The following message is a courtesy copy of an article that has been posted to bit.listserv.ibm-main,alt.folklore.computers as well.
[email protected] (Patrick O'Keefe) writes: > But getting back to the memory lane slide show, I'm a bit surprised > the 650 is not included. It may not have been much when compared > with the 70x processors from the same time and didn't have any > descendants (that I know of), but I think it had a pretty big > customer base. re: http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2009g.html#68 IT Infrastructure Slideshow: The IBM Mainframe: 50 Years of Big Iron Innovation http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2009g.html#70 Mainframe articles http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2009g.html#71 308x Processors - was "Mainframe articles" http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2009g.html#72 Mainframe articles 650 wiki page (mentions 2000 systems) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_650 650 archive page (mentions 2000 systems, annc 1953, manufactured until 1962) http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_intro.html columbia 650 page http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/650.html from above: IBM sometimes refers to the 650 as its first computer, although it is predated by at least ASCC (1943) and SSEC (1947), which were not products, and the 701 (1952), which definitely was. Perhaps it is more accurate to call it IBM's first commercial business computer (since the 701 was intended for scientific use), and the first computer to make a meaningful profit. ... snip .. a couple recent threads in a.f.c. discussing 650s http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2009c.html#35 Why do IBMers think disks are 'Direct Access'? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2009d.html#39 1401's in high schools? 701 wiki page, "defense calculator" (its "business siblings" were 702 & 650) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_701 701 archive page: http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/701/701_intro.html columbia 701 page ("19 units were built") http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/701.html columbia 704 page http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/704.html 704 archive page (annc 7may1954, withdrawn 7apr1960) http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PP704.html 709 wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_709 709 archive page http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PP709.html columbia's 709 page http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/ibm709.html computer history 709 scanned document http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/IBM/IBM.709.1957.102646304.pdf when I started at the univ., they had a 709, using 1401 for "spooling" front-end. 1401 did card->tape and tape->printer/punch ... tapes were carried between the 1401 tape drive and 709 tape drive. 709 ran ibsys monitor tape->tape. the univ. was going to get 360/67 to run tss/360 as replacement for the 709/1401 combination. along the way, they first got a 360/30 to replace the 1401. The 360/30 could run the 1401 MPIO (tape<->unit record) program in 1401 hardware emulation mode. I got a student job to port the 1401 MPIO program to 360/30 (I would guess as an exercise in gaining familiarity with 360). I got to design & implement my own device drivers, interrupts, task monitor, storage management, 1052 interface, etc. I eventually had a 2000 card assembler program ... with assembler directives where it would either generate an os/360 program that ran with DCBs or a stand-alone program that handled all its own start i/os and interrupts and was loaded with BPS loader. Assembling on 360/30 ran nearly 30 minutes elapsed time for the "stand-alone" version. The os/360 "version" took additional 25 minutes to assemble, since it took approx five minutes elapsed time for each DCB macro. The 360/67 eventually arrived and replaced the 709 and the 360/30 ... however tss/360 wasn't operational and so the '67 spent nearly all of its time running as a 360/65 with os/360 (eventually cp67 installed at the univ, and I got to play with it on weekends, since the 360/67 continued to run os/360 production during the week). -- 40+yrs virtualization experience (since Jan68), online at home since Mar1970 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
