27 Nov
2023
27 Nov
'23
8:55 a.m.
Well, just to throw this into the conversation:
Over this past summer, I was studying the SCAMP (
https://voidstar.blog/scamp-a-review-50-years-later/ )
In that collection I came across a very early printing of the PALM
instruction set, with the cover page dated March 21, 1972 of the printing,
and on the next page a date of March 16, 1972 of the document number. My
photos of that document is here:
https://github.com/voidstar78/SCAMP/blob/main/IBM_SCAMP_PALM_InstructionSet…
This seems to be an older revision than the photocopied document that
I have. The instruction set described in the '72 document is not the final
one. Some opcodes are missing or are not complete (like the JUMP
instruction).
A transcription of my photocopy is here:
http://computermuseum.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/dev/ibm_5110/technik/inst…
BTW voidstar also has a document called System/7 tape cassette attachment.
I do have the original IBM cassette recorder (a Philips EL 3302) with
cable and System/7 diagnostics cassettes ;-) This was the tape recorder
used with the SCAMP.
Pictures can be found here:
http://computermuseum.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pics/ibm/s7
Now, of course an argument is then is PALM a
microprocessor? Perhaps not
by todays standards and expectations, as it is a series of about 14
"Dutchess" chips, which is claimed to consist of MOSFET. I'm not enough of
I'd say yes. It's not a single-chip processor, but the i8008 wasn't either
(it couldn't work without support chips.
Christian