26 May
2016
26 May
'16
9:35 a.m.
On 05/26/2016 05:02 AM, Noel Chiappa wrote:
In addition to reading/writing memory locations, and basic machine control
(boot, start, stop, continue, single-step, etc), some machines had additional
functionality, but what it was (if any) varied widely from machine to machine.
Most IBM 360's had "ripple tests". You could select local
store (register set), main store or control store.
Then, when you pressed start, you could read every location
of control store and optionally halt if a parity error
occurred. For local or main store, it would write
alternately all ones and all zeros and read back and check
parity.
This was a quick check that major components of the machine
were in operating order. (I don't recall if you needed the
CE key to do these tests.)
Jon