3 Jul
2009
3 Jul
'09
3:10 a.m.
From: Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com>
2009/7/1 Rich Alderson <RichA at vulcan.com>:
Ohboy. Can't deny any of your observations, but I though that for a
site from a world that barely knows that anything other than x86
exists or ever has, it wasn't too bad!
The title was disgraceful. I don't mind US sources favouring US
machines but calling it a complete history is akin to the Soviet state
claiming every worthwhile invention was made by their citizens.
From:
Liam Proven
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 5:00 PM
Tom's Hardware - a popular site for PC
hardware tweakers and
overclockers - has done an ambitious article on the development of
the
mainframe:
It's a little American-centric but it's
not at all bad.
*American*-centric!?! ?How about *IBM*-centric?!?
After the 1960s, the only non-IBM product mentioned is the
(minicomputer)
VAX-11/780. ?(OK, *super*minicomputer, but even so...)
And in the 1960s, the only other DEC product mentioned is *the
PDP-8*????
(with a brushoff for several years of successful sales prior to the
-8, no
less.) ?Another mini, and no acknowledgement of the PDP-10
mainframe on which
the bulk of the development of the modern Internet took place.
It would be nice if they knew what they were talking about.
IMAO,
Rich But don't tell us - tell them, in their comments
boards, or mail the
author.
I did but they can't take criticism and pulled my comments.
Or better still, write a complementary piece - hell,
perhaps we could
do it collectively on the list as a group effort? - and submit it to
Tom's HW as a follow-on, filling in the gaps...?
Yes it would have to be a joint effort. None of us can ever know it
all, but can we cover enough? An approximate count up of 'big computer
list' up to 1980 is about 7 to 8 hundred machines. I think this is too
many. Should we perhaps limit it to production machines made in
quantities of at least, say ten, or a hundred. But then would we want
to omit machines like Atlas? Probably not. Any ideas on a more useful
measure of what should be included?
Roger Holmes.
Who can write only the ICT 1300/1301/1302 series sections, complete
with modern pictures. I've programmed other mainframes IBM 7094/CDC
6600/ICL 1905E/ICL 1904S/CDC SC17/CDC 7600/ICL 1906S but in most cases
never got near them more than once each, and knew very little about
the internal architecture.