Re: IBM System/370 turns 50 years old
> On Jun 30, 2020, at 7:38 PM, Jon Elson via cctalk > wrote: > > >> On 30/06/2020 16:44, Kyle Owen via cctalk wrote: >>> Happy birthday to the 370! Looks like it was released to the press on 30 >>> June 1970. >>> >>> https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PR370.html >>> > Well, actually, IBM released the first 370 in 1968, only they didn't want to > tell anybody too soon. > So, they camouflaged it as a new 360 model, the /85, ... That's interesting. DEC at one point used that same number for the VAX-11/780. I once at DECUS was shown a secret document which was the instruction list (similar in form to the way it appeared on the "VAX code card"). The document described it as being for the PDP-11/85. I think that was at DECUS Chicago, 1977 perhaps, and I think the person who showed it to me was the attendee from Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI -- which later became a company with the same initials but a different name). I never saw anything more along those lines until the official announcement with the real name, but I'm pretty sure about that memory. paul
Re: IBM System/370 turns 50 years old
On 30/06/2020 16:44, Kyle Owen via cctalk wrote: Happy birthday to the 370! Looks like it was released to the press on 30 June 1970. https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PR370.html Well, actually, IBM released the first 370 in 1968, only they didn't want to tell anybody too soon. So, they camouflaged it as a new 360 model, the /85, and only sold it to the (US) NSA, so nobody was going to get to see it for a while. The 360/85 was a prototype of the 370/165, and they really didn't change much to make it the 370. The /85 had 16-bit static RAM for a small writable control store and storage buffer (cache), as well as a read-only control store for the 360 instruction set. The 370/168 moved up to 64-bit static RAM chips, and the entire control store was writable. They also changed the logic cabinet layout a bit. The computer console was identical, as far as I can tell, although photos of the /85 are extremely rare. The /85 was the first machine IBM delivered with the MST4 monolithic logic chips, storage buffer, writable control store, water cooling, and probably a few other things. Jon
Re: IBM System/370 turns 50 years old
I remember the day! I was in school then, and had an older friend who worked at IBM. He had previously told me that they had bought the entire (416)360 exchange for their offices, and I asked him if they were all going to change to 370 now! cheers, Nigel Nigel Johnson, MSc., MIEEE, VE3ID/G4AJQ/VA3MCU Amateur Radio, the origin of the open-source concept! Skype: TILBURY2591 nw.john...@ieee.org On 30/06/2020 16:44, Kyle Owen via cctalk wrote: Happy birthday to the 370! Looks like it was released to the press on 30 June 1970. https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PR370.html Kyle
