25 May
2016
25 May
'16
1:23 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Chuck Guzis
Sent: 25 May 2016 20:54
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?
On 05/25/2016 12:35 PM, Dave Wade wrote:
They were rather limited in computing terms, but it was easy to add custom i/o to them.
There were lots of application packages, so I believe that many were used for specialist
tasks.
I bet both the Ship Research and the Gas Board used them with CSMP for solving
differential equations. There was ECAP a circuit modelling program. It really was sold as
a departmental or personal computer.
According to Wikip around 10,000 1130's were
sold.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1130
one salesman claims to have sold 1,000. They were dotted about all
over the place, so when I was a Student in the UK Newcastle University
had a 360/67. The Polytechnic where I studied had an 1130 as an RJE
station, as did Durham University, the "Gas Board", and the British
Ship Research Council.
I had no idea! I've programmed an 1130, but it seemed to be rather
limited, but maybe that was what contributed to its popularity and low cost.
Does that number also include the 1800?
I don't think so. According to http://ethw.org/IBM_1800 about 2,000 IBM 1800's
were sold..
--Chuck
Dave