What was a Terminal Concentration Device in DEC's products?

[Paul Koning]

> On Jan 31, 2022, at 11:04 AM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
>> From: Bob Smith
> 
>> the original UART was designed by DEC, Vince Bastiani was the project
>> lead and designer, Gordon Bell was behind the project, and it may have
>> been his idea.
> 
> "Computer Engineering: A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design" covers this, in
> a footnote on pg. 73.
> 
> I seem to recall reading that Ken Olsen was involved in doing early modem
> work (presumably on Whirlwind), but maybe my memory is failing, and it was
> someone else (like Bell, or someone). Too busy to research it at the moment...

Don't know about that.  But I do know that Ken Olsen was involved in magnetic logic -- it's his thesis subject -- which is at the basis of core rope ROM memory design.  There's a reference to his work in one of the 1960s era papers about core rope memory. (It names "Olsen" without first name but I assume there weren't two Olsens at that lab doing that work.)

	paul