Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!sri-spam!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!tikal!phred!artm From: artm@phred.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: IBM 1130 Nostalgia Message-ID: <1029@phred.UUCP> Date: Sat, 31-Jan-87 20:13:42 EST Article-I.D.: phred.1029 Posted: Sat Jan 31 20:13:42 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 1-Feb-87 23:14:35 EST References: <504@PSUECLA> Reply-To: artm@phred.UUCP (Art "Faster! Faster!" Marriott) Organization: Physio Control Corp., Seattle, WA Lines: 47 I actually did see an 1800 once. Although the CPU architecture (and the actual circuitry) was apparently indeed a superset of the 1130, the outward appearance was completely different--a very large cabinet with a control panel in the middle, with a separate console selectric. It ran an OS that was sort of the great granddaddy of all the minicomputer real-time, multi- tasking operating systems that followed. I worked with two 1130s at the University of Washington. One was the one on which the original Conversational Conputer Statistical System was deveolped that became all the rage with medical researchers. It allowed you to sit at the console and "browse" through a database looking for trends, without really having to fully understand what you were doing. This machine had a big expansion cabinet that included 16K (I think) of additional core and two more disk drives, in addition to the interface for a 1403 printer. The 1403 was almost legendary for its ruggedness and performance (it would be considered a fairly fast printer even today) but it was also one of the noisiest machines ever devised by humankind, and slowly destroyed the hearing (and the nerves) of anyone working in the same room. I've always wondered what indeed happened to all the 1130s. When the organization I worked for decided to purchase a minicomputer (we had been leasing a small 1130 for about $1K/month) Big Blue issued a proposal which in addition to some sort of credit for five years or so of rental, involved our paying an additional $55,000 to purchase the machine plus buying a System 7 for another $25K or so to do data acquisition. This was in 1972, and needless to say we bought something else. When the 1130 was being disconnected and crated up, I asked one of the IBM service folks where it was going. He said that it was likely that it would be hacked up and repackaged without the disk drive as some sort of accounting machine, probably to then be leased to a small bank to squeeze out a few more bucks before it was scrapped. Like many others I've always felt a sort of affection for the old thing. It was indeed one of the first "approachable" computers that could actually so something. Its minimalist architecture forced you to make the best use of what was there, and many of us retain some of the efficient (if slightly idiosyncratic) programming habits we originally picked up from working with it. If I found one running around the streets I'd be sorely tempted to give it a good home. Probably right next to my 1949 Dodge pickup.... ......................................................................... Art Marriott Physio-Control tikal!phred!artm ......................................................................... The older I get, the more I understand nostalgia.