It is easy to forget how many radically, software-incompatible different "mainframe" lines IBM sold. Others have cataloged the various numbers better than I could. It seems foreign now, not being able to run General Ledger and some scientific calculation on the same mainframe.
The 360 was of course named for its "full circle" capabilities, scientific and decimal. HOWEVER, this "two kinds of machines" thinking carried over even to the 360. The decimal instructions were an optional feature, and so were the floating point instructions, at least on some models, IIRC. So you could buy a "commercial" 360 or a "scientific" 360, as well as one that did both. Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Anne & Lynn Wheeler Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2017 8:31 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Paper tape (was Re: Hidden Figures) [email protected] (Charles Mills) writes: > And 1443 (?). I had a client that had a 1403 variant that was a little > slower but included a 16-or-so column card reader. You could print > invoices on pre-punched cards and read the punching to make sure you > were printing on the right card (no spool, obviously). It printed on > "160-column" cards, that is, two 80-column cards with a tearable fold > in the middle. One-half was the document the customer returned with a > check; one half was for his records. > > 1401 was a processor, not a printer, the "commercial" machine that > preceded the 360, the "all-purpose" computer. (70xx was the > "scientific" series.) > > Agree on the 3211. > > There is just zero doubt in my mind that the 1403 printer used a > "special" (not TTY-like) paper tape, solely for carriage control, not > "data." re: http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2017.html#37 Paper tape (was Re: Hidden Figures) we eventually put 1443 on 360/65 for keeping up with console output, things got so that 1052-7 couldn't keep up with all the messages ... and so had to be filtered down. 1401 was low/mid-range ... 70xx was high end https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_705 The IBM 700/7000 series has six completely different ways of storing data and instructions: First (36/18-bit words): 701 (Defense Calculator) Scientific (36-bit words): 704, 709, 7090, 7094, 7040, 7044 Commercial (variable length character strings): 702, 705, 7080 1400 series (variable length character strings): 7010 Decimal (10 digit words): 7070, 7072, 7074 Supercomputer (64-bit words): 7030 "Stretch" ... a 360 was to merge commercial & scientific in single architecture 360s came with various additional microcode features that implemented earlier architectures http://ibm-1401.info/1401in360.html#360-1401MicroCode some of my old posts on 360s with microcode feature that implemented earlier architectures http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2006q.html#55 Was FORTRAN buggy? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2009b.html#71 IBM tried to kill VM? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2009h.html#52 IBM 1401 http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2009l.html#10 August 7, 1944: today is the 65th Anniversary of the Birth of the Computer http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2009p.html#74 The 50th Anniversary of the Legendary IBM 1401 http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2009r.html#56 You know you've been Lisp hacking to long when http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2010p.html#11 Rare Apple I computer sells for $216,000 in London http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2011e.html#53 You almost NEVER see these for sale, own a 360 console http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2011g.html#70 History of byte addressing http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2011n.html#84 Scanning JES3 JCL http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013l.html#69 model numbers; was re: World's worst programming environment? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2014.html#23 Scary Sysprogs and educating those 'kids' http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2014e.html#17 System/360 celebration set for ten cities; 1964 pricing for oneweek http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2015b.html#15 What were the complaints of binary code programmers that not accept Assembly? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2016d.html#73 Is it a lost cause? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
