IBM Series/1

[Dave Wade]

> -----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
>