[SIGCIS-Members] IBM Mainframes at AT&T

[Info @ IT History Society]

Yes, BUT the most significant difference was the introduction commercially
of virtual memory which was a big change for IBM.  Their first attempt as I
can remember was at MIT with the 360/67.

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-----Original Message-----
From: members-bounces at sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces at sigcis.org] On
Behalf Of Ceruzzi, Paul
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2012 2:51 PM
To: sigcis
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] IBM Mainframes at AT&T

If I am not mistaken, the main difference between the System/360 and the 370
(other than the color of the console) was that the 370 used semiconductor
(IBM called it "monolithic") memory instead of core. One consequence of that
change was that the memory now was volatile, so in order to initiate the
system, you had to load code from an external memory device. IBM invented
the floppy disk for that purpose. As Paul Harvey used to say, "that's the
rest of the story."

The other thing I noticed about the video was the absence of long hair --
this was the early 1970s after all. Thompson & Ritchie were in another AT&T
site, and maybe kept off-camera. 

Paul

________________________________________
From: members-bounces at sigcis.org [members-bounces at sigcis.org] On Behalf Of
Janet Abbate [abbate at vt.edu]
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2012 5:29 PM
To: sigcis
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] IBM Mainframes at AT&T

I'd not seen that before, thanks for posting it. The soundtrack definitely
puts you back in the '70s!

I agree that the pinup photo, if not actually staged for the film, must have
been deliberate. Maybe they were trying to wake up the viewers from a
synthesizer-induced haze.

Janet

On Nov 30, 2012, at 12:36 PM, M. Hicks wrote:

> What a great video.  Thanks for sharing it, Paul. I love how it goes
through the process step-by-step, and explains the tools. I think it will be
very useful to show to my history of computing class.
>
> Regarding the "inappropriate picture" I wonder if that was actually put
there specifically for the video, as it has such a prominent place in the
film? Certainly adds some interest to the 370, but it's pretty distracting!
Would the culture of that installation have allowed such a picture to be
there long term, do you think?
>
> Best,
>
> Marie
>
> ______________________
> Marie Hicks, Ph.D.
> Asst. Professor, History of Technology Illinois Institute of 
> Technology Chicago, IL USA mariehicks.net | mhicks1 at iit.edu | 
> @histoftech
>
> On Nov 30, 2012, at 10:54, "Ceruzzi, Paul" <CeruzziP at si.edu> wrote:
>
>> Maybe you’ve seen this resource before, but here is a video about what
computing was like at AT&T in the early 1970s. Believe it or not, sometimes
I actually miss those days! [Warning: there is an inappropriate photo pasted
to the console at 5:40. I do not recall such things, but I do remember a
very large print-out of “Snoopy” across several sheets of fan-fold paper].
>>
>>
http://techchannel.att.com/play-video.cfm/2012/11/28/AT&T-Archives-Holmdel-C
omputer-Center-Part-1.
>>
>> Paul E. Ceruzzi
>> Chair, Division of Space History
>> National Air & Space Museum
>> MRC 311; PO Box 37012
>> Washington, DC 20013-7012
>> 202-633-2414
>> <http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=24>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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Dr. Janet Abbate
Associate Professor
Science & Technology in Society
Virginia Tech




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