19 Nov
2016
19 Nov
'16
5:56 p.m.
On Sat, Nov 19, 2016 at 12:49 PM, Jon Elson <elson at pico-systems.com> wrote:
On 11/18/2016 10:17 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
True, but for all that I have read about the actual use of the /20 that was
not what it was for. IBM used the /20's as a smart terminal and that kind
of thing. The thing in between the mainframe and something else
operating in a remote location, and so on.
On 11/18/2016 07:59 PM, Jon Elson wrote:
Yes, I think it had to, as it had no adder. Had to be
Remember,
MANY /20s had 4K memory and no disk. There also was no OS, so no
file system support. I can imagine a cross-compiler being of some use, as
small programs ought to work OK. The only sensible reason for FORTRAN
would be scientific computing, and since the /20 had no floating point, I
can barely imagine how slow a double precision FP multiply would be. I
would have to guess close to a second! I think a Monroematic calculator
could give it good competition, and some of the early programmable
calculators (Wang and such) could almost certainly outdo it.
I'd rather be hitting myself on the head with a hammer than try to do
serious computing on a 360/20.
It makes even a PDP-8 look like a real workhorse.
Jon
incomprehensibly slow. I guess it would load the
memory to an
internal register a piece at a time.
The last time I dug around a bit for model 20 software, I was surprised
to find that there was not only a FORTRAN, but a PL/I and a COBOL
written for the thing.
By and large, the only applications that I ever saw were RPG. I can't
begin to imagine how slow a COBOL would be, much less a PL/I.
PL/I ?? No, I really can't believe it! Was this a cross-compiler?