IBM 1620 Simulation

[Van Snyder]

There was a professor at Purdue who had two 20-drawer card cabinets
full of 1620 software. I think his name was Maniotis. I think the
Computer History Museum in Mountain View has it now. Maybe it's online.

On Thu, 2021-08-26 at 22:07 -0400, Ray Jewhurst via cctalk wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 26, 2021 at 9:46 PM Chuck Guzis via cctalk <
> cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> > On 8/26/21 5:14 PM, Ray Jewhurst via cctalk wrote:
> > > Hello all,Long time lurker, extremely rare poster, I was reading
> > > the Wikipediaarticle on the IBM 1620 and became quite
> > > intrigued.  I know that there
> > is a
> > > simulator for it on SimH but I have never ran or simulated any
> > card-driven
> > > machines before.  I have all the documentation and the
> > > ibm1620.zip filefrom bitsavers but I am not sure what to do
> > > next.  I know I would like totry Monitor, Fortran-II and possibly
> > > GOTRAN but I have so many questions.I read the SimH documentation
> > > which gave me some understanding but I
> > don't
> > > know exactly how the card decks work, how to install Monitor or
> > > how to
> > boot
> > > Monitor once it is installed since I know you have to boot off a
> > > deck.
> > My
> > > final question is, is there an easy to use card-driven machine to
> > > cut myteeth on?  Also, any anecdotes on any of the old IBM
> > > computers would beboth welcome and greatly appreciated.
> > 
> > Cards are just ASCII lines separated by newlines>
> > 
> > For more information, see:
> > https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/3610586/ibm-1620-simulator-usage-01-dec-2008-simh
> 
>  I have already read that document. The thing that stuck with me most
> wasthe fact that you can not boot off the hard drive (or were they
> alreadycalling them DASDs?)
> 
> > It's been years since I used the SIMH 1620 simulator, so I can't
> > evenclaim to be remotely current.  I used it to check out some
> > sample codeback then.
> > My reaction:  It's just not the same.  I guess you had to be there.
> > Did anyone manage to snag a copy of Monitor IID?  Or is the only
> > extantversion Monitor I?   The differences were significant.
> 
>  I only saw Monitor I. Will it even run on a 1620-II?
> 
> > Also, don't forget SPS!
>  SPS is included both standalone and in the Monitor I distro, so
> isFortran-II
> 
> > If you're new to the 1620, I recommend the following book:
> > 
> > http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1620/Basic_Programming_Concepts_and_the_IBM_1620_Computer_1962.pdf
> 
> Thank you. I will check it out starting tonight.
> 
> > If you want to use a totally (i.e. no disk) card-driven version of
> > the1620, I'd recommend that you start with simple machine
> > languageprograms.   I (dimly) recall that using the card-only
> > FORTRAN compilerwas a bit of a chore:  read pass 1, read your
> > program, while punching anintermediate deck, read pass 2 and the
> > intermediate deck, read thesubroutine library and wind up with an
> > executable deck.
> I will try the card-driven version first I think as an intro to
> cards.
> 
> > --Chuck
> > 
> ThanksRay