IBM 1620; was: Early Programming Books

[Chuck Guzis]

On 6/21/21 1:02 PM, Paul Koning wrote:

> Some vague memory says Purdue.  LCM actually got it running, which was an interesting problem.  It required recreating the inter-chassis cables (since the original ones were cut as part of dismantling the machine) and restoring the cooling system.  That was a bit tricky since it uses non-PC coolant, which actually still exists but can't be manufactured any longer -- you have to use whatever recycled material still exists in the world, and find a graybeard AC tech who knows how to work with the stuff.

If that was the system in the basement of the Math building, I remember
it well.  When I used it, it was running an enhanced version of MACE;
Greg Mansfield's and Dave Callender's predecessor to Kronos.   Differed
from SCOPE in that much more of the system was CM-resident.  There were
other significant internal differences as well from SCOPE.

Did I ever mention that I was the one who introduced Greg to the wonders
of gelato?  I know that Greg left CDC to work for Cray; but I lost track
of him sometime in the late 1980s.

I can well imagine that it was a struggle to get the system out of the
Purdue location.  What with the 7090s and the 1401, it was pretty crowded.

Of course, nowadays, the old R22 systems are being refilled with
purified propane, called R290.  Cheap, with better thermal properties
than R22, but probably not legal when LCM picked up the 6500.

--Chuck