On Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 10:44 PM Gavin Scott via cctalk <[email protected]> wrote: > RAMAC refers to a complete computer system that implements the "Random > Access Method of Accounting and Control", such as the IBM 305 RAMAC of > which the IBM 350 disk storage unit is a *component*.
Back at one of my early jobs in the 80s, the owner told me a story from when his dad worked at Columbus Coated Fabric (before they were bought by Borden Chemical, the makers of Elmer's Glue). As the story goes, CCF was either the first or second big company in Columbus to buy a computer, an IBM 305 RAMAC, specifically for payroll. It was then that I learned about one's-complement machines and 'negative zero'. -ethan
