[cctalk] Re: Ramac : The real first disk drive? (Was: Floppy disk (fwd)

[Paul Koning via cctalk]

> On Jun 11, 2026, at 12:04 AM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> 
> wrote:
> 
> On Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 10:44 PM Gavin Scott via cctalk
> <cctalk@classiccmp.org> 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'.

A lot of systems used one's complement through the 1960s.  I'm not really sure 
why.  Not just for integers but floating point also (as on the CDC mainframes, 
and around the same time the Electrologica X8 with a slightly different 
approach).

        paul