15 Feb
2021
15 Feb
'21
9:03 a.m.
From: Lars Brinkhoff
Anyone ever heard of the Systems Concepts SC-4
computer?
Given the SF address, and Peter Samson's signature, this is the _the_ Systems
Concepts. Never heard of the SC-4, though.
One oddity: the cover letter is dated 1972, but it talks of "the main G.E.
computer". GE's computer business was sold to Honeywell in 1970, though?
Noel
15 Feb
15 Feb
9:11 a.m.
Noel Chiappa wrote:
One oddity: the cover letter is dated 1972, but it
talks of "the main
G.E. computer". GE's computer business was sold to Honeywell in 1970,
though?
The letter was directed to Project MAC. I suppose that main computer
could be the GE-645 on which Multics was developed? And they would
still refer to it as G.E.
9:26 a.m.
On Mon, Feb 15, 2021 at 12:11 PM Lars Brinkhoff via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Noel Chiappa wrote:
That's what I was thinking.
Bill
One oddity: the cover letter is dated 1972, but
it talks of "the main
G.E. computer". GE's computer business was sold to Honeywell in 1970,
though?
The letter was directed to Project MAC. I suppose that main computer
could be the GE-645 on which Multics was developed? And they would
still refer to it as G.E.
9:41 a.m.
On 2/15/21 9:03 AM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk wrote:
Honeywell was still servicing old GE mainframes well into the 1970s.
When a friend who worked at the plant in Phoenix invited me for a tour
ca. 1974, there were still GE systems stashed here and there.
--Chuck
From: Lars
Brinkhoff
Anyone ever heard of the Systems Concepts SC-4
computer?
Given the SF address, and Peter Samson's signature, this is the _the_ Systems
Concepts. Never heard of the SC-4, though.
One oddity: the cover letter is dated 1972, but it talks of "the main G.E.
computer". GE's computer business was sold to Honeywell in 1970, though? 
5:18 p.m.
On Mon, 15 Feb 2021 12:03:47 -0500 (EST)
Noel Chiappa via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I contacted Peter Samson regarding a "SC-4" and this was his response:
"There was an SC-40 (made after my time there) which was a fast
PDP-10-compatible system. I don?t know of any SC-4 though."
Cheers,
Lyle
--
73 NM6Y
Bickley Consulting West
https://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
From: Lars
Brinkhoff
Anyone ever heard of the Systems Concepts SC-4
computer?
Given the SF address, and Peter Samson's signature, this is the _the_ Systems
Concepts. Never heard of the SC-4, though.
One oddity: the cover letter is dated 1972, but it talks of "the main G.E.
computer". GE's computer business was sold to Honeywell in 1970, though?
16 Feb
16 Feb
8:43 a.m.
Lyle Bickley wrote:
I contacted Peter Samson regarding a "SC-4"
and this was his response:
"There was an SC-40 (made after my time there) which was a fast
PDP-10-compatible system. I don?t know of any SC-4 though."
Thanks for asking! I'm turning next to Fred Wright, another former
Systems Concepts employee.
2:15 p.m.
> From: Lars Brinkhoff
> > Anyone ever heard of the Systems Concepts SC-4 computer?
Noel Chiappa via cctalk <cctalk at
classiccmp.org> wrote:
> Given the SF address, and Peter Samson's signature, this is the _the_ Systems
> Concepts. Never heard of the SC-4, though.
>
> One oddity: the cover letter is dated 1972, but it talks of "the main G.E.
> computer". GE's computer business was sold to Honeywell in 1970, though?
From: Lyle Bickley via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
I contacted Peter Samson regarding a "SC-4" and this was his response:
"There was an SC-40 (made after my time there) which was a fast
PDP-10-compatible system. I don?t know of any SC-4 though."
The document that raised the question has his name and signature
(or the name and signature of *A* Peter R Samson) on it?
I suppose one could say that SC-4 might be a marketing term that an
engineer might have forgotten, or chosen to have forgotten, but Peter
Samson's title in the document is Director of Marketing!
The URL again:
http://people.csail.mit.edu/saltzer/Multics/MHP-Saltzer-060508/filedrawers/…
11:13 p.m.
Phil Budne wrote:
From: Lyle Bickley via cctalk <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
I heard back from Fred Wright:
"Although I wasn't at SC in 1972, I'm pretty sure I would have heard of
the SC-4 if it had ever existed. The document you linked was just a
proposal, and I imagine that that's as far as it ever got. AFAIK, SC
didn't create any full-fledged computers between the SC-15 (1970) and
the SC-30 (1983)."
I contacted Peter Samson regarding a "SC-4" and this was his response:
"There was an SC-40 (made after my time there) which was a fast
PDP-10-compatible system. I don?t know of any SC-4 though."
The document that raised the question has his name and signature (or
the name and signature of *A* Peter R Samson) on it?
I suppose one could say that SC-4 might be a marketing term that an
engineer might have forgotten, or chosen to have forgotten, but Peter
Samson's title in the document is Director of Marketing!
The URL again:
http://people.csail.mit.edu/saltzer/Multics/MHP-Saltzer-060508/filedrawers/…
17 Feb
17 Feb
7:01 a.m.
This was getting long - so I decided to "top post". Sorry ;)
Here's Peter Samson's comments after I sent him a copy of the proposal:
"Well how about that! (It was never built and the hardware was never
designed.) So many ideas and proposals never saw the light of day. I utterly
forgot about the SC-4, whatever it was supposed to be."
Cheers,
Lyle
--
On Wed, 17 Feb 2021 07:13:26 +0000
Lars Brinkhoff <lars at nocrew.org> wrote:
Phil Budne wrote:
--
73 NM6Y
Bickley Consulting West
https://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
From: Lyle Bickley via cctalk <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
I heard back from Fred Wright:
"Although I wasn't at SC in 1972, I'm pretty sure I would have heard of
the SC-4 if it had ever existed. The document you linked was just a
proposal, and I imagine that that's as far as it ever got. AFAIK, SC
didn't create any full-fledged computers between the SC-15 (1970) and
the SC-30 (1983)."
I contacted Peter Samson regarding a "SC-4" and this was his response:
"There was an SC-40 (made after my time there) which was a fast
PDP-10-compatible system. I don?t know of any SC-4 though."
The document that raised the question has his name and signature (or
the name and signature of *A* Peter R Samson) on it?
I suppose one could say that SC-4 might be a marketing term that an
engineer might have forgotten, or chosen to have forgotten, but Peter
Samson's title in the document is Director of Marketing!
The URL again:
http://people.csail.mit.edu/saltzer/Multics/MHP-Saltzer-060508/filedrawers/…
10:07 p.m.
I heard back from Fred Wright:
"Although I wasn't at SC in 1972, I'm pretty sure I would have heard of
the SC-4 if it had ever existed. The document you linked was just a
proposal, and I imagine that that's as far as it ever got. AFAIK, SC
didn't create any full-fledged computers between the SC-15 (1970) and
the SC-30 (1983)."
Following up about the SC-15:
"It was a clone of the PDP-15, designed for Information International.
The prototype was our main in-house machine for many years. III's
main product at the time was the FR-80 microfilm recording machine,
initially using PDP-9s and later PDP-15s. Our design let them build
their own machines for substantially less than what PDP-15s cost from
DEC. We provided designs and prototypes for everything up to the PLS
(the Programmable Light Source, a small *very* high-resolution CRT)
and camera.
I think SC built one SC-15 as part of a system for the Nevada Test
Site (while I wasn't here), but most of them were built by III."
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9 comments
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billdegnan＠gmail.com -
cclist＠sydex.com -
jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu -
lars＠nocrew.org -
lbickley＠bickleywest.com -
phil＠ultimate.com