On 28 Jun, 2007, at 04:59, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: Then you are not reading all the replies. MOST????? STANDARD????? Rubbish! IBM 7094 - 36 bits. ICT 1301 - 48 bits. CDC 6600/7600 60 (or was it 64?) bits. CDC SC17 (not sure exact era) - 16 bits. Elliott 903/920B/905/920C/920ATC - 18 bits. Many of the BCD machines used 4 bit words I believe. Mid 60s ICL 1900 - 24 bits. What used 40 bits? Tell us more please. Microcoded or 'Extra code' ? Actual physical memory, access my DMA from the device or just memory mapped I/O ? Remember? I am restoring/maintaining an ICT 1301 which has individual Germanium transistors, wire-OR, four and gates to a PCB, one flip- flop one a PCB, a clock derived from the timing track of the last addressed drum store, a core store unit weighing half a ton an stores just 2000 x 48 bit words (plus 2000 x 2 parity bits). Its got Ampex TM4 mag tape drives (not industry standard 7 or 9 track, these are ten track units with hubs the same design as professional audio tapes and the 2 and 3 inch wide video tapes once used by TV broadcasters). Its got readers and punches for 80 column cards and 5, (6 or 7?) and 8 track paper tape, its got a 600 line per minute barrel printer with 120 print positions. The mag tape transfers are done by DMA but the rest and unbuffered peripherals, if you want to print a line on the printer, you check to see what character is in line with the hammers, see if you have any of them in your line, and fire those print hammers which match, then wait until the print barrel moves on then repeat until you have printed the whole line. Then you look up where the paper advance mechanism currently is and select the next sprag and release current one. If you want to page feed, release all the sprags and count the 60 lines as they go past. To punch a card, in software, turn the 3 phase contactor on to start the motor, wait until its at the correct speed, activate the picker knives to start the card in motion (sideways), look to see which if any of your 80 columns need a hole in the first (10) row, wait until that row is under the punch bail, fire those interposers, repeat for the 11 row, then the 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 rows. Then feed the next card and at the same time get ready to verify the card you just punched. Wait until the 10 row is under the check reading wire brushes, read them in and see if they match, repeat for all the other eleven rows, if anything fails to verify, send the card (and the following one) to the reject hopper, stop the punch and inform the operator. And some of them still work and have 'design council' award winning control consoles 4 feet wide and 2 and a bit feet tall, consume 13KVA three phase and weigh about 5 tons. Indeed. And some of them almost make you cry because so much more could have been done with the same amount of electonics. My machine has been modified to implement an index instruction. Previously all indexing and indirection had to be done by program modification, and even now subroutine return is done that way (see my previous e-mail). I have one machine in 'conserved' state, unmolested, unrepaired non- runner, and one with extra tweeks and darn right mass rewiring which runs and I can't stop thinking about how it could be improved, yet somehow manage to stop myself doing so. There are so many gaps in the instruction code and spare bits in the instructions etc. The only modification I am working on plugs into an extension port lashed up by a previous owner. This is to capture the data from the machine onto modern media. May replace with an RS232 interface later to drive a teletype and/or pen plotter, and/or a parallel inteface for a Friden Flexowriter. Anyone got a spare plug for the i/o port of the Flexowriter, or for an IBM keypunch (model 836) or spare patch leads for the patch panel (4mm with a ball in them). Anyone got a spare Ellliott paper tape reader, preferably 1000 characters per second but a 300cps unit would do. My machine originally had two readers but somehow I only ended up with one of them. Anyone got any spare 'ICL Standard Interface' peripherals I could plug into the vacant port on the machine? Anyone in the UK want an Elliott surface grinder which leaks hydraulic fluid or want an Alba shaper (a planing machine for steel, a brutal thing, takes out about 1/16 - 1/8 at every stroke, comes off bright red). Or a really old pillar drill, large capacity, looks prehistoric. All three phase of course. Again in the UK, anyone got any punched card trays, the steel type, preferably with the racks too, but the trays only would be a help. Willing to pay (reasonable) price for any of the above. Roger Holmes. Classic computer collector, classic car collector, machine tool collector/user (for the prior mentioned hobbies), and for a job, programmer of CAD and graphic software and printer/plotter drivers for Apple computers.