25 May
2016
25 May
'16
7:06 a.m.
paths.
Do you mean the 360/20? On the topic, were the 20 and 40 the only members
of System 360 to use TROS?
I remember picking up the programming manual for a Model 20 and realizing
that I'd essentially have to re-learn programming. 16 bit registers, stripped-
down instruction set, no I/O channels, "substitute"
instructions for regular 360 fare.
A really strange thing was that the 1130 came out *after* the 360/20.
I am not sure why IBM produced an in-compatible machine so soon after 360 was announced,
but it was sold in a completely different way to a new and emerging market.
It was billed as the cheapest computer IBM had ever offered. The announcement letter
here:-
https://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/1130/1130_initial.html
is dated almost exactly one month before DEC announced the PDP-8 and I am sure targets the
same markets DEC did. You just wonder if IBM had spies in DEC, or more likely they both
spotted a marketing opportunity. It is also interesting to note a "typical"
configuration was priced at almost twice that of the PDP-8.. (assuming Wikipedia is
right)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-8
I don't have any links but I know in the UK IBM1130's were used on ships by the
Institute of Oceanographic Sciences but I can't find any reference to that on-line. I
was told that they had great trouble getting the IBM engineers who worked on it that a
suite was not suitable dress for a small research vessel.
Dave
G4UGM
--Chuck
Dave
G4UGM
25 May
25 May
9:50 a.m.
On 2016-05-25 7:06 AM, Dave Wade wrote:
paths.
The book cited earlier by Paul Berger, "IBM's 360 and Early 370
Systems"[1], might give some of the reasoning here. It does have a lot
of discussion about how the competing lines were resolved. I just
finished reading it but I don't recall whether it addresses this
specific point.
--Toby
[1] https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/ibms-360-and-early-370-systems
Do you mean the 360/20? On the topic, were the 20 and 40 the only members
of System 360 to use TROS?
I remember picking up the programming manual for a Model 20 and realizing
that I'd essentially have to re-learn programming. 16 bit registers, stripped-
down instruction set, no I/O channels, "substitute"
instructions for regular 360 fare.
A really strange thing was that the 1130 came out *after* the 360/20.
I am not sure why IBM produced an in-compatible machine so soon after 360 was announced,
but it was sold in a completely different way to a new and emerging market. It was billed as the cheapest computer IBM had ever
offered. The announcement letter here:-
https://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/1130/1130_initial.html
is dated almost exactly one month before DEC announced the PDP-8 and I am sure targets
the same markets DEC did. You just wonder if IBM had spies in DEC, or more likely they
both spotted a marketing opportunity. It is also interesting to note a "typical"
configuration was priced at almost twice that of the PDP-8.. (assuming Wikipedia is
right)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-8
I don't have any links but I know in the UK IBM1130's were used on ships by the
Institute of Oceanographic Sciences but I can't find any reference to that on-line. I
was told that they had great trouble getting the IBM engineers who worked on it that a
suite was not suitable dress for a small research vessel.
Dave
G4UGM
--Chuck
Dave
G4UGM
9:51 a.m.
is dated almost exactly one month before DEC announced
the PDP-8 and I am sure targets the same markets DEC did. You just wonder if IBM had spies
in DEC, or more likely they both spotted a marketing opportunity.
The latter. Every company in the world seems to have explored the
minicomputer market in the 1960s.
Also, IBM was already in the minicomputer market with the 1620 from a
few years before. That machine clearly was getting outclassed by the
mid-1960s, and needed replacing.
--
Will
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dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com -
toby＠telegraphics.com.au -
wdonzelli＠gmail.com