22 May
2026
22 May
'26
7:56 a.m.
On 2026May 20,, at 8:16 PM, Curious Marc <curiousmarc3(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Here is the same module dated as 1967. If you trust Alamy… Could it be from a 494 or
would the 30 bit width make no sense?
Marc
You forgot the link, but I know the picture you allude to, I did encounter it earlier and
assessed it.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-module-of-32-kilobyte-16-bit-univac-core-…
<https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-module-of-32-kilobyte-16-bit-univac-core-memory-from-1967-32733901.html>
494 documents say the mem increment size was 16KWords using 8KWord sub-modules, and says
there were half-word parity bits.
The descriptive line in the alamy photo says 32K*16 bits. The 16 bits would make sense for
the half-word parity in the 494. It’s conceivable they used the same physical module
design in the two machines (1108/494) with fewer bits populated in modules for the 494
(the other frame of the module is not visible in the alamy photo).
But the large size of 32K is still very disparate from the 494 docs, and it’s still
difficult to square with the 19/20 bits of the module here.
I am a little skeptical of the attribution in the alamy photo.
> On May 15, 2026, at 2:16 PM, Brent Hilpert via
cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> I was asked to examine a large core module, it has a UNIVAC label and part no,
manufactured in 1971 but probably a little older in design. No providence known.
>
> I suspect it is from an 1108 or perhaps an 1106, based on the reasoning presented in
the web link below. I’m a little curious for a firmer confirmation though. 1108/6
documentation on bitsavers has been very useful, but what’s there doesn’t go deep enough
into the hardware to provide a hard confirmation. Is there even an 1108 or 6 still in
existence?
>
> The module, and what I’ve figured out:
> http://madrona.ca/e/coreUnivac/index.html
<http://madrona.ca/e/coreUnivac/index.html>