someone smarter than Dave Cutler
in [Device Drivers]
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From: Anne & Lynn Wheeler on 2 Apr 2010 15:33 jmfbahciv <jmfbahciv(a)aol> writes: > Then we got the PDP-10 because DEC gave a lower bid than IBM. ibm use to give very large educational discounts ... i think possibly like 60% ... but that all changed after the litigation started and the gov. jumped in (starting around 69 when unbundling was also announced 23jun69) ... then there were much fewer educational ibm installs after that. misc. past posts mentioning unbundling announced http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/submain.html#unbundle -- 42yrs virtualization experience (since Jan68), online at home since Mar1970
From: Charles Richmond on 2 Apr 2010 19:36 Pat Farrell wrote: > Charles Richmond wrote: >> How can a university with a business school *not* have an IBM 370 or >> clone back in the 1970's??? That is the computer that the COBOL >> programmers would be *most* likely to use out in the business world. > > I'm baffled by this statement. Folks getting a Business degree are not > likely to be programming in any language. Sure, lots of business used > Cobol, that is one of the reasons Cobol was designed. > > I see no connection between business degrees and the details of how the > business programs were implemented. That was left to the geeks while the > business majors became a "Master of The Universe" > > You'd think that, wouldn't you... But business majors are *required* to take one or two semesters of COBOL programming. And looking at computer printouts of business reports and such are things that most business graduates will have to do. -- +----------------------------------------+ | Charles and Francis Richmond | | | | plano dot net at aquaporin4 dot com | +----------------------------------------+
From: Charles Richmond on 2 Apr 2010 19:46 Mark Crispin wrote: > On Thu, 2 Apr 2010, Scott Lurndal posted: >> FWIW, the school I chose _invented_ the digital computer. It also has >> a very >> well respected Vet Med college. > > Bell Labs does not have have a Vet Med college. > > The digital computer was invented by George R. Stibitz in 1940. > > Now, if you went to Dartmouth and were confused by Stibitz's affiliation > there, then perhaps you are also unaware that Dartmouth had PDP-10s. > The digital computer was actually invented by "cave men" who were counting their fingers (digits). ;-) For almost anyone you name as the inventor of the digital computer, someone can come up with an earlier person who invented the technology. -- +----------------------------------------+ | Charles and Francis Richmond | | | | plano dot net at aquaporin4 dot com | +----------------------------------------+
From: Charles Richmond on 2 Apr 2010 19:51 Lawrence Statton/XE1-N1GAK wrote: > In article <w19tn.962024$L8.407411(a)news.usenetserver.com>, > scott(a)slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) wrote: >> Mark Crispin <mrc(a)panda.com> writes: >>> Columbia was also a big DEC-20 shop starting in the mid 1970s. >>> >>> Clearly the IBM gear did not address all their computing needs. >>> >> The second doesn't follow from the first. >> > > Well, in a tautological way, it does. > > P: Columbia bought computers other than IBM > Q: IBM Gear did not address all of Columbia's computing needs > > That IBM gear COULD not have addressed their needs cannot be inferred. > > Another thing that can't be inferred is WHY did IBM gear not address all > of their needs. > > One possible interpretation, perhaps that favored by MRC is "IBM Gear > was so bletcherous and cretinous that it could not have possibly met > their needs" > > Another interpretation is "Columbia's computing needs include exposure > to non-IBM kit" > > Yet another is: "The PDP-10 Architecture was so clearly and obviously > winning that not having it around was inconceivable", or, less spun > "There were things afoot in the PDP-10 community that Columbia had to be > a part of" > > A combination of the second and third seem (in my arrogant opinion) the > most salient. Or some of the influential folks in the Columbia faculty had used DEC equipment before and *liked* it a lot. -- +----------------------------------------+ | Charles and Francis Richmond | | | | plano dot net at aquaporin4 dot com | +----------------------------------------+
From: Charles Richmond on 2 Apr 2010 19:56
Gene Wirchenko wrote: > On Thu, 1 Apr 2010 11:35:17 -0700, Mark Crispin <mrc(a)panda.com> wrote: > > [snip] > >> I still cringe at the memory of an IBM 360/67 running OS/360+HASP; and >> with Call-OS (shudder!), APL\360, ATS, and CourseWriter as timesharing >> systems each doing (SHUDDER!!) PSW stealiing. > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > Please define this term. > PSW == Program Status Word on the IBM 360 and 370. -- +----------------------------------------+ | Charles and Francis Richmond | | | | plano dot net at aquaporin4 dot com | +----------------------------------------+ |