I've only seen a 407; did the boards for the other 40x machines have the same form factor?
You could open the door an wire the board without removing it; I can't imagine wanting to do so. While 80-80 listing was certainly a standard board at every shop I heard of, AFAIK the most common task for the 507 was printing reports with control breaks and sub-totals. As a side note, Richard Feynman described using a room for of EAM equipment to do calculation for the Manhattan Project. Have you sent that scan to bitsavers? -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [[email protected]] on behalf of Joel C. Ewing [[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 30, 2022 1:13 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Tabulating Machines (was "... z114") An IBM 407 control board was the largest of that on any of the plug board machines I ever used, probably at least 24" x 24" (columns numbered 1 -80 and rows numbered A - BL). A Google search for "407 plug board" will find several pictures (but not all for 407s). One picture shows that the panel pretty much took up the entire right end of the IBM 407. Raising the door handle on the right end of the 407 moved the control panel into the machine and brought the metal end of each plug that was sticking out the back of the board into contact with a flexible metal contact inside the 407, and at the same time the panel door covered the control board completely -- definitely could not change any wires while it was installed and active in the machine. The jumper wires were single conductor, color-coded for length, and completely insulated except for the part of the plugs that went through the non-conducting control board. It required some amount of force to push the plugs into the board and a similar force to remove them; but it was easily done by hand, no special tools required. An installation would have a number of control boards, so you could have a separate board for each "standard" application for the IBM 407, plus some available that could be wired or modified for custom one-time uses. You could conceivably put a metal cover over the top of a control board to make it more difficult for someone to change a standard board, but it was not functionally required and made it more difficult to replace a jumper wire that got damaged, which did occasionally happen. I believe all logic was implemented with mechanical relays. Although it had the ability to add/subtract numeric values from selected columns in a deck of cards and some very primitive logic functions based on comparing punches in the cards, calling the IBM 407 a computer would be a big stretch. It was mostly used for listing data from cards with some simple summation of numeric values, possibly with some customized repositioning of data columns to fit pre-printed forms. I find I still have a copy of A24-1011-1, Reference Manual, IBM 407 Accounting machine (Sep 1960), 223 pages. Searching by the manual number, I located a copy online at http://secure-web.cisco.com/1B6loAvZArMtLqUnJeYqhroecCU8E_hMEC2Ac_meCqG9tv6_Fn1lQl3U3bzO6h0SseQ39CnCyxwrOu3_DpRbGSWymcWDsQz882I7_N03vYirt-e_1xNvYd-aAXNrtk0pHYPFRHjvRYWLIm0wJPkQlTEOTws8L-77ql2x1dbe-wm20OxC5s-IfHyuQfTJVDepZMqUzpJpUV4XPvLuRgxGjxegALeWCNGXBJBZWBO7rsZ7vcJNX-Lx-XP4mEcrDRuNCZYGJNak1A8nwQ7UpUFZDbQBaWyyJLOh67kKSKH9y-cA11jKoMQ-X23amCwvJdYWRsLF7iEwwduMUZ5zNN1p6keNnGW3pXoLo7mEYOwKTu4gUsh203X1QGEnDpuqSe_i8PWkBX6wRfaQbKsPbM_xznYShGxP8PIuNKrfJeVwVGpZuWYytX3IUzwQaVuNLudiT/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.piercefuller.com%2Flibrary%2Fibm-a24-1011-1.html My recollection is that most frustrating part of IBM 407 board wiring was figuring out a clever way to do something, only to find out it didn't work because you used a section of the control board that required an optional feature not installed on your specific machine. Joel C Ewing On 5/29/22 13:26, Seymour J Metz wrote: > You could theoretically add wires without removing the board. I've never seen > it done and I suspect that it's not safe. > > > -- > Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 > > ________________________________________ > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [[email protected]] on behalf of > Joe Monk [[email protected]] > Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2022 2:13 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: my new z114 > > "I've never seen a picture of one of > those wire boards being worked on and always assumed you did the work > while it was in the machine. " > > Ummm ... not possible. To reprogram a board, you had to take a special IBM > tool and push the wire up thru the bottom of the board! Kinda hard to do > when the board is in the machine :) > > Growing up, my dad had a job as an IBM CE. One of his product lines was the > 6400 accounting machine. Great fun for a kid on the weekend to play with a > plugboard and wires! > > https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerhistory.org%2Fcollections%2Fcatalog%2F102732361&data=05%7C01%7Csmetz3%40gmu.edu%7Ca2799b02cf5c4dbecd4208da41fb2e51%7C9e857255df574c47a0c00546460380cb%7C0%7C0%7C637894844615983446%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=41iEHD5Ho5nil8Xe4wjqvuAEtg7a84XylwtUNGkOHAs%3D&reserved=0 > > https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerhistory.org%2Fcollections%2Fcatalog%2F102645466&data=05%7C01%7Csmetz3%40gmu.edu%7Ca2799b02cf5c4dbecd4208da41fb2e51%7C9e857255df574c47a0c00546460380cb%7C0%7C0%7C637894844615983446%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=gFC6O3dDsvvvz3xII6eBQkrJM1ko7x%2BAgijSpMfvINE%3D&reserved=0 > > Joe > > On Sun, May 29, 2022 at 12:00 PM Tom Brennan <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Enzo mentioned he has a couple of ESCON cards, so he's still in the >> running. Great pic of your dad - I've never seen a picture of one of >> those wire boards being worked on and always assumed you did the work >> while it was in the machine. On a table looks a whole lot easier. >> >> On 5/29/2022 7:42 AM, Gary Eheman wrote: >>> Harry: >>> To try and squelch a bit of misinformation here since the Internet never >> forgets, Funsoft was *not* spun off from IBM. It was founded independently >> and the software and hardware engineering roots were definitely not IBM. >>> Enzo can contact me concerning a FLEXCUB. No need if his z114 has no >> ESCON channels which would be a pre-req. >>> A second unrelated intersection to your post relative to Columbia is a >> pic of my father: >> http://secure-web.cisco.com/1gwDFZ0VlqoCEukSVnTPS9NrhjazJmj-3U1dBfEt5gk4BwjjxsNtFHIDEnYfbCzWq4Q6OKfisop3TmqYJAumPycsMTHL2v7-SzSC7MwNo-QvgScZxaXN7LYEiwN6vOmtQhyB9H-31LaxJ92ZdqRw3cCrNpzOegAplxOKzc2Ull6eTDQqz32iNU7_wmW8fALJ1dz-v8CnI1kcg3CHw1Yw7A7Ai611_X7znJqzpmV8oQZOmEPMVW7Wd2WYiCalCX7PQ-UMRIN_YSR2sMAad2aT-tbOKLc49kHsN9u0B5TnGEsGtC_Dshi_ddxNHPG8JZQwBn8Jn0BI1FEOXsYnMVBXU9aIyktJZeaqAfsiweuGZyh5zSCsOSedzWUOLuKeW7Vcp7WgGba0y7G0_BXgI5i_l5nKJMQZlv59_Dse0xZ1SADzdKzhOgauJPt1RhE2Sr-NR/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.columbia.edu%2Fcu%2Fcomputinghistory%2F407.html >>> We used the same pic when my family endowed a perpetual scholarship at >> armyscholarshipfoundation.org >>> On Sat, 28 May 2022 16:50:07 +0000, Harry Wahl <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>>> Enzo, >>>> >>>> You may want to see if you can get a FlexCub which, with its PC Escon >> card, will connect your z114 to a PC based platform and emulate every type >> of z114 peripheral you could possibly use. >>>> Using standard Escon fiber cable, the z114 Escon connects directly to a >> PC Card that is a mainframe channel adapter. Between the card's firmware >> and specific PC programs in the one PC box you will be able to emulate all >> the peripherals you will need. >>>> http://secure-web.cisco.com/1VwG2tbYb1jAjg201pQkV_T2Xk4RWdRqHdSu4I5T1gmotr_54qG7oYif6WOeAFKDwfuDwo2ld5tPxHUl54b5qbjcDUnumLjKF-VB4wavk7zzYSXCUVQ9teLqJ8QsKpJjSYDS1VemU444xopkuo1o2L0vSXIDMWMzYBPkSO0ADwzsRfjl26btiGLyiTfmKdBtE9enuYYdrz2cJdiD5rQM0iEuBMgJ2atTeLlFbKOBMoUlrFBSMDGDZBrJ0cLb0seDlqaooHhB5oinuNR2XvNf7mxySklYrQAWkUvwHBpdyvIrJMNQCRPHE4GWYGTmgnmIxEkza9GU-11HlQIqRaGqty9xU7bv2asl1Q89dLdLwBt6g6JOdQti781ycKR7pTO4ezSBmSiOZgsCoDGKmCrheAZjxpahepAymhjU8ahSEadCKfPctiD14RerSHG-vFJ9f/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funsoft.com >>>> go to FlexCub white paper. >>>> >>>> Fundamental Software, a.k.a. Funsoft, was spun off from IBM, >> specifically from their P/390 group. >>>> There are several other, similar vendors out there too. >>>> >>> (snippage) >>> >>>> P.S.S. Also, as a professor at Columbia University in NYC, I may be >> able to get you access to Columbia's museum of IBM history, including the >> parts not open to the public. >>>> Fundamental Software, >>>> Inc.<http://secure-web.cisco.com/1Wy2triybBL1OvjBx384LVSLUl_pYxF5Dnime12fZbZaQ6grGntJz7-JXAnKHTlwgAURSTIc1DyOoxtloScfekiL2psux3CPIB7ipr2v6Out5CHnskvdkThwJr5GBlD-0xGpe_AHrppdvzDlN2nDC5FFE0I7IEFCaYIn09Wj6td0hrOH9X6E4dU9PwrSZoieQitTx3-7mElLsQYD98YPxAsHu79L5zy0Rj0Vpg2QP8TJGAiRaRjuSjkZ7qhPcyj52bU2274yC8izy3vgaPGzSriCgDnTgHPTlIrAGlvtwHNNsNI22h66FtCayg0stbEBeTel6fA6W3-7FixPinGDXZ4wQXxjQUryytnw3cS-wSrqeQyb2EP4PoIlYV5Q3AYJ-X2d1xB_yAVfLcEp1RPnGlKP8mvw9Aqt6aT5M-ou0K0ATlVu1uhMWntaTk_srmPz_/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funsoft.com%2F> >>>> System/390 on Intel-Based Servers >>>> http://secure-web.cisco.com/1VwG2tbYb1jAjg201pQkV_T2Xk4RWdRqHdSu4I5T1gmotr_54qG7oYif6WOeAFKDwfuDwo2ld5tPxHUl54b5qbjcDUnumLjKF-VB4wavk7zzYSXCUVQ9teLqJ8QsKpJjSYDS1VemU444xopkuo1o2L0vSXIDMWMzYBPkSO0ADwzsRfjl26btiGLyiTfmKdBtE9enuYYdrz2cJdiD5rQM0iEuBMgJ2atTeLlFbKOBMoUlrFBSMDGDZBrJ0cLb0seDlqaooHhB5oinuNR2XvNf7mxySklYrQAWkUvwHBpdyvIrJMNQCRPHE4GWYGTmgnmIxEkza9GU-11HlQIqRaGqty9xU7bv2asl1Q89dLdLwBt6g6JOdQti781ycKR7pTO4ezSBmSiOZgsCoDGKmCrheAZjxpahepAymhjU8ahSEadCKfPctiD14RerSHG-vFJ9f/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funsoft.com >>>> >>> ... -- Joel C. 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