out, and a 362K keyboard (which was identical to a 360K keyboard but with > different keycap legends for the memory keys) was introduced with the 362E. > The 362E marked the end of the 300-Series. > > There were a lot of peripheral devices that were available for the 370 and > 380 programmers, including a Teletype interface that connected a Model 33ASR > Teletype to the calculator, with ability to accept input from the Teletype > and print output to the Teletype, as well as being able to read program steps > from the Teletype's punched paper tape reader, add-on memory units for more > register storage. > There was also an Item Counter that connected between any of the keyboard > units and the electronics package that would count depressions of various > keys on an electromechanical counter to aid in calculations such as averages, > etc. There was also a simple column printer that would provide printed > output of the number in the calculator's display that was also connected > between any keyboard unit and the electronics package. A specially modified > IBM Selectric typewriter that had Wang-made solenoids and linkages to actuate > the keys and functions of the typewriter was also available that could print > output from calculations. There are also some peripherals that > could be used to interface the calculators to external digital devices such > as test and measurement equipment made by other manufacturers of such > equipment. > > Wang also would OEM the electronics package guts to other manufacturers. > One company even made a general purpose computer system that used one of the > 300-series electronics packages as its arithmetic unit. Wang also offered a > modular computer system called the 4000 (originally named the 390, but was > changed before introduction) that used a standardized bus structure to > connect the logic of an electronics package as the arithmetic unit, along > with other modules that would contain storage, programming capability, and > I/O interfaces. > > For quite some time, Wang Labs were the only calculator manufacturer that > provided built-in calculation of logarithmic functions that were /not/ > pre-coded sequences of keypresses that were executed like a program, but were > actually hard-coded algorithms in the calculator's logic that provided almost > instantaneous results. Dr. Wang invented the logic to do this, and got a > patent for it. It was quite ingenious, and was able to calculate logarithms > to twelve digit accuracy using only addition/subtraction and shift > operations, and do so in an average of about 300 milliseconds. > > The weird part about the calculators in the 300-series is that they used > logarithms to perform multiplication and division (which simplified the > operations into addition of logarithms of the operands, then an > anti-logarithm to get the result of a multiplication, and subtraction of the > logarithm of the second operand from the logarithm of the first operand, > followed by an anti-logarithm to derive the result. The issue with this is > that most logarithms are not able to be 100% accurately represented in the 14 > digit (10 digits displayed) capacity of the logic, and as a result, some > multiplication and division operations that would normally result in an > integer answer providing an answer that was not quite accurate. For example, > 3 X 3 would equal 8.999999998, but a bit of additional logic for multiply and > divide would round the result up to 9.000000000 . > > In some cases, the error was enough that the rounding wouldn't give the > integer answer expected, though. All of the answers provided, even with > slight errors due to imperfect representation of the logarithms were within > most tolerances for engineering and scientific calculations. > > The logic of the machines was completely transistorized, using > diode-transistor gates. No integrated circuits anywhere. > The working memory of the calculators was stored in a magnetic core array in > the electronics package. > > The electronics packages consisted of a backplane (hand-wired in earlier > machines, later on a circuit board) with a bunch of small (roughly 3x5-inch) > circuit boards packed with components. > > The power supply was a conventional linear power supply with Zener/transistor > regulation. > > The basic keyboard units just contained a board with transistor drivers for > the Nixie tube displays, and diode encoding for the keys on the keyboard. > The key switches were standard micro-switch units with a ring pressed onto > the key-stalk that would press down on the actuator for the micro-switch. > Key travel was very short, but had a positive "click" as the micro-switch > closed when the key was depressed. > > The 300-Series electronic calculators put Wang Laboratories on the map as a > leader in higher-end electronic calculators, and made a fortune for the > company and its shareholders. > > In 1968, when HP introduced the 9100A, Dr. An Wang, the founder and CEO of > Wang Labs was secretly shown a production version of the 9100A before it was > introduced. The presentation of the machine was provided to Dr. Wang by > Dave Hewlett, one of the founders of HP. When Dr. Wang saw what the HP > 9100A could do, he was visibly shaken. When the presentation was over, he > left the room saying "We've got to get to work", meaning that it was clear > that the 300-Series was now completely obsoleted by the 9100A, and that Wang > Labs had better get busy with a new generation of calculators to counter HP's > amazing calculator that was much smaller, much more capable, had > computer-like programming capability, and was still made only with > transistors and magnetic core memory. Wang did not have their counter to the > HP 9100A/B calculators ready until mid-1970, the Wang 700-Series. The > 700-Series calculators were serious machines, very computer-like, with large > amounts of core memory, very high s peed using DTL and TTL small-scale integrated circuit logic, and large I/O expansion capabilities. They were a solid match for the HP 9100A/B, but by the time they got them to market, HP had already introduced it's 9800-series machines, which had the essence of a computer as their main logic, with a "program" that made the machines run. The computer at the heart of the 9800 series was a somewhat slimmed down, bit-serial version of HP's first minicomputer, the HP 2116A. The 9800-series were larger machines than the 9100A/B, but offered extensive expandability and I/O capabilities. The pinnacle of the 9800 series was the 9830A, which was programmable by the user in the BASIC computer language, and was more a computer than a calculator, but HP still considered it a calculator to make it more marketable because the term "computer" had connotations of being a very expensive piece of capital equipment, while a calculator was basically an expense item. > > You can learn more about the Wang 300-Series calculators by going to > https://oldcalculatormuseum.com/calcman.html#MFG-WANG . There is also > information on HP's 9100B, as well as most of the 9800-series that can be > found by scrolling up on that same page, as well as many other electronic > calculators exhibited in the Old Calculator Museum website, as well as > physically in the Old Calculator Museum. > > Rick Bensene > The Old Calculator Museum > https://oldcalculatormuseum.com > Beavercreek, Oregon USA > > P.S. Some of the dates above may not be exactly correct, and there may be > some other minor errors or missing information because I typed this strictly > straight out of my head without access to any reference material. The > website has the correct information to the greatest extent possible given the > amount of time that has elapsed since these machines were new.
