17 Feb
2021
17 Feb
'21
10:07 p.m.
I heard back from Fred Wright:
"Although I wasn't at SC in 1972, I'm pretty sure I would have heard of
the SC-4 if it had ever existed. The document you linked was just a
proposal, and I imagine that that's as far as it ever got. AFAIK, SC
didn't create any full-fledged computers between the SC-15 (1970) and
the SC-30 (1983)."
Following up about the SC-15:
"It was a clone of the PDP-15, designed for Information International.
The prototype was our main in-house machine for many years. III's
main product at the time was the FR-80 microfilm recording machine,
initially using PDP-9s and later PDP-15s. Our design let them build
their own machines for substantially less than what PDP-15s cost from
DEC. We provided designs and prototypes for everything up to the PLS
(the Programmable Light Source, a small *very* high-resolution CRT)
and camera.
I think SC built one SC-15 as part of a system for the Nevada Test
Site (while I wasn't here), but most of them were built by III."