4 Aug
2019
4 Aug
'19
2:37 p.m.
> The hardware is excellent. They have fairly fast processors, and the
> I/O capacity is great. Reliability is typical IBM.
>
> The OS sucks balls. All the balls.
>
> Commercially, they were not a success, despite being IBM's first
> "open" system, in that they invited third party developers. It seems
When I joined HP in mid-1979, the first week I spotted an IBM Series/1
in a small conference room ... with an IBM repairman. The HP engineers
had apparently blown out a memory board somehow while "looking" at it :)
From the HP 3000 viewpoint, we weren't worried
about the Series/1.
Stan
5 Aug
5 Aug
10:37 a.m.
I used to run a system at Anheuser-Busch in the late 80's, ISTR it was a 4331, 4341,
or 4381. Under VM/370, It ran SMI's (Systems Management, Inc) Pick/370 OS. IBM
terminals could attach direct or via an establishment controller, but dumb serial
terminals could connect via the series/1's which acted as a front end
processor/aggregator (via a Micom switch that just let you select the Pick/370 machine or
one of the many Pr1me's about One Busch Place).
There was also a standalone series/1 next to it, which ran CDI's (forget the company
name) implementation of Pick for the Series/1. They used this for connecting a bunch of
serial ports to timeclocks throughout the plant. Workers coming in and out hit these and
there was some Pick/BASIC code that comprised a time & attendance system. Data capture
from the timeclocks involved the full character set which normal Pick I/O had issues with,
so I wrote a program in Pick Assembler to deal with that and pass sanitized/escaped data
back to the host.
My most distinct memory of this is the simultaneously cute and annoying 'BLEET'
sound that each button on the front panel (membrane keypad) made.
Fun Times.
J
6 Aug
6 Aug
1:33 a.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Jay West via
cctalk
Sent: 05 August 2019 18:38
To: 'William Donzelli' <wdonzelli at gmail.com>; 'General Discussion:
On-Topic
and Off-Topic Posts' <cctalk at classiccmp.org>; 'Stan Sieler'
<sieler at allegro.com>
Subject: RE: IBM Series/1
I used to run a system at Anheuser-Busch in the late 80's, ISTR it was a 4331,
4341, or 4381. Under VM/370, It ran SMI's (Systems Management, Inc)
Pick/370 OS. IBM terminals could attach direct or via an establishment
controller, but dumb serial terminals could connect via the series/1's which
acted as a front end processor/aggregator (via a Micom switch that just let you
select the Pick/370 machine or one of the many Pr1me's about One Busch
Place).
There was also a standalone series/1 next to it, which ran CDI's (forget the
company name) implementation of Pick for the Series/1. They used this for
connecting a bunch of serial ports to timeclocks throughout the plant. Workers
coming in and out hit these and there was some Pick/BASIC code that
comprised a time & attendance system. Data capture from the timeclocks
involved the full character set which normal Pick I/O had issues with, so I wrote
a program in Pick Assembler to deal with that and pass sanitized/escaped data
back to the host.
IBM used the Series/1s to run the door locks in its UK offices. We also had one to provide
X.25 interfaces to VM/SP.
I never did much on it. I could back it up and edit the config for the X.25 but that was
about it...
Dave
My most distinct memory of this is the simultaneously
cute and annoying
'BLEET' sound that each button on the front panel (membrane keypad) made.
Fun Times.
J
6:28 p.m.
On 2019-08-06 5:33 a.m., Dave Wade via cctalk wrote:
IBM used Series/1 to run the badge access systems everywhere. They where
also used to run production lines in the plants.? In one of my jobs we
had two channel attached Series/1 systems, that appeared to the MVS host
system as 3274 terminal control units, and where used to create
diskettes from images transmitted from another site.? I know of three
chains of stores that once had Series/1 systems as a back end
processor.? One of these store had systems without and operator panel or
diskette drive, so to run diagnostics on them the service rep had to
bring an operator panel and diskette drive with him.? A lot of the
service reps where not fond of working on them because they where so
reliable you could never become good at fixing them unless you had a lot
of them in your territory, as a result our branch expert was the guy who
serviced the local IBM plant.
Paul.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Jay West via
cctalk
Sent: 05 August 2019 18:38
To: 'William Donzelli' <wdonzelli at gmail.com>; 'General Discussion:
On-Topic
and Off-Topic Posts' <cctalk at classiccmp.org>; 'Stan Sieler'
<sieler at allegro.com>
Subject: RE: IBM Series/1
I used to run a system at Anheuser-Busch in the late 80's, ISTR it was a 4331,
4341, or 4381. Under VM/370, It ran SMI's (Systems Management, Inc)
Pick/370 OS. IBM terminals could attach direct or via an establishment
controller, but dumb serial terminals could connect via the series/1's which
acted as a front end processor/aggregator (via a Micom switch that just let you
select the Pick/370 machine or one of the many Pr1me's about One Busch
Place).
There was also a standalone series/1 next to it, which ran CDI's (forget the
company name) implementation of Pick for the Series/1. They used this for
connecting a bunch of serial ports to timeclocks throughout the plant. Workers
coming in and out hit these and there was some Pick/BASIC code that
comprised a time & attendance system. Data capture from the timeclocks
involved the full character set which normal Pick I/O had issues with, so I wrote
a program in Pick Assembler to deal with that and pass sanitized/escaped data
back to the host.
IBM used the Series/1s to run the door locks in its UK offices. We also had one to
provide X.25 interfaces to VM/SP.
I never did much on it. I could back it up and edit the config for the X.25 but that was
about it...
Dave
My most distinct memory of this is the
simultaneously cute and annoying
'BLEET' sound that each button on the front panel (membrane keypad) made.
Fun Times.
J
1915
days inactive
1918
days old
4 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com -
jwest＠classiccmp.org -
phb.hfx＠gmail.com -
sieler＠allegro.com -
wdonzelli＠gmail.com