#ibm system/360

[mistfunk]

Mistigram: @blippypixel has drawn this #BBCMicro animation of a #mainframe computer suite (and its 9-track vacuum column magnetic tape drives!) from the flexible #IBMSystem360 family of machines, sold for a bit over a decade starting in 1965. This piece was included in the MIST1121 artpack collection.

[science70]

IBM System/360, Bell Labs, Oakland, California, c. 1970.

[stone-cold-groove]

Image detail from the IBM System/360 sales brochure - 1964.

[science70]

IBM System/360, c. 1960s.

[retrocgads]

USA 1993

[dinosaurspen]

IBM System/360

[commodorez]

The early days of terminals are not something I consider myself an authority on, but I have a few ideas of what might qualify as the first production glass terminal with a detachable keyboard. Note to the uninitiated: the game of "who did what first" is a source of constant debate within the community. Every "first" you see should be prefaced with a few qualifiers.

The IBM 2260 from 1964 looks like the keyboard should separate from it, but I can't find a photo to back that up.

My second guess would be the Sanders 720 data display system from 1967.

Most photos make it look like the keyboard is directly attached to the monitor base, bolted on with pieces of trapezoidal aluminum. However, you could also have the keyboard configured in a detached state, and move it around a short distance. I just so happen to have a Sanders 720 keyboard!

Even on the models where the keyboard appears attached, it's got a structural housing all its own, with a connector and cable on the back:

Bolts on with a big fat DC-37 connector. Mine came with the cable, but it's only about a foot long. I wish I had the rest of the terminal to go with it.

Many of the terminals of this age were not general purpose serial terminals like later 70s designs. These had special interface hardware to make them do anything useful. What you're not seeing is the big box of electronics that allows it to talk to the mainframe behind it.

Flip through the documents on Bitsavers if you want to learn more about it. For now, those are my guesses of what might be the "first" terminal with a detachable keyboard.

[basic-retro-programming]

IBM History, The "System/360" ...

Post #202: YouTube, Computer History Archive, 1960s, Remembering the IBM System/360, 2023.

[humanoidhistory]

IBM System/360 at the University of Michigan, 1971.

(University of Michigan)

[formlab]

IBM System/360 Model 85, 1968

[vax-official]

You might have heard of 32-bit and 64-bit applications before, and if you work with older software, maybe 16-bit and even 8-bit computers. But what came before 8-bit? Was it preceded by 4-bit computing? Were there 2-bit computers? 1-bit? Half-bit?

Well outside that one AVGN meme, half-bit isn't really a thing, but the answer is a bit weirder in other ways! The current most prominent CPU designs come from Intel and AMD, and Intel did produce 4-bit, 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit microprocessors (although 4-bit computers weren't really a thing). But what came before 4-bit microprocessors?

Mainframes and minicomputers did. These were large computers intended for organizations instead of personal use. Before microprocessors, they used transistorized integrated circuits (or in the early days even vacuum tubes) and required a much larger space to store the CPU.

And what bit length did these older computers have?

A large variety of bit lengths.

There were 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit mainframes/minicomputers, but you also had 36-bit computers (PDP-10), 12-bit (PDP-8), 18-bit (PDP-7), 24-bit (ICT 1900), 48-bit (Burroughs) and 60-bit (CDC 6000) computers among others. There were also computers that didn't use binary encoding to store numbers, such as decimal computers or the very rare ternary computers (Setun).

And you didn't always evolve by extending the bit length, you could upgrade from an 18-bit computer to a more powerful 16-bit computer, which is what the developers of early UNIX did when they switched over from the PDP-7 to the PDP-11, or offer 32-bit over 36-bit, which happened when IBM phased out the IBM 7090 in favor of the the System/360 or DEC phased out the PDP-10 in favor of the VAX.

[doyouremem8erme]

mutual 1: save me doomed yuri. save me

mutual 2: i think id be happier if my boobs were replaced with small and friendly sharks

mutual 3: who wants to get trapped in a narrative with me. it does have to be weird

mutual 4: (13 consecutive reblogs of fanart of a podcast ive never listened to)

mutual 5: hey check out this insane piano composition youll be zonked out of your gourd

mutual 6: (insanely detailed and vibrant art) drew this in the bathtub lol

mutual 7: what if wolverines invented religion. they could make vehicles out of abandoned shopping carts

mutual 8: i love my blorbos what do you mean theyre my ocs. from my brain

mutual 9: theres something so beautiful aboutmaking fun animal noises. BARKBARKBARK AWOOOOO

mutual 10: (screenshots of a straight couple) theyre lesbians to me. theyre doomed yuri. do you see my vision

mutual 11: i love violence. women who love violence hmu.

mutual 12: the ibm system/360 has an almost sexual quality if i'm being honest

mutual 13: (art that could easily be seen displayed in a museum as a work of a fine master) its the yaoi

mutual 14: my idiot cat ate my entire fucking cake??? (# hes ok)

mutual 15: oh hatsune miku we're really in it now

mutual 16: (image of a character who has killed thousands and injured many more) shes like a sopping wet pathetic cat to me

mutual 17: i think i huave autism

mutual 18: (the same cryptic meme reblogged 50 times, interspersing with the rest of the dash)

mutual 19: for vampires drinking blood is like a sluttier version of eating pussy. especially if its gay

mutual 20: (responding to an incredibly vague and mysterious ask with no context) hello mutual x. i know its you

[stone-cold-groove]

Rhonda tweaking the dials on an IBM System/360 - 1966.

[thevaultoftheatomicspaceage]

A woman batches punch card instructions to DAISY, Ryerson University’s IBM System 360 mainframe. Ca. 1960s.

[oldguydoesstuff]

"Yvonne" - staff member at the Bell Labs data center in Oakland California in 1967, attempting to hide inside an IBM System/360 mainframe.

[yodaprod]

Engineers inspecting IBM System/360 Model 20 computers during the final testing phase at the manufacturing plant, San Jose, California (1966)