ae
The ANALYTICAL ENGINE
Journal of the Computer History Association of California
ISSN 1071-6351
Volume 2, Number 3, May 1995
Kip Crosby, Managing Editor
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CONTENTS
EDITORIAL: THE X-PROJECT, PART TWO ............................ 2
PARA-TIME SHIFT ............................................... 3
NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS: ENGINE@CHAC.ORG ........................... 4
COMPUTING HISTORY RESOURCES WANTED FOR WEB PAGE ............... 4
IN MEMORIAM: GEORGE STIBITZ ................................... 5
IN MEMORIAM: ALLEN COOMBS ..................................... 6
ALERT: CALCULATOR AND SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT SHOW .............. 7
ARPANET ARTICLE WANTED ........................................ 7
HP'S EARLY COMPUTERS, Part One:
An Interview with Barney Oliver ............................... 8
HELLO, SAILOR!, Les Earnest .................................. 25
THE DISCOLOURATION OF PLASTIC COMPUTER CASES, Edward Then .... 31
BERKELEY'S UCBVAX CHANGES JOBS, Cliff Frost .................. 33
AUSTRALIAN COMPUTER MUSEUM SOCIETY ANNOUNCES INCORPORATION ... 35
ERIC RAYMOND'S RETROCOMPUTING MUSEUM ON THE WEB .............. 36
NEWS OF MUSEUM ACTIVITY IN SWEDEN, Anders Hultman ............ 36
SECOND EDITION OF COLLECTOR'S GUIDE IN PROGRESS .............. 37
SUN HARDWARE REFERENCE UPDATE ................................ 37
SPOTTER ALERT ................................................ 39
MONEY, REV 2.3.... .......................................... 40
YOU PUBLISH! OR WE PERISH! ................................... 40
OVERVIEW OF BUREAUCRATIC PROCESSES ........................... 41
BOOK REVIEW:
Owen Linzmayer's THE MAC BATHROOM READER, David Craig ........ 41
ACQUISITIONS ................................................. 44
LETTERS ...................................................... 45
QUERIES ...................................................... 48
ARTICLES NOTED ............................................... 54
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED ........................................ 55
ADDRESSES OF CORRESPONDING ORGANIZATIONS ..................... 56
THANKS TO.... ................................................ 57
NEXT ISSUE ................................................... 57
GUIDELINES FOR DISTRIBUTION .................................. 57
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION .................................... 58
NINES-CARD, Dave Breneman..................................... 58
ADD MONEY, MAIL.... .......................................... 62
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 2
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Editorial: THE X-PROJECT, Part Two
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_The star of riches is shining upon you._
-- latest fortune cookie
Yeah, right. Not quite.
For the X-PROJECT to work, many things must be in place. As I
write, one thing is in one place. A large, heavy, Xerox mainframe
is in Boulder, Colorado -- at the Table Mountain Observatory of
the Space Environment Laboratory, United States Government.
So far as we can find out, this is the last known, complete,
running, XDS or SDS computer, in the world.
It began to be installed and configured at Table Mountain in
1963, and was in full operation by 1965. At that time it was
one of the fastest, gutsiest real-time scientific computer
systems in the world. SDS' computers were good enough to worry
DEC, which was a direct competitor and about to go public; good
enough to worry the mighty IBM, which had just bet the company
on the System/360. And the 930 was then SDS' newest, biggest
and fastest computer. The Space Environment Laboratory put
three hundred thousand dollars on the line, and the computer
arrived.
Ah, but what they got for all that money. The 930 was supremely
agile and versatile, programmed in bare-metal machine language
for speed above all. It could take in or send out data while it
was performing computations, or running diagnostics. Downtime
was minimized with lavish redundancy, multiple power supplies,
solid silver connectors, and fat heat sinks. From the first
power-up, this was a racehorse. All it wanted to do was run. It
could even outrun its own seven-track tape drives, and ended up
with a truly giant drum for main storage.
SEL set it to work at one of the most demanding tasks in
computing -- continuous real-time data acquisition, no rest for
a machine that never wearied. From 1965 to 1970 the 930 served
as the main computer for the government's HANDS (High Altitude
Nuclear Detection System) early-warning program. Thereafter it
acquired data from the GOES series satellites and many other
spacecraft. This is a computer justly famous on the strength of
its accomplishments alone. But it's also (did we mention?) the
last known, complete, running, XDS or SDS computer, in the
world.
Nor are we talking cold, hulking racks in a dim warehouse. The
CHAC can take over this computer in operating order, with
schematics, full docs, bales of parts, and complete software on
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 3
tape....still warm, so to speak. This chance will never come
again; and this computer, built in Santa Monica and dedicated
to longer service than was ever foreseen, deserves a proper
home in California. It can still belong to scientists and
engineers, historians, the American people, and posterity.
Against this rare and lofty virtue, we must set one common and
mundane problem. This computer, being a CPU, core racks, main
drum, tape drives, console, and the parts and docs as
mentioned, fills a room thirty by twelve feet. By ordinary
industrial standards, that is not a lot of space, but to the
CHAC, it's a gargantuan requirement. Combine that with the
expense of moving this device from Table Mountain to Palo Alto,
and it compels hard questions.
The Computer History Association of California, for the first
time, asks you to use your powers of persuasion on your
co-workers, managers, marketing directors, CEO's and companies.
This rescue needs serious, corporate money -- enough to
transport the computer, set it up here, and keep it (at least)
safe.
The alternative, naturally, is metal pleated, phenolic crushed,
gold and silver stripped, as blind brutal force turns a unique
computer into awkward, toxic scrap....
Yeah, right. Not this time.
It's _almost_ too late, but it's _not_ too late. Please, dig
deep! Raise hell! Save one of the few remaining functional
mainframes designed and built in California! This will be a
rescue you can remember -- and an exhibit you can enjoy -- for
the rest of your life.
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PARA-TIME SHIFT
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Yes, this issue of the ENGINE says May on the cover. Yes, the
previous issue was dated October. And no, you haven't missed an
issue.
This is the first issue of the ANALYTICAL ENGINE to be sold on
magazine racks in bookstores; and bookstore buyers demand that
the magazines they sell bear the date that the issue goes _off_
sale, rather than -- as has been the ENGINE's practice till now
the date that it goes _on_ sale. That accounts for three
months of the shift. The fourth month is slippage -- but, hey,
one missing month isn't bad spread over seven issues.
So, from now on: The issue that arrives in February will be
dated May. The issue that arrives in May will be dated August.
The issue that arrives in August will be dated November. And
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 4
the issue that arrives in November will be dated February.
We hope this isn't an inconvenience for our readers. And please
wish us luck with the bookstore sales!
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NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS: ENGINE@CHAC.ORG
-------------------------------------------------
As of February 15th, CHAC and the ENGINE will have a new
Internet mail address, engine@chac.org. This is a high-speed
dial-up PPP connection via WombatNet, supplied by our
neighbors, the Wombat Internet Guild of Palo Alto. (Local call!
Yaaay!) This gives us far more flexibility -- including
real-time access to the World Wide Web, WAIS, ftp, archie,
gopher, and all that other good stuff -- while it helps control
operating costs. Please e-mail us at engine@chac.org after
Valentine's Day, and at cpu@chac.win.net until then.
We'll take this occasion to thank Michael Tague, Bob Tague, Joe
Mays, Connie Rogers, and the other fine people at WinNET
Communications (formerly Computer Witchcraft) of Louisville,
KY. When we began using their service for dial-up mail and
news, in April 1993, desktop Internet connectivity outside the
world of UNIX was a truly scarce commodity; we were doubly
lucky to find not only an affordable port, but a responsible
and industrious provider. From that day to this we've enjoyed
refreshingly bug-free client software, bulletproof connections,
vanishingly small server downtime, and friendly, consistent
telephone support. Who'd ask for more? Without WinNET, CHAC and
the ENGINE could never have become what they are today.
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COMPUTING HISTORY RESOURCES WANTED FOR WEB PAGE
-------------------------------------------------
In barely five years, the World Wide Web has grown from a
quirky and daring experiment at a single laboratory -- CERN in
Geneva -- to one of the world's broadest and most diverse
repositories of on-line text and graphics. Early experiences
with the Web were precarious at best, as the client software
used to access it was much less reliable than the matrix
itself. The recent development of Netscape (tm) and enhancement
of NCSA Mosaic (tm) has solved many problems; now almost any
32-bit desktop computer -- whether it runs X-Windows,
MS-Windows, or a Macintosh OS -- can become a Web terminal.
Many institutions with a strong interest in the history of
computing, including the Association for Computing Machinery,
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Cambridge University, the
University of Limerick, and Uppsala University, have written
and installed Web pages with links to a rich variety of
appropriate resources. Sometime soon, the CHAC will put up our
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 5
own Web home page, with help from our Internet provider and a
volunteer writer of HTML.
Personally, we find the Web in general to be one of the nicest
neighborhoods in cyberspace; and we want the CHAC's
participation in it to exhibit the same style and solidity that
have brought honors to the ENGINE. But -- like the ENGINE -- our
forthcoming Web page will need your help to be what it should
be.
Over the next few months, we'll investigate _every_ Web site,
ftp site, or other net.nexus that we think might be valued by
students of computer history....obviously in California, but
around the world as well. The resulting comprehensive page will
be as much of an asset to the Web as we can make it. The Web
and its browsers, in turn, will be the ideal vehicle to bring
it to an audience of millions.
Please: Be one of the few who builds for the many. If you -- or
your company, professional society, or academic institution --
sponsors an Internet resource on the history of computing, send
us e-mail with a pointer to it. We'd like to link you in.
-------------------------------------------------
IN MEMORIAM: GEORGE STIBITZ
-------------------------------------------------
Dr. George Robert Stibitz, pioneer of digital computing and
remote job entry, died on January 31 at his home in Hanover,
NH, USA. He was 90. At the time of his death, he was professor
emeritus of physiology at the medical school of Dartmouth
College.
In the fall of 1937, while an engineer at Bell Labs, Dr.
Stibitz used surplus relays, tin-can strips, flashlight bulbs
and other canonical items to construct his "Model K" (for
_K_itchen table) breadboard digital calculator, which could add
two bits and display the result. A replica of this device is
now on display at the Smithsonian Institution. Bell Labs
recognized a potential solution to the problem of high-speed
complex-number calculation, which was holding back contemporary
development of wide-area telephone networks. By late 1938 the
laboratory had authorized development of a full-scale relay
calculator on the Stibitz model; Stibitz and his design team
began construction in April 1939. The end product, known as the
Complex Number Calculator, first ran on January 8, 1940.
On September 11 of that year, during a meeting of the American
Mathematical Society at Dartmouth College, Dr. Stibitz used a
Teletype to transmit problems to the Complex Number Calculator
and receive the computed results. This is now generally
considered the world's first example of remote job entry, a
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 6
technique that would revolutionize dissemination of information
through telephone and computer networks.
From 1941 to 1945, Dr. Stibitz served on the National Defense
Research Committee, performing important theoretical work on
computation. Thereafter he worked as a private consultant in
Burlington, VT, developing a precursor of the electronic
digital minicomputer in 1954. In 1964 he joined the Dartmouth
faculty and applied computer systems development to a wide
variety of topics in biomedicine. He continued his research
until 1983.
Dr. Stibitz was born in York, PA, on April 20, 1904. He
graduated from Denison University in Granville, OH, and
received his M. S. degree from Union College in Schenectady,
NY, in 1927. After working briefly at the General Electric
research labs in Schenectady, he continued his graduate studies
at Cornell University, completing a Ph. D. in mathematical
physics in 1930. He was a prolific inventor with an inquiring
mind and held 38 patents, not counting those assigned to Bell
Labs. In 1965 he received the Harry Goode Award for lifetime
achievement in engineering from AFIPS.
The Computer History Association of California extends
condolence to Dr. Stibitz' wife, Dorothea Lamson Stibitz; his
daughters, Mary Pacifici and Martha Banerjee; and his brothers,
sisters and granddaughter.
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IN MEMORIAM: ALLEN COOMBS
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Dr. Allen W. M. "Doc" Coombs, a supervisor of the United Kingdom's
earliest digital computing project, died on January 30 at his
home in Yealmpton, Devon, UK.
Dr. Coombs was a principal designer of the Mark II COLOSSUS
vacuum-tube digital computer, which entered service "by
breakfast-time" on June 1, 1944, after unrelenting and almost
superhuman effort by Coombs and his engineering staff. Mark II
COLOSSUS was the world's first computer to enter series
production and was, of course, qualitatively important to the
Allied victory in the Second World War. After the first Mark II
computer had entered service, Dr. Coombs took over production
management for the rest of the series, replacing "Tommy"
Flowers, who moved on to other projects.
Dr. Coombs received his B. Sc. degree in 1932 and his Ph. D. in
1936, both from Glasgow University. Much of his engineering
work thereafter was subject to the Official Secrets Act, but
some details of his career may be found in his 1983 article,
"The Making of COLOSSUS," in _Annals of the History of
Computing_, vol. 5, no. 3.
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 7
The Computer History Association of California extends
condolence to Dr. Coombs' wife, Vera.
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ALERT: CALCULATOR AND SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT SHOW
-------------------------------------------------
If you're a computer collector, it's only natural to feel a
certain affection for calculators. They're useful, technically
intriguing, easy to store, and nearly impossible to kill. Their
popularity is so well-founded that, in the twenty-two years
since the stunning advent of the HP 35, they've become
ubiquitous. On the other hand, certainly they're no less
fascinating simply because everybody has one.
On Saturday, May 20, 1995, the calculator will enjoy a
long-overdue tribute at the Calculator and Antique Scientific
Instrument Convention, Show and Swap Meet, to be held at the
Arlington Convention Center, Arlington, TX, USA. Show hours are
10 am to 4 pm and admission is free. The event is organized by
Skip Solberg with the assistance of our good friends, the
International Association of Calculator Collectors.
Early calculators and related advertising and ephemera will be
displayed and, although some plans are still preliminary,
notable calculator pioneers and manufacturers have been invited
to attend. The nearby Arlington Marriott offers inexpensive
Super Saver Weekend accommodation; if you're traveling to reach
this event, the Convention Center is only 10 to 15 minutes from
Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
Now, here's _our_ pitch: The CHAC has been invited to
participate in this event, and will send a representative if at
all possible. It will be qualitative if our generous readers
(i. e. you) can donate frequent-flyer miles, San
Francisco-Dallas round trip coach air, Saturday night for one
at the Marriott, or just plain cash. This won't be as elaborate
as our appearance at Pomona a year ago, but since we'd _like_
to bring hardware to display, it will be a production in its
own way. Please help!
DETAILS: Exhibitor tables are still available at $20 for 20
square feet, from Skip Solberg, 717 Salsbury, Arlington TX
76014; you can call Skip at +1 817 467-0368 after 6 pm CST. To
reserve at the Marriott, call +1 800 442-7275.
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ARPANET ARTICLE WANTED
-------------------------------------------------
The informative lead, "ARPANET is Twenty-Five," in the recent
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 8
issue of the Charles Babbage Institute NEWSLETTER (see
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED) reminds us that of the four original
ARPAnet nodes, three were in California; one at UCLA, one at UC
Santa Barbara, and one at Stanford Research Institute in Palo
Alto. (The fourth node was at the University of Utah.)
Clearly the ENGINE needs a commemoration of this important
anniversary. Will someone who participated in the configuration
of one of these three nodes please contact the CHAC, to discuss
submission of an article? Thank you!
-------------------------------------------------
HP's EARLY COMPUTERS
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[The Hewlett-Packard Corporation's work with calculators,
instrumentation computers, general-purpose computers and
workstations has created one of the longest -- and most
fascinating -- histories in California's computer industry.
The ANALYTICAL ENGINE now addresses that history with a
projected three-part series. Part One, concerning the Model
9100 desktop "calculator" and the 2116A Instrumentation
Computer, follows. Part Two will consider the 20xx and 21xx
general-purpose computers, built at the Cupertino factories.
Part Three will be an article on the earliest years of the 3000
Series.]
Part One:
A CORE PLANE IN AMBER
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An Interview with Barney Oliver
[Dr. Bernard M. (Barney) Oliver currently serves HP as
Technical Adviser to the President. He joined the company as
Director of Research in 1952, held the post of Vice President
for Research and Development from 1957 to 1981, and served on
the company's Board of Directors from 1973 to 1981. His work at
HP, and at Bell Labs previously, has substantially advanced the
physical and engineering sciences, particularly the fields of
electronic instrumentation, automatic control, and radio
physics. He has written over 40 technical articles, holds 52 U.
S. patents, and has held innumerable positions on scientific
and technical advisory bodies.
On Monday, December 19, 1994, Barney Oliver and Kip Crosby met
in Barney's office at HP's Palo Alto research lab for an
extended conversation about the company's entry into the market
for special-purpose computing devices.]
KC: _Producing a computer was a logical extension of HP's long
history in instrumentation, but how and why were the decisions
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 9
made?_
Oliver: The first phase of our getting into computing, which
you may be aware of, preceded our early history in the digital
calculator field. They were distinct efforts, but both started
here in this lab. We had been looking at the whole question of
calculation and had seen, from Fridfn and other manufacturers,
examples of electronic calculators; and we realized that there
was a future in that field, which had not been completely
exploited, to say the least. The Friden was essentially a
mechanical calculator with some electronics substituted for
mechanical components. It was obvious that you could do a hell
of a lot more once you entered the electronic domain. We were
just trying to get our ideas together on that subject when two
people visited us independently. One was Malcolm McWhorter from
Los Angeles. He and another guy had developed a calculator
which would perform transcendental operations, transcendental
functions, and he brought this big kluge with him. It was a box
about the size of two beehives. They finally got it working and
computed a tangent and other trig functions for us. It took
over a second to do this.
We were interested not so much in the machine, which was out of
date by the time it was built, but in the algorithm they used
to do it, which was called a "cordic algorithm." What the
cordic algorithm does is look at the generation of functions
geometrically. For example, say you want to compute a tangent.
You simply set in an angle, the one you want the tangent of,
and then you rotate that vector up to that angle. In this way,
you can find the sine and cosine, each times a constant.
There's a "secanting" error that comes in, you just ignore
that. It gives the sine and cosine times the same constant, so
then you take the ratio and you've got the tangent. There's the
same secanting error in both, and it cancels out.
KC: _Brilliant._
Oliver: It's a simple algorithm. You have three registers, two
for x and y, let's say; I start out with 1 in the x register
and 0 in the y register, and the angle theta in the third
register. Since we're doing binary-coded-decimal [arithmetic]
now -- I subtract from theta an angle whose tangent is
one-tenth, which we have as a stored constant in the machine.
Then we take one-tenth of x and subtract it from y, and
one-tenth of y and add it to x. This is the coordinate
transformation. x' = x cos(theta) - y sin(theta), and y' = y
cos(theta) + y sin(theta), is the transformational equation as
we rotate a vector through that angle. So we rotate it through
an arctangent of a tenth. That isn't enough. We now go to
two-tenths. That's too much. Now we start backing up by a
hundredth, by the angles whose tangent is a hundredth -- through
the ordinary division routine that we already have stored,
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 10
because many other algorithms could be married, if you will, to
the cordic algorithm. So you zero in on that angle, and after
you've got down to the arctangent of a thousandth, or something
like that, the tangent is essentially equal to the angle; so
you can add the remaining angle directly, so it's nothing but a
cross-add-and-shift, and it's very adaptable to machine
calculations.
We also realized that having computed the tangent, you now have
the sine and cosine anyway, from simple trig relations. So with
nothing more than simple algebra and ordinary arithmetic, you
can compute all the trig functions. Then we realized that if we
simply didn't change the sign, but cross-added both arctangents
in the algorithm, we'd be computing the hyperbolic functions,
and so we said, oh my God, we've got a simple algorithm here
that will do all the transcendentals, and that kind of excited
us.
KC: _I can imagine!_
Oliver: And exponentials, if you don't shift across to another
register, you just multiply and add to the same register, and
that's what you do when you compound interest, because it grows
exponentially, doesn't it. All right. That's what we were doing
in the machine -- all of the exponential, hyperbolics and
circular functions with a single algorithm, which naturally
produced an internal economy. It was very appealing to us.
So we had the math, but as far as the physical design was
concerned, we still hadn't quite decided what to do when the
second guy appeared. The second guy was Thomas Osborn, and he
had an interesting career even then; he had been an EE student
at Berkeley majoring in Computer Science, then graduated and
got a job with Smith-Corona-Marchant, who were bringing out a
small calculator at the time. He took one look at what they
were doing and said, "Oh, that's awful. I can't work on that. I
just don't think it's going to fly." They didn't believe him,
so after a few months there, he said, "I think the honorable
thing to do is to make you an offer. I will resign. I will work
on my ideas on my own time and build a model. I'll bring it
around to you, and if you like it, we can talk about price." In
other words, I'll freelance this thing for you and try to sell
it to you.
Well, they went ahead and still worked on their original
design, which they called the Cogito. It was a miserable
machine, it took forever to do anything. Tom meanwhile
abandoned [then] normal computer practice and went immediately
to floating point, and all of his machine worked in floating
point. When he came to visit us he had been turned down by SCM,
by IBM, and by about twenty other companies who just weren't
interested. He dropped in to see us, we looked at it, and we
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 11
saw a great vehicle to combine with the cordic algorithm and
with some other ideas we had about magnetic recording. The
result was a programmable, stored-program machine, and we said,
"We'll make the whole damn thing, let's go."
Tom was very enthusiastic about that, but he did not want to
become an employee; he had kind of a free spirit about him. We
said, "Well, it doesn't matter to us. We'll make it a
satisfactory arrangement," and we did, and he got quite a bit
out of this thing. It was a very interesting machine and very
unconventional.
KC: _This was the Model 9100._
Oliver: Correct. It was a desktop machine, that would display
the x and y and z registers; it had a keyboard that had all the
transcendental functions available on one keystroke, and it
computed in milliseconds. It was a very fast machine because
the 9100, which we introduced in 1968, had in modern-day terms
a 64-bit-wide word.
KC: _Oh, really!_
Oliver: Yes, because IC ROMs were just beginning to appear at
that time, and we didn't trust them for our application,
because their size was too small, and their reliability wasn't
established. So we went ahead with the first, and probably the
last, electromagnetic ROM; it was a printed circuit board that
had 64 sense lines -- little slim hair pins that went across the
board and connected to little amplifiers at the open end, so
that 64 of these cross loops became sense lines. Down through
those came the drive lines, which jogged to the left wherever
we wanted a zero and jogged to the right where we wanted a one;
and that gave us an up pulse or a down pulse, appropriately.
The pattern was embedded in a PC board, really built into it,
and not reprogrammable. But we had a need for completely
reliable ROM....
KC: _Which amounted to fixed-content core memory on a printed
circuit board._
Oliver: Exactly, and nonvolatile.
KC: _Totally nonvolatile! Some amateur historians of HP are
adamant that the 9100 was in fact HP's first computer, because
[besides this] it had a real [magnetic] core plane._
Oliver: Yes, it did. The user memory on this was several
registers; first of all there were three display registers. I
think there were two computing registers and there were about
six storage registers in addition. I think there were 16
registers total in the machine, and the numbers being handled
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 12
in there were 64-bit numbers, so they were stored as 64 bits in
the mag memory.
KC: _16 four-bit bytes._
Oliver: Yeah, I think that's right. I know there were six
planes. I'm not sure of the details.
KC: _Don't worry, we have full docs on the 9100. Which, of
course, are several times the size of the machine itself._
Oliver:(laughs) Very good! There were something like 2200 bits
-- yeah, 2208 bits of core memory. About 32,000 bits of ROM. But
the whole thing was that when you come to a state in the
machine -- this is an algorithmic state machine, now -- depending
on the variables around, you make a decision. From the nature
of the program you know what the decision is going to be, so
you ask the question, and bing, you hit one of these drive
lines with it, and immediately 64 bits came out, and they said
this operation must be performed, and the results of it go in
this, and qualifier so-and-so must be set to this to do this,
and you pump out a hell of a lot of information as to what was
coming next. And so in a sense it was a pretty wide word. We
could handle the 64 bit number, floating point number all at a
crack, one fetch and an add. Frankly, at the time, I didn't
fully appreciate the extent of the innovation. I knew the
machine worked well. I knew it was fast.
KC: _It worked well, it was fast, it represented about as much
computing power as you could then currently put on a desktop,
and furthermore sold for $7,000. All that made it an extremely
popular machine._
Oliver: Actually, for $7,000 you could have one with the
plotter.
KC: _Ours has a 9125 plotter. In fact, people have been
donating programs for the 9100 that were written, by them or by
others, at universities and corporations. It's a highly
regarded machine to this day._
Oliver: Among?
KC: _Well, just as one example, we have a member who is a
computer science professor at the University of Iowa, Dr.
Douglas Jones, probably one of the most active computer
historians in the Midwest. As soon as he heard we had a 9100,
he sent me a program -- that he had written personally years ago
to make a 9100 with the plotter into a Spirograph. Other
people have donated programs. You say "9100" and this whole
subculture comes out of the woodwork._
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 13
Oliver: That's exactly right, because it was such an
independent start that we didn't rely on anybody else's formats
or prior art. We just came out with it -- bang! -- and it didn't
resemble any machine that someone might have used before. But
people who became adept at using it were likely to be very
devoted to it, and there were enough such people that the 9100
became a considerable success. And that was in spite of some
aspects that were far from perfect; for example, my God, it was
shy on memory! And so the 9100B came out with twice the memory.
By then the whole project had been sent to Loveland, they sent
their people here, and we overlapped for about six months,
transferring it. Loveland took it over for manufacture, and did
an excellent job at that.
Meanwhile they had been assigned the calculator business, so
they decided to do the next machines, which were the 9810 and
9830, and which had a much more conventional architecture
something like the 2116. None of the stuff we had in the 9100
survived. And to my great shock, they were about one-quarter
the speed, also. So -- this is my version of what happened -- the
Loveland group went merrily ahead with the conventional thing.
It was agonizingly slow, actually, if you'd had a 9100. And of
course we chided them on that, we made their lives miserable.
So they buckled down and put in a lot of speed-ups that that
they hadn't had before, and the components themselves were
getting faster, so the later versions of the calculator
gradually sped up until the fastest one -- I have one over here,
it's a 9825 -- was a nice little machine. Finally.
Another virtue of it was -- what I think was -- a damned good
language on it, which we called HPL. In outline it was very
much like a BASIC language, except that it made much more
sense. For example, in a BASIC language, you say x = x+1, and
that's a goddamn lie. x never equals x + 1. What I say is x+1,
that number, goes into the x register. And the symbol for
insertion into the register was the assignment arrow, which was
on the keyboard. That made it a key-per-function machine, as a
matter of fact Keeper was its code name. And to go to this
higher level language, what we did was compile. The basic
machine, in the tradition of our calculators, worked in reverse
Polish, and we knew that that was a good language to store
programs in, because of its economy. You can't do any better.
So we said, why don't we make a machine -- I worked with a whole
bunch of other people on this -- a machine that basically
operates in reverse Polish, but has a compiler built into it;
so that the user would enter data into the machine using an
algebraic language, come to the end of each line, hit <Enter>,
the compiler would compile each line and put it in reverse
Polish. When you wanted to look at it, it blinked a little bit.
It had gone through the cycle of encoding and decoding, and now
displayed what it thought you said. The neat feature was that
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 14
the compilation from the algebraic into reverse Polish, what it
did when you said <Enter> at the end of the line, was
reversible, which gave immediate editing. If you didn't like
what you'd said, you just went to another mode and corrected it
line by line. The 9825 was a nice machine which I still use
occasionally, even though I have much more resourceful devices
at my command. I love to program it and have it do things, and
that's the functionality I absolutely miss in the modern PC,
which has all the stuff done for you. Things like Windows and
so on are all very clever, but there's more in them than I'm
ever going to use, and I have to buy it all.
KC: _Well, the gentleman who gave us the 9100 must have felt
somewhat the same way. He had a small engineering firm in South
San Francisco. When he gave us that 9100, it was in immaculate
condition -- I mean not in any way dusty, dilapidated,
neglected, whatever; and he said to me very significantly,
"Young man, I want you to know that I'm giving you this
hardware because I have reluctantly concluded that I will never
need it again." This was in 1993, and he had been using that
9100 for 25 years._
Oliver: That's easy for me to believe, because I have a couple
of 9100s myself, just for old times' sake. If you're starting a
museum or somebody needs one, let me know, because I won't use
them again either.
KC: _Thank you. We find, so far as the museum goes, that HP
equipment is some of the easiest to lay hands on -- because no
one ever disposes of it. The biggest computer in our current
collection is a 3000/42 that was given to us by a company in
Santa Clara. When people finally have to replace HP equipment,
they don't put it in dumpsters. They look for somewhere for it
to go._
Oliver: I suppose speaking of the 3000 brings us around to the
conventional computers.
KC: _Perfect. I was curious about HP's original reason for
introducing the 2116A, which is sometimes also called the
Instrumentation Computer._
Oliver: It became evident, I would say, in the early 1960s that
all computers didn't have to be huge devices -- that we could in
fact do a sizable amount of computing with a much smaller
computer; the amount necessary, for example, to steer the
instruments in an automatic measuring system. So we set out, in
the labs, to make a controller for our measuring instruments.
Our grand strategy was to make all of our instruments talk in a
single language that we developed, which would be a language
common to the computer and to the instruments, and which would
let the computer handle the whole situation.
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 15
There was a lot to be gained by that. Much of our experience
connecting automatic measuring systems came from our
subsidiary, Dymec, which took standard HP instruments and put
them together in special configurations. As they proceeded,
they developed a lot of the interfacing that we needed to begin
with, so we were already down that road when we decided to make
our own chain....
KC: _Dymec is a matter of some curiosity to computer
historians. The question flies around the Net occasionally:
"What was that company whose logo was exactly like HP's, only
upside down?"_
Oliver: That was Dymec, and there's no mystery about it. It was
a company formed by contributions from HP executives, who held
most of the stock, and its initial mission was to provide some
of our fundamental parts -- things like transformers. At some
point there was a change in direction, and Dymec became, if you
will, our pathfinders in the automatic measuring field. That
experience convinced us to make all of our instruments
programmable, that is to say, responsive to particular codes
encompassed by a control language. That became HPL, and the
computer to run the show became the 2116.
2116, to the best of my knowledge, started in HP Labs -- in this
building we're sitting in, 1501 Page Mill [in Palo Alto], and
it was begun principally by a man named Kay Magleby. Kay
Magleby is not with the company at the present time. He decided
to go out on his own, and he's teamed up with John Atalla, who
was originally one of our lab leaders, and they've introduced
some products and lately have more in development. I just
talked with them the other day. So we're on good terms.
About the same time, Packard began to get a little uneasy. We
were not keeping up with progress in this automation field, and
so he decided that if anything came along that seemed
reasonable as a nucleus for a group, he would acquire it if
possible. When the Union Carbide group became available, we
snapped it up and used the personnel from that design group,
along with the people from our lab here who had already given
some thought to the problems, to form the initial group for the
2116.
KC: _That group from Union Carbide was called DSI, and to my
understanding, it was acquired more or less intact. But I don't
quite understand why Union Carbide had a computer design group
to begin with._
Oliver: We didn't demand an answer to that question -- as to
what their motives were. It sufficed that it was a ready-made
design group with some pretty reasonably talented people in it,
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 16
and we decided that that would be the nucleus.
Anyway, we no sooner got the 2116 mapped out here in the labs
as regarded the size and architecture of the machine, than we
merged with Union Carbide. Then the job of our people was to
carry the design into [DSI's] hands, let them suggest
advantageous modifications, and to get that into the
marketplace as fast as we reasonably could.
KC: _Which involved rapid development of a common interface to
products that were already on the market._
Oliver: Right -- which we were busily doing in all our
divisions. We had our own meetings on that matter, as did a lot
of other groups. The New Jersey Division -- I can't recall the
name of the town offhand -- had developed what they called a
multiprogrammer; a thing that would handle a number of
instruments from a common drive, so as to distribute the
commands and receive inputs back. We called it a
multiprogrammer for lack of a better name. We were gradually
assembling all the things to make automatic measuring systems.
Meanwhile, at the 2116 -- the computer -- end, we combined DSI,
Dymec and our own instrumentation people into a computer
division. Just at that time, the Varian building in Cupertino
was available for sale, so we bought it and staffed it with
that nucleus to create the Cupertino Division. Now, after a
couple of years of operation, analysis of their sales disclosed
that they were selling many more computers as freestanding
units than as computer control of automatic measuring systems.
So we decided that this was new business to go after.
KC: _Part of that must have been traditional HP ruggedness.
Shirley Gilbert tells the story of a 2116 installed in a
station wagon for people to drive around to on-site demos. At
one point, somebody cracked up the station wagon. The car was
totaled, the driver went to the hospital, and all the repair
that the 2116 needed was accomplished in about 10 minutes._
Oliver: That's a good story. I hadn't heard that one. Anyway,
that's what happened -- was that having decided to make a lot of
automatic measuring systems, we found we were selling even more
computers on the side than we were for people's measuring
systems. And the reason was not hard to come to. An automatic
measuring system has a lot of advantages, as you might imagine
-- because it not only does things quickly, but it can do them
much more accurately; because it can measure a known impedance,
for example, and then whatever prevalent error exists in the
system can be recorded at each frequency, so it makes its own
calibration curve before turning to the first piece of
equipment to be measured. In fact there are so many advantages
that, for microwave measurements, I think we typically picked
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 17
up about 30 dB of accuracy by the automatic measuring system.
KC: _Really!_
Oliver: Yes, because, for example in an impedance situation, we
measure first with a known short, a known open and a matched
load, and then use these readings to correct those of the
unknown.
KC: _You'd have it just like on a railroad track._
Oliver: Right. All errors from all the devices in there have
now been taken into account and you're looking right at the
thing itself, so to speak, and that's very nice. But we tried
to promote that and people would always say, "Well, we'd rather
buy the instruments and put the system together ourselves."
Okay, we said, and we sold them the instruments and the
computer and let them put them together. As a matter of fact,
that's what we still do with our help and guidance department
here, but nobody would believe -- until afterwards -- the cost of
the engineering time it takes to really do that.
KC: _Oh, that's still true._
Oliver: That's still true. But the point is, you see you're
doing one of a kind. The moment you're doing an automatic
measuring system on your own, you will buy one. You're doing
something that's one of a kind at that point, by definition,
almost, and you haven't got a big base to amortize all that
engineering time over. We knew that, and we were finding that,
and we were charging for it, and they couldn't believe our bill.
KC: _Right!_
Oliver: But they went ahead and spent the money and --
KC: _And had no one to blame but themselves._
Oliver: And had no one to blame but themselves. Meanwhile, back
at the farm, we were taking a good look at the computer itself --
KC: _I understand there was some effort to compare the 2116 to
other machines that would appeal to the same market, and one of
our members has suggested that HP once considered OEMing a
version of the PDP-8._
Oliver: I don't recall that. The only way to verify that would
probably be to go to Dave [Packard] and ask him directly. But
certainly by the time of the 2116, when we began to realize we
were in the general-purpose computer business, we looked upon
DEC as direct competitors. As a matter of fact, I think that
even before the period we're discussing here, Packard was
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 18
considering buying DEC, and I guess Ken Olsen wouldn't say yes,
or they couldn't agree on a figure or whatever. Anyway, it
never happened but I'm told that was the case.
To get back to Cupertino, I think that in our innocence -- in
the late sixties -- we made a series of management mistakes that
very much hampered that division. For example, they came at us
at one review with the proposal that they build a computer
called the Omega Machine, and so we said, "Well, what is it?"
And it turned out to be a 32-bit computer which they were very
enthusiastic about. But because their performance had been poor
to that point, and their profits were down, this would take
much more R&D budget than they had earned, which made the
accounting side of the house frown on it. A hell of a lot of
people left Cupertino because they saw an opportunity in that
to make a real contribution, and HP turned them off. This was a
company that had already had the daring, if you will, to build
a 64-bit calculator.
KC: _Now this Omega Machine would have been a 32-bit machine
with what generation of technology? Was it TTL?_
Oliver: I believe so, but don't take that as gospel. I don't
know.
KC: _Was it intended to be a mainframe in the proper sense, or
a semi-portable machine like the 2116?_
Oliver: It was supposed to be a mainframe in reality and not to
be advertised as such. In other words, we conceived of a very
fast machine that could perform a lot of traditionally
"mainframe" functions, but that we could sell without
immediately getting IBM on our tails. We had a way of acting
humble in those days because we felt -- rightly or wrongly -that
IBM, the computer giant, could become annoyed at us at any
point and simply squash our computer business, by overwhelming
us with a tenth of their talent. After all, they'd done a hell
of a lot to hold onto their market share, especially when they
were confronted with competition. So we spent a lot of time
trying to keep a low profile and nevertheless make
contributions.
Well, we made some bad mistakes here and there, but I think the
thing that finally cracked us loose were the Snake [9000/700]
workstations that came about just a few years ago, which were
the first really high-horsepower machines. We had the PA-RISC
principle, but until those machines came along, we hadn't fully
exploited it; we had grafted it onto things, but that didn't
let it do as much as if we had started with the concept in the
beginning. In the Snake machines we did that as a
from-the-ground-up design, and it was developed without giving
management a lot of knowledge about it. It was one of those
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 19
under-the-counter things, that turned out to be a saving grace
for HP in the long run, because it really has been very
successful. All the 9000 stuff has been very good, you know, it
was the first stuff we ever put out that got Sun Microsystems
worried.
KC: _But there was another reason for some hesitation as
regarded computer development. A part of management was very
dedicated to continued computer development; another part of
management saw that much more could be done with calculators;
and a third part was committed to refining and upgrading
instrumentation, so that you were almost involving three
companies in a philosophical sense. That may have created a
reluctance to put more than a certain number of eggs in any one
basket._
Oliver: I'm not as conscious of that as I was of our trying to
do things.... That leads to an issue which I'll try to
illustrate. It has been traditional, in development work at HP,
that we try to make a contribution in every instrument we bring
out. We're not content to put a new face on something; we
really want it to perform better in the sense of advancing some
specs by significant amounts, or by making a good product more
cheaply, whatever, but there must be a contribution. And so
when we got into the PC market, for example, we wanted to make
a contribution -- we used the paradigm of pushing the spec, but
in that market it was less appropriate. There were all kinds of
things on those machines that the customer didn't understand,
didn't know about, or didn't use, which therefore just sat
there and were wasted. Finally we tumbled to the realization
that in a PC, what you wanted is not contribution in that sense
but compatibility, and the contribution is going to come about
through more efficient internal design, or enhancements to the
operating system or something like that, or maybe it doesn't
have anything, just reliability, and a good price, and then
you're in better shape to compute because the software is
coming out of Microsoft and everybody else, so we have done
better with that philosophy. But we had to have good engines
first.
KC: _Vectras have always been wicked fast._
We were discussing this attempt to keep yourself under IBM's
radar, so to speak, just as you were developing the 2000, 2100
series, and my understanding is that those were presented
primarily to the educational market._
Oliver: We showed those to a lot of people. I think they were
used a lot in schools perhaps, but we marketed them for the
educational field, not so much because we thought they were the
machines for education, but because we wanted a greater
presence in the minds of the students. We succeeded in getting
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 20
some of that, but in the larger sense it didn't pay off
immediately. HP hasn't really been looked to as a leader in the
field until the last few years, till we got some horsepower
inside our machines and were designing with a little more savvy.
KC: _To my mind, the educational market brought two new
challenges. One was that, at that time, HP had not built any
consumer or commodity products; so a university student who was
working with, say, a 2100, would be encountering the name
Hewlett-Packard for the first time, and you wanted that
encounter to be pleasantly memorable. The other thing, of
course, was that in an academic environment, where you might
have people working in shifts to literally put 24 hours of
computer time into any given day, reliability was of primary
importance._
Oliver: Designing reliability into the 2100 meant ironing out
an interesting glitch. They got it all ready to go, and
Cupertino had farmed out the design for the power supply in the
machine, and they had been told they should allow a half cubic
foot for it. And when the models came, they didn't work; not
only did they not regulate fully, but they also didn't hack it.
They burned up. And so all of a sudden Cupertino was going to
make a 2100 with a deep chassis that would be a hell of a big
computer instead of a nice little machine.
So they called up HP Labs to say please pull them out of the
fire, and we did. We made a very interesting kind of switching
power supply. We converted the incoming AC to a high voltage
DC; then we took that DC and just square-waved it, and with
that high frequency -- 400 Hz or whatever it was -- we designed a
transformer that would come down from that high voltage to all
the other voltages required, and the regulating means was the
duty cycle of the square wave. In other words, you control that
to control the fundamental component that the transformer
handled.
KC: _Orderly stuff in, orderly stuff out._
Oliver: And we also found that we had so few turns in this
transformer that the voltage steps were too high for a single
turn, and that led me to jump into the act and invent a
transformer that you could get half-turns out of. Want to know
how that works?
KC: _Sure!_
Oliver: Okay. Imagine a normal core with a center leg and two
outside legs. Now you put a winding on this thing, which
magnetizes the center leg, and the flux returns through these
two side paths. There's nothing to cause those two side paths
to conduct equal flux. All you've got equal is reluctance, but
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 21
it isn't very stiff. In other words, if you load down one
window by putting a turn around one leg, rather than around the
center leg, it would be very soft, very sloppy, and if you draw
any current from it, the voltage would sag -- because that flux
in that window would go down and the flux in the other window
would go up. So what I did was put a figure-8 strap between the
two windows, like this, to force the flux to be equal. If it
wasn't equal, that was a short-circuited turn for the
imbalance, and the current flew like hell around that strap to
cause the flux to be equal. So I could now count on one-half of
the flux in one window and one-half the flux in the other
window --
KC: _It was a self-regulating transformer._
Oliver: Well, it wasn't exactly self-regulating. It's just that
you forced equality between the two paths of the magnetic
circuit by having a turn that was a shorted turn to any
inequality.
KC: _Okay, got it._
Oliver: So the figure-8 around the top, if you trace it out,
goes into two turns for any imbalance. And if you get any flux,
that represents an imbalance in the windows, you'll cause a
hell of a lot of current in that shorted turn, and it won't let
you do it.
KC: _And it worked._
Oliver: So I got a patent out of that one, and that enabled us
to get a very nice power supply in a half cubic foot.
KC: _And that let the 2100 stay the appealing size that it was._
Oliver: Right, exactly so.
KC: _One of the computers that's waiting for us in a parking
orbit, until we get more space, is a 2100 MX that somebody
wants to donate, and it's a nice little machine._
Oliver: There's been a lot of fun in all the development, but
much of it was long enough ago that my memory is a little hazy.
I'd like to be able to tell you more, but we've discussed
pretty much all I can be sure of. Are you familiar with Pentti
Kanerva's work?
KC: _Afraid not._
Oliver: He wrote a book called _Sparse Distributed Memory_ that
you can buy, or you could buy, at the Stanford Bookstore. And
he proposes a memory system that shares so many of the
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 22
properties of the biological system, it's absolutely uncanny.
I'd love to get this company working on this, but I can't get
anybody to care a nickel about it.
KC: _This was a semiconductor-based memory?_
Oliver: Well, it doesn't matter what the medium is. It's the
organization that counts. What are some of the characteristics
of our memory? What does our memory do when you ask somebody to
recall something? It's a little bit inaccurate.
KC: _It uses a lot of fuzzy logic._
Oliver: A lot of fuzziness in it, and it seems to get full as
you get older.
KC: _Right, but part of that is a tremendous amount of
redundancy._
Oliver: That's really what you get down to in this model. What
Kanerva says is, suppose you define an experience as a
thousand-bit number, that you have maybe ten experiences a
second. You want to get a consciousness movie, so to speak,
you'd have that bit rate associated with it. How would you
store a thousand-bit number? First of all, you want it to be
content-addressable. You don't want to have a separate address,
since we don't have one in our head.
KC: _I'd never thought of that. That is a little scary either
way._
Oliver: But that's the case.
KC: _Because what we're saying goes off into all kinds of
things, like there isn't segmented memory or there is, or there
is or isn't an offset -- _
Oliver: What he proposed was that if you said, well, I'll make
it content-addressable, you cannot have 2^1000 locations, can
you?
KC: _Not unless you have really fast circuitry._
Oliver: Not unless you have a lot of things, my friend, that's
just a hell of a number. I mean, 2^10 is a thousand, a million
would be 20, a billion would be 30, quadrillion 40, so on.
2^1000 is a hell of a number. And in our brains we have, maybe,
2^30 locations. So what do you do? And he said, "Well, one thing
you could do is to have an urn full of marbles that are marked
with numbers from zero to 2^1000 and all stirred up, and you
reach in and pick a number out at random and record that
number, and then you agree to store all numbers that are within
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 23
a certain Hamming distance of that number at that location."
The Hamming distance is the number of bit disagreements. And so
it turns out that you will find yourself storing a given
experience, not at just one location, but at any location in
the whole brain, in the whole memory, that is within a certain
convergence sphere of it, and so you want that number of
locations that you have to have to be about 2^30; and then it
works out that you store that in all these locations, and --
let's say there are something like a thousand locations that
you store per event, and they are all within this Hamming
distance of the number.
Well, now how do you read them out? You go to all of them. How
do you store the numbers in the first place? If the bit to be
stored is zero, you decrement a counter, if a one, you
increment a counter, at that bit location all the way through.
So now you go to all these locations. You then come back to
this number and say "Where can I find it?", and you do a
majority count on all these locations; and because the number
in question is added amplitude-wise and the noise is added
power-wise, so to speak, you can have thousands of other things
stored in these same locations with only very slight
degradation of the signal-to-noise ratio. In other words, if I
have a thousand other events and my expected noise at any one
location is about 30 bits, from a thousand locations, some will
be up, some will be down, in a random walk, and so I would have
very strong signal-to-noise ratio even though there are
thousands of other things stored. I recall this one thing
because it's the dominant thing that's adding coherently at all
the locations. And that begins to be a little creepy. It feels
kind of nice, you know. And then you say, "Well, how did I get
to this location?", and the answer is, you don't. Instead of
storing, you go to a location, and you store the address of the
next location.
KC: _Wait a minute...._
Oliver: Now you have a linked list. Enter it at any one point
and then you go zinging along those lists and you have the
whole motion picture replayed.
KC: _In spite of the fact that, along this chain of physical
addresses, you probably have several other movies -- _
Oliver: Hundreds of thousands of interacting ones.
KC: _Which are just determined by the additive amplitude, if
you will, of the signal down the line._
Oliver: It's a very powerful concept. And it so simulates many
aspects of biological memory, because you cannot localize
memory to any great degree in the brain. You can't say "If I
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 24
take out this cell, then I will remove a specific memory." You
do damage the brain a little bit, but the memory is retained,
or it seems to be.
KC: _What this says, among other things, is that memory is
substantially holographic in nature; anytime you destroy one
copy of the memory, you have only increased the fuzziness of
the memory as a whole, because it's supported by fewer copies.
But now the big question that arises here is, what then
determines priority of memory? Why do you remember event A and
not event B?_
Oliver: You're asking some questions that everyone asks, and so
you say to Pentti, "What evidence do you have that this is the
way things actually are?", and he replies, "I haven't really
strong evidence, but I decided to try to make such a memory
using known types of nerve cells, reacting with known reactions
that nerve cells can have." And he ends up with a structure
which is precisely the structure of the cerebellum.
KC: _Oh, okay. That you would have to call experimental
evidence._
Oliver: It certainly is very nice, if that's the case. It
doesn't prove anything -- yet -- but the structure is there that
would do this. And the cerebellum, my friend, is the most
primitive part of the brain; it's entirely concerned with
coordination and reflexes and things like that, and tied in
with the reptilian complex of the brain. You see, the principal
contract between the brain and the individual is an agreement
to survive. Anyway, I think you'd enjoy reading this book,
called _Sparse Distributed Memory._ It's distributed, for
obvious reasons -- you store things in a number of places.
Sparse, because you don't store them in anywhere near all those
places. The sparseness of it permits the pieces to intersperse,
or intersparse, with other comparably structured memory.
KC: _And at least to my mind -- having just been introduced to
these concepts -- after a while, it starts not looking very much
like digital memory._
Oliver: It's different in many respects. You'll know what I
mean when you read this. But I've been working on projects
involving memory and intelligence -- the distribution of
intelligence -- ever since my retirement.
KC: _What are you working on currently?_
Oliver: I'm down at the SETI Institute. I'm trying to make sure
that thing flies, because I think that would be one of the
greatest contributions of all time, to establish contact
between independently intelligent species across light-years of
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 25
space. The current era can be compared to the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, which were pretty exciting times because
of the discovery of the New World.
KC: _The realization that there were other civilizations._
Oliver: Which had long been suspected, and which Columbus found
to be the case. He thought he was in the Indies -- which were a
locality known to the Europeans -- but instead he found
something entirely distinct, the Americas. And the excitement
of that discovery completely reversed the comparative
stagnation of Europe.
I think that this search, if it can be accomplished, would be
as great and as positive a change. In the first place, if you
contact one extraterrestrial civilization, you probably will
contact a network rather than one, because that civilization
may well be ahead of us, whether in years, in experience, or in
technological aptitude. At that point we find ourselves a
member of a community of intelligent cultures, which would mean
that the whole natural history of the galaxy might be at our
disposal. We could, for example, find out whether DNA is the
chemical of life everywhere or whether there are different
forms --
KC: _Something based on silicon?_
Oliver: Well, the silicon-based life is going to be the one we
fabricate, I think.
KC: _That's true, too._
Oliver: But not the way we're going. I think there is so much
difference between the brain and the computer. Their
similarities are dwarfed by their differences. We're just going
to have to work with multiple models of intelligence and make
them cooperate to the best effect we can.
-------------------------------------------------
HELLO, SAILOR!
a concise appreciation
of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Labs
-------------------------------------------------
by Les Earnest
SAIL grew out of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Project,
which was started by Prof. John McCarthy when he came from MIT
in 1962. He and Prof. Marvin Minsky had co-founded the MIT AI
Project in the late 1950s, and McCarthy had developed the LISP
programming language there.
McCarthy had perceived the need for interactive computing in
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 26
that era when most large computers were used exclusively as
batch processors. In 1959 he wrote a memo that proposed general
purpose timesharing. Part of the inspiration for this idea was
a special-purpose timesharing system called SAGE, the air
defense control system that was then being developed at MIT
Lincoln Lab (by a bunch of people, including me) using hardware
manufactured by IBM.
Working with Ed Fredkin at BBN, McCarthy developed an early
timesharing system using a DEC PDP-1 computer. Fernando Corbato
concurrently developed another one at MIT. Shortly thereafter,
Project MAC was initiated at MIT to develop this idea further.
McCarthy was invited to head that project, but chose instead to
remain focused on artificial intelligence. He moved to Stanford
a short time later.
In 1963 at Stanford, McCarthy began developing the first
display-oriented general purpose timesharing system, also based
on a DEC PDP-1, which came to be called Zeus. Among its many
innovations were the first display-oriented interactive text
editor. Because the PDP-1 was not a powerful processor,
however, this system was interfaced to a disk on the
Computation Center's nearby IBM 7090 so that jobs requiring a
lot of crunching could be passed through the disk buffer, run
in the batch system there, and returned to the timesharing
system for interactive examination of the results.
I joined McCarthy at Stanford in late 1965 and we subsequently
put together the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
(SAIL) in an abandoned laboratory building in the foothills
above the Stanford campus, near Felt Lake. The first computer
there was a DEC PDP-6, installed in June 1966. After a false
start with a contractor who couldn't deliver, a 6-console
display system that drew text and vectors with a random-access
electron beam was added in 1967. The computer system eventually
evolved into a dual-processor DEC-10 and continued to provide
display-based timesharing services to the Stanford community
until 1992. It used a home-grown timesharing system called
WAITS that was similar to TOPS-10 in outline but considerably
different in detail.
Some people have claimed that "windows" were invented at Xerox
PARC or SRI, but their immediate precursors were the
"pieces-of-glass" that were part of the SAIL display system
from the beginning. The main difference between pieces-of-glass
and windows was that the former were transparent (i.e. you
could see the lower layers) whereas "windows" were opaque.
A fancier display system, installed at SAIL in 1971, put a
terminal using a television monitor on everyone's desk. SAIL
was apparently the first system in the world that put terminals
in offices -- before that, the few computer displays that
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 27
existed were kept in "display rooms." This display system also
included an advanced keyboard that introduced the "Meta" key
and other features to facilitate touch-typing. That keyboard
design was picked up promptly by MIT and Carnegie-Mellon
University and later by Apple, whose Command key is a direct
descendent of the Meta key on the SAIL keyboard.
By 1972 the display system included a digital video switch that
allowed users to select rapidly from a variety of
computer-generated images or other video sources, including
commercial television. There was also a speaker on each work
station and a novel audio switch that used digital components
to allow selection from several audio sources.
The original PDP-6 system had just 64k words of storage (which
occupied eight large cabinets) and used microtapes for
secondary storage. A fixed-head disc file built by Librascope,
added in 1968, was supposed to function both as a swapping
store and a permanent file store, but it turned out to be so
temperature-sensitive that it was useless for file storage. The
six remarkably large discs in this system, which were each 4
feet in diameter, were eventually sold as coffee tables -- I
have one in my living room. Despite its large physical size,
this disc system had a capacity of only about 100 megabytes.
More reliable disks made by IBM, Ampex and DEC were added in
later years.
A number of people joined SAIL in the late 1960s, including Don
Knuth, who later went off on his own but continued to use the
SAIL computer as his main "home" because of its many advanced
features. Raj Reddy, who had just finished his Ph. D. at
Stanford, continued his pioneering work in speech recognition
and eventually moved it to Carnegie-Mellon University.
Another recent Ph. D. named John Chowning developed his ideas
on computer synthesis of music at SAIL, leading to a patented
synthesizer that was licensed to Yamaha and that made millions
of dollars for him and for Stanford. Chowning later formed a
computer music research group called CCRMA (Center for Computer
Research in Music and Acoustics).
Art Samuel had joined the Lab in 1967 after retiring from IBM.
He continued to develop his checkers program, which was the
world champion at that time. One of his students developed the
most advanced Go program of that era.
Dr. Kenneth Colby joined the Lab in 1968 and his group
developed a number of experimental
natural-language-understanding programs, including Parry, which
answered questions in a manner that simulated the responses of
a paranoid person.
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 28
Among the user-friendly features of SAIL was an advanced
version of Spacewar, a rockets-and-torpedoes game created
principally by Steve (Slug) Russell, who had developed the
first version while he was at MIT. That idea was further
developed by a couple of our staff members into a commercial
version using a PDP-11 computer. It became quite popular at a
local bowling alley and at the Stanford coffee shop, but the
developers knew nothing about how to run a business and their
small enterprise went nowhere.
Meanwhile, a guy named Nolan Bushnell picked up the same idea
and formed a small company called Atari that developed Spacewar
as their first product. Deciding that it was too complicated to
be a marketing success, they sold it to another company, and
went on to develop a simpler game that turned out to be quite
popular; it was called Pong....
A grad student named Don Woods later took a game idea from
another person and developed Adventure, which spread over the
ARPAnet [predecessor of the Internet] and later evolved in
various directions. Today, Adventure is considered the ancestor
of almost all text-based computer games.
More serious work on computer gaming included McCarthy's chess
program that he had begun at MIT and that was used in a match
with one in the Soviet Union. (We lost, but it caused our
Russian counterparts a lot of grief when the KGB discovered
that we were exchanging telegrams containing what looked like
coded messages.)
A DEC consultant named Richard P. Gruen, who used to hang out
at SAIL, developed a system for controlling complex program
compilations that he called RPG, which theoretically stood for
"Rapid Program Generation," but also happened to be his
initials. This idea was later incorporated into Unix as the
"make" command.
The computer was used for text editing right from the
beginning. Bill Weiher and others developed a simple text
editor that came to be called SOS and spread throughout the
DEC-6/10/20 community. Later a page-oriented editor called E
became the primary editor in the Lab. Many features originating
with E were incorporated into the emacs editor that was
developed later at MIT.
I decided early on that I needed a spelling checker in order to
cope with my deficiencies in that area. Fortunately, I happened
to have a dictionary of the 10,000 most common English words
that I had punched into paper tape when I was at MIT; and
during 1960-62, I had developed a spelling checker as a
subroutine in a pen-based system for recognizing cursive
writing. (This system, which I had also developed, worked at
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 29
least as well as the handwriting recognizers that are now
appearing on the market.) As I later learned, this 1960 system
was evidently the first computer spelling checker developed
anywhere.
In 1966 I gave the dictionary to one of our grad students at
Stanford, and he wrote a new spelling checker in LISP that
clanked a bit but did the job. A few years later, another grad
student named Ralph Gorin did a faster one in machine language
that included spelling correction. That became quite popular in
the lab.
SAIL was connected to ARPAnet around that time, and programs
and data began circulating between the research sites through a
mixture of donation and benign thievery. Our spelling checker
spread to DECsystem-10 and -20 computers all over the net and a
Unix version was subsequently developed. Such programs were
included later in the personal computers that began appearing
in the mid-1970s.
Another program called FINGER, which I developed to help keep
track of the unpredictable migrations of our staff at all hours
of the day and night, was picked up by several other DEC-10 and
DEC-20 computer facilities. We later modified it to work
through the ARPAnet and track the denizens of remote computers.
It too was rewritten for Unix, but the author of the Unix
version was not careful about security, and a loophole in it
was exploited much later by the infamous Internet Worm.
Another area enriched by cooperation and innocent larceny was
the development of raster graphics printing, initially based on
the Xerox XGP and later on laser printers developed by Xerox,
Canon and others. Larry Tesler and I had developed an early
text formatting program called PUB that facilitated printing on
line printers, teletypes, and microfilm, which was later
modified by a Carnegie-Mellon student to print on the XGP.
People at various sites, principally Carnegie-Mellon, Stanford,
and MIT, developed font design software and developed a robust
collection of typefaces that migrated all over the network.
Inspired by the deficiencies of PUB, a grad student at
Carnegie-Mellon named Brian Reid developed another text
formatting program called Scribe. Don Knuth also put one
together called TeX, which became a pre-eminent standard for
scientific and technical page description, and later developed
a fancy font design program called Metafont.
I was a member of the ARPA committee that reviewed the initial
technical proposals for ARPAnet, and SAIL became part of the
original network when it started in 1969, though we had to
defer regular network operation until we got enough memory to
hold the rather large amount of communications software that
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 30
was required.
Naturally, development work at this level created a need for
food at all hours of the day and night, accessible with minimal
distraction. Around 1972 we developed SAIL's response to this
need, a computer controlled vending machine which sold on
credit. Called the Prancing Pony after an inn in Tolkien's
_Lord of the Rings_, it still operates in the Computer Science
Department at Stanford, though both hardware and software have
been updated.
In SAIL's enjoyable work environment, researchers did
pioneering work on computer vision, robotics, and automated
assembly as well as mathematical theory of computation, theorem
proving, and "common sense" reasoning. Hans Moravec's system
that guided a robot vehicle, using stereoscopic images from a
video camera, did pioneering work on navigation and obstacle
avoidance.
Several people moved from SAIL to Xerox PARC when it was formed
in the early 1970s, including Alan Kay and Larry Tesler, and
took the SAIL culture with them. Others later moved to
Lucasfilm to develop the computer technologies supporting "Star
Wars" and other elaborate flicks.
Some of our students developed the first interactive CAD system
for computer design, called SUDS for "Stanford University
Drawing System," and used it to design the Super Foonly, which
heavily influenced the DEC KL-10 computer. DEC later used SUDS
as their primary design tool for over a decade. They also
donated a KL-10 to the Lab.
SUDS was also a key resource in the formation of both Foonly,
Inc., a small company (now defunct) that made computers that
were DEC-10 compatible, and Valid Logic, a pioneering CAD
company. SUDS was also used by Andy Bechtolscheim, a co-founder
of Sun Microsystems, to design the first SUN workstation (SUN
stood for Stanford University Network). Andy continued to use
SUDS to design successive Sun workstations, using the
1967-vintage SAIL displays through 1987.
Other commercial spin-offs from SAIL include:
Vicarm, one of the earliest robotics companies, which made
high-performance electric arms and was later purchased by
General Electric.
Xidex, which developed and marketed a portable compiler called
MainSail.
Imagen, which I founded, and which developed and marketed the
earliest desktop publishing systems. The company couldn't get
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 31
funding, because the venture capitalists had never heard of
laser printers and were not convinced that there was a market
for them, but it bootstrapped to annual sales of around $20
million before being purchased by QMS.
Lucid, which developed and marketed LISP compilers and related
software.
Cisco, which appropriated Stanford-developed digital
communications technology, and eventually got a license from
Stanford after being threatened with legal action.
In 1979 SAIL rejoined the computer science department in a new
building on the main Stanford campus, but effectively lost its
organizational identity in the process. The DEC-10 computer
called SAIL continued to operate for another dozen years,
providing a comfortable "home" for those who had come to
appreciate its features. A party was held on June 7, 1991 to
celebrate SAIL's 25th birthday. It was by that time the oldest
"living" timesharing system in the world.
However, SAIL was no longer maintained, and began exhibiting
the computer equivalent of senile dementia. The computer was
powered down for the last time and dismantled on October 4,
1991, but is still fondly remembered by many who used it for
work and play over the decades. It was replaced by a small DEC
workstation running Unix, also called SAIL, which has much more
memory and happens to be much faster than the old SAIL
computer; but it has much less character.
-------------------------------------------------
THE DISCOLOURATION OF PLASTIC COMPUTER CASES
-------------------------------------------------
by Dr. Edward Then
Senior Conservator (New Materials)
Science Museum
LONDON SW7 2DD, United Kingdom
The yellowing or discolouration of computer cases is an
extremely common phenomenon. The problem is not unique to cases
made by one manufacturer, nor is it restricted to computer
casings. This chemical process is comparable to the
discolouration of an apple skin, and is similarly irreversible.
Fortunately, in most instances the damage associated with
discolouring affects only the surface of the artifact.
Background: POLYMER AGING
-------------------------------------------------
The polymer most commonly used in casings and housings for
electrical equipment and computers is ABS. The acronym is
derived from the initial letters of the three main monomers
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 32
used for its manufacture -- acrylonitrile, butadiene and
styrene. ABS polymer was first made available in the early
1950s and, since then, has become one of the most widely used
industrial polymers. It is valued by producers for its
excellent mechanical properties (impact resistance, stiffness,
surface quality), thermal properties (good dimensional
stability at high temperature) and electrical resistance. It
also offers significant resistance to chemical and stress
cracking.
Polymers, including ABS, can be described as large molecules
made up of simple repeating units; the word _polymer_ is
derived from the Greek words 'poly' and 'mer' meaning "many"
and "part" respectively. Many types of polymers can be created
by varying the molecular composition of the repeating unit. The
total number of repeat units in a polymer chain, often referred
to as the _degree of polymerisation_, may typically be hundreds
or more.
During degradation, different chemical reactions occur along
the polymer chain. These can result in the breaking and
rearranging of chemical bonds, causing (among other things!)
discolouration of the polymer. Degradation may be initiated or
accelerated by numerous factors including ultraviolet light
(UV), visible light, ozone and other extraneous pollutants,
intrinsic manufacturing impurities, oxygen, and heat. In the
case of our computer housing, I think UV and light are the main
causes of deterioration. The rate of deterioration is thought
to be approximately proportional to the light intensity.
Deterioration-fighting chemicals are commonly added to polymers
during manufacturing; these may include antioxidants,
antiozonations, light stabilisers, UV stabilisers and fire
retardants. The type of additive used will be determined by the
composition and application of the finished product. As the
polymer ages, most of these additives are consumed while they
hold back the degradation process; once the stabilisers are
used up, the polymer is often left unprotected and will
deteriorate very rapidly. Attempts have been made to
restabilise polymers, but it is not known how well these will
work, and the topic demands considerable exploration. The
Science Museum in collaboration with other institutions is
currently sponsoring research in this area.
WHAT SHOULD WE DO NOW, AND HOW CAN WE EXTEND THE LIFE SPAN?
-------------------------------------------------
The best advice is, perhaps, to do nothing. Personally I would
advise that discoloured surfaces should be left untreated.
Maybe, one day, the discolouration will be seen as desirable or
inevitable, like the patina on metals! In any case, each
example must be evaluated individually, preferably by a
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 33
conservator who deals with plastics.
Dirt and grime are a separate problem, and may be cleaned with
distilled or deionised water. Stubborn stains can be removed
with a non-ionic detergent. The cleaned surface must then be
dried immediately. A word of CAUTION: When cleaning with water,
use a cloth or cotton wool that is only slightly damp, and
avoid making contact with metal parts -- which may corrode --
and with the electronics. Avoid using solvent; some solvents
may appear harmless on contact, but will react with the plastic
over time, crazing or cracking the object later. Use only soft
cloth or cotton wool to dry the case to avoid abrasion or
scratching.
Until there is a solution to this problem, the only prudent
strategy is preventive conservation. Try to keep the computer
away from strong light, especially direct sunlight and other
strong UV, and from any heat source. Also keep it covered when
it is not being used, to forestall the build-up of dust. I will
try to keep the editor informed on the progress of the research
projects.
-------------------------------------------------
BERKELEY'S UCBVAX CHANGES JOBS
-------------------------------------------------
by Cliff Frost
Network Services
Computer Science Department, UC Berkeley
On Friday, August 19, 1994, at approximately 2 p. m. Pacific
Time, a group of programmers gathered in the old CS department
computer room, fourth floor of Evans Hall, UC Berkeley, amongst
the scattered remains of network wiring, ancient hardware,
ghosts of legends, and general debris, for a mysterious and
moving ceremony; a rite of passage for a computer, and perhaps
for its human caretakers. A semiologist could write a thesis on
this event, but here we confine ourselves to the facts. Keith
Sklower opened with a brief history of ucbvax:
"In the summer of 1978, the computer science department took
delivery of the campus' first Digital Equipment VAX computer,
obtained via a grant from NSF (due in large part to the efforts
of Prof. Richard Fateman). In fairly short order, it was
running a variant of UNIX developed by Bell Labs. (Local CS
people were interested in adding virtual memory support, which
ATT UNIX lacked, which eventually led to the widespread
interest in BSD, but that's a different story).
"The people at Bell Labs offered to have their computer call up
ours in order to facilitate research collaborations, using the
UUCP protocol. We had to choose a node name, and 'ucbvax'
seemed to follow their naming conventions. Netnews and the
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 34
birth of USENET followed closely.
"After about three years, the mail-handling and news functions
of the departmental VAX were chewing up more than half the
cycles, so it was decided to segregate those functions onto a
separate machine, when the opportunity arose. So 'ucbvax'
became a VAX/750 devoted specifically to those functions. For a
long time, it was one of two gateways between the ARPAnet and
the Berkeley campus.
"As the load on ucbvax-the-750 began to exhaust its capacity,
there was talk of replacing it with some flavor of SUN
workstation, but a DEC sales person got wind of this and
thought it would be much better for DEC if ucbvax were to stay
a VAX, and managed to 'upgrade' the 750 to a DECstation 3200,
its final incarnation."
Keith then assured the assembled company that although the
machine was retiring, it would be following recent local
tradition by immediately coming back to work in another
capacity -- as a card-key access system controller for the UC
Police department. His eulogy was followed by Eric Allman's
moving tribute:
"Alas, poor ucbvax! I knew him, Horatio. A machine of infinite
jest, of most excellent software. He hath borne my mail in his
queue a thousand times. And now how abhorred in my imagination
it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those disks that have
spun I know not how oft. Where be your news now? your dialins?
your routes? your flashes of congestion that were wont to set
the department on a roar?"
The actual power-down was delayed by about 20 minutes, as about
74 pieces of queued email were moved to another machine for
eventual processing. Following this, Keith and Eric halted the
computer that had carried the name of "ucbvax.berkeley.edu" for
the last several years of that venerable name's history. Kirk
McKusick turned the power off, an honor due to him as the first
person to power-on that particular piece of hardware. At the
time it was turned off, ucbvax was the last operational VAX in
CS, so -- to stretch the truth only a little -- it was both the
first and last VAX in the Computer Science department at UC
Berkeley.
The assembled multitude of T-shirted and blue-jeaned
programmers (more than a few of us also sporting just a touch
of silver in the hair) applauded enthusiastically, then dug
into carrot cake and diet Pepsi generously provided by Keith.
Although ucbvax's IP addresses are retired, a significant
amount of email traffic is still being supported under that
name, rerouted earlier (through the magic of MX records) to a
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 35
machine supported by Information Systems and Technology's
department of Data Communication and Network Services. This
computer is named, with full cognizance of the irony,
"nak.berkeley.edu".
-------------------------------------------------
AUSTRALIAN COMPUTER MUSEUM SOCIETY ANNOUNCES INCORPORATION
-------------------------------------------------
The Australian Computer Museum Society is now incorporated as
from the 16th December, 1994, in New South Wales, under the
Associations Incorporation Act 1984.
The President is:
Graeme PHILIPSON
phone 02-286 5900
fax 02-267 2094
e-mail graemep@spg.mhs.compuserve.com.
The Secretary is:
Michael CHEVALLIER
phone 02-498 3383
e-mail chevallier@decus.org.au.
The Treasurer is:
John GEREMIN
phone 02-764 4855
fax 02-764 4679
e-mail geremin@decus.org.au.
The society's ADDRESS is:
Australian COMPUTER MUSEUM Society Inc.
P.O. Box 103
Killara, NSW, 2071
AUSTRALIA.
The Society is seeking _business sponsorships_ from
computer-related businesses to help pay the rent on its storage
space at Homebush.
In the new year the Society will be looking for _vendor
sponsorships_ from computer manufacturers to underwrite
employment of part-time curators.
The Society also needs _commercial sponsors_, and _donations_
from any interested business, to help us establish offices and
to institute special projects.
Current membership fees are AUS$25.00 for individuals,
AUS$10.00 for students or pensioners. Membership forms are
available from the Secretary or Treasurer.
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 36
-------------------------------------------------
ERIC RAYMOND'S RETROCOMPUTING MUSEUM ON THE WEB
-------------------------------------------------
Some programming languages may live forever. (Not that FORTRAN
thread again!) Some die gracefully and pass to the care of
historians. And some are, well, roadkill.
At the end of a hard day grinding code, whether in your
favorite or least favorite dialect, it's salutary to relax with
a splendid showcase for some of the world's most perplexing
ideas. Think of the write-only text editor TECO -- uniquely
meaningful because any conceivable ASCII string means
_something_ in it! Think of BLISS, whose hopeful acronym belied
its tortuous internals! Think of.... I was going to mention
INTERCAL, but I won't.
Now dozens of forgotten and justly ignored languages have been
collected by Eric S. Raymond, Lord of the Jargon File, and
displayed to great advantage in the RETROCOMPUTING MUSEUM. Some
of them have actual merit -- there's an implementation of Konrad
Zuse's Plankalkuel in the works; some are sillier than the
above, if that's possible. Many of them can clutter up _your_
hard disk through the magic of ftp. If you crave to savor
constructs even weirder than ALTER in COBOL, point your Web
browser to http://www.ccil.org/retro/retromuseum.html. Just
don't say we didn't warn you.
-------------------------------------------------
NEWS OF MUSEUM ACTIVITY IN SWEDEN
-------------------------------------------------
by Anders Hultman
On the West Coast of Sweden, in the tiny town of Stenungsund,
about 40 km north of Gothenburg there is a home computer
museum. Probably the world's only museum devoted entirely to
home and personal computers, it has been operated by the
software company Hogia for about two years.
Groundwork was done in the late 70's and early 80's when Hogia
developed software for different platforms, mostly CP/M based;
they requested a computer of each type to be able to test the
software on it. When they had the whole attic full of old
computers they opened the museum. It contains several hundred
personal computers from many countries, and also interesting
information about the persons who started the personal computer.
During the winter it's only opened on request, but during school
holidays and all summer it's open almost every day. It's located
in Hakenas Gard at the southern entrance of Stenungsund, and can
be reached at:
Hogia persondatormuseum
Hakenas Gard
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 37
S-444 28 STENUNGSUND
Tel. no. +46-303 696 48
Fax no. +46-303 819 97
BBS +46-303 675 89 (not open 24h)
Internet: aah@hogia.se
Aside from the museum they are involved in a "saving old
computers" project run by volunteers at the University of
Uppsala.
-------------------------------------------------
SECOND EDITION OF COLLECTOR'S GUIDE IN PROGRESS
-------------------------------------------------
Having received a few inquiries as to whether there would be a
second edition of the invaluable _Collector's Guide to Personal
Computers and Pocket Calculators_, we asked Dr. Tom Haddock,
who says he is actively collecting material for the book. He
asks that anyone with a micro not included in the first edition
fill out and submit a copy of the Collector's Register form at
the back of the book, or contact him at Box 2626, Ann Arbor, MI
48106. Photos are especially welcome.
The second edition "will not be out real soon" but apparently
we can look forward to a substantial advance in coverage. (Come
to think of it, the CHAC does have one micro he hasn't
listed....)
Tom asked us, while we're on the subject, to offer his
apologies to those who've sent him letters and not received
replies. He's "literally months behind" on his mail but
promises to answer every letter eventually.
-------------------------------------------------
SUN HARDWARE REFERENCE UPDATE
-------------------------------------------------
James Birdsall's amazing SUN Hardware Reference is....well, we
won't presume that it's complete, but we can't imagine how it
could be _more_ complete. Any SUN enthusiast will want a copy,
whether as a support library or simply for enjoyable reading.
This document is available from the CHAC Request Daemon; send
mail to engine@win.net with the subject sunref_all_z. The mail
you receive in return will be decodable to the file
referenc.zip. Note that you MUST have UUdecode and an unZIPping
utility! If you have FTP on your system, use anonymous login to
ftp.netcom.com:/pub/ru/rubicon/sun.hdwr.ref. The file
referenc.zip (88K) contains all five parts; individual parts
are available as uncompressed ASCII (217K total) in the
reference.parts directory. Here's the TOC:
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 38
PART I: _OVERVIEW_
CPU/CHASSIS
Sun-1, Sun-2, Sun-3, Sun 386i, Sun-4/SPARC
General descriptions of the models, including
processor/fpu/speed, bus, chassis type, OS support, etc.
Processor Info on SuperSPARC, microSPARC, etc.
PART II: _FAQ_
ROM Monitors:
How to use the ROM monitor built into every Sun
(boot instructions and other tips).
Using a Terminal as Console:
Notes on using a serial terminal instead of a Sun framebuffer
and keyboard.
Memory Display on Startup:
How much memory a system has.
Miscellaneous Questions and Answers
Facts in Search of a Home
Miscellaneous Pinouts
PART III: _BOARDS_
CPU, memory, video, SCSI:
Descriptions of boards by type and part number, including
pinouts, jumpers, DIP switch settings, and LEDs.
PART IV: _BOARDS_ (cont'd)
non-SCSI disk controllers, tape controllers, Ethernet,
serial/parallel/other commo, floating-point/system accelerator,
backplanes, other, cross-referenced by bus
Descriptions of boards by type and part number, including
pinouts, jumpers, DIP switch settings, and LEDs.
DISKS
SMD, MFM, ESDI, SCSI:
Descriptions of models commonly used, including jumpers and
switch settings.
KEYBOARDS
Types 1-5c:
Descriptions of types of keyboards, what CPUs they work with,
and any configuration information.
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 39
MICE
Sun-1, Sun-2, Sun-3, Sun-4:
Descriptions of types of mice, what CPUs they work with, and
any configuration information.
Alternatives: Trackballs, etc.
MONITORS
ECL mono, TTL mono, color:
Descriptions of types of monitors, what video boards they work
with, and any configuration information.
FLOPPY DRIVES
Descriptions of models commonly used, including jumpers and
switch settings.
TAPE DRIVES
9-track, QIC-11, QIC-24:
Descriptions of models commonly used, including jumpers and
switch settings.
PART V: _APPENDICES_
Cardcage configuration tables:
What cards go in which slots in which machines.
Part number index:
Index of all known part numbers, with references to larger
descriptions, if any, in the main body.
Repairs and Modifications:
Repair and modification information as contributed by various
net.people.
Announcement Dates/List Prices:
Announcement dates and list prices for various configurations.
Author's Notes.
Miscellanea.
Bibliography/Acknowledgments:
Contributors, and documents used in compiling this reference.
-------------------------------------------------
SPOTTER ALERT
-------------------------------------------------
Copies of the ENGINE, the FAQ, and project information have
been pouring out to print and broadcast media, especially in
Silicon Valley. We do have tearsheets of most of the ink we
know about. But is there ink we haven't heard of? Once more,
with feeling: If you spot any mention of CHAC or the ENGINE in
any periodical, _please_,
* If your copy of the piece is clippable, clip and mail to the
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 40
Palo Alto address.
* If you can't spare the physical copy, send the text as
net.mail to cpu@chac.win.net, or photocopy and fax to the Palo
Alto address.
* If you're too busy for that, just send the publication name,
date and page number and we'll do the hunting.
Thanks! (And thanks to the spotters who have given us
invaluable help with keeping up so far.)
-------------------------------------------------
MONEY, rev 2.3....
-------------------------------------------------
Are you one of the 174 people who have promised to subscribe to
the ANALYTICAL ENGINE -- but never quite managed to write us a
check?
If all 174 of you sent your check today, we'd have about $5,000
more than we do in the bank -- an amount that would keep the
CHAC solvent for a surprisingly long time. It would also bring
_you_ extra benefits like a thicker ENGINE, a Web page, ready
acceptance of your donated hardware, and maybe even....exhibit
space? Think of it.
The CHAC is longing to grow and rarin' to go. But only _your
dollars_ can get us off the dime. If you've promised us a sub,
please, make it surface today.
(If you haven't, you could still subscribe out of the blue and
surprise us.)
-------------------------------------------------
YOU PUBLISH! OR WE PERISH!
-------------------------------------------------
Call it a victory of sorts! This issue of the ENGINE is no
thinner than the last one. We splattered a nag for articles all
over October's back cover, in italics this time. We
received.... the material you see here, and half a dozen
e-mailed apologies for articles not written -- most of them
pleading indifferent writing skills, or lack of time.
Look, people. It's just NOT that difficult. Remember the
ten-minute war story you told at the last Chinese dinner?
Remember the mainframe nightmare that somehow gains polish with
every iteration? Remember the very first -- or very worst --
[insert name of specialty] job you ever got paid for?
WRITE IT DOWN. Don't wait and try to make it flawless. Our
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 41
staff will apply the debugging, tweaks and lacquer job that
brings your prose to the enviable standard set by every issue
of the ANALYTICAL ENGINE. But your article, unlike a
hundred-thousand-line COBOL program, doesn't have to be perfect
on the first pass. (Case in point: When I typed that last
sentence I made a spelling mistake. Can you see it now?
Exactly!)
Make YOUR mark in the history of computing in California. (If
you've made one, make another one.) Write an article for the
ANALYTICAL ENGINE. You'll be glad you did. So will we.
-------------------------------------------------
OVERVIEW OF BUREAUCRATIC PROCESSES
-------------------------------------------------
INTERNSHIP
-------------------------------------------------
The ENGINE now has a student intern, Arjun Kanodia of Palo
Alto. Mr. Kanodia began by putting many of our records in
order, which they desperately needed, and has progressed to
contacting small museums and galleries in the South Bay to
assess their interest in a proposed CHAC exhibit. We appreciate
his conscientious labors and look forward to working with him
frequently.
GIVING UP ON PLASTIC
-------------------------------------------------
We've concluded that we won't be able to accept payment by VISA
card in the foreseeable future. Two knowledgeable and patient
advisers, one an executive of a local bank and the other a
private consultant, were encouraging at first but concluded
(correctly) that the whole process would be too expensive. Our
attempt to negotiate with Visa International directly was
rebuffed because our volume didn't interest them.
Before the next issue of the ENGINE appears, we will introduce
the CHAC to local brokers of digital cash transactions
("e-cash") including CommerceNet, CyberCash, First Virtual
Holdings, and Netscape. These services are experimental but
promising, and maybe encrypted e-mail will be a better choice
for us than plastic.
-------------------------------------------------
Book Review: THE MAC BATHROOM READER
Owen Linzmayer
Sybex, Inc., 1994
306 pages, US$10.00 (paper)
Reviewed by David T. Craig
CompuServe 71533,606
-------------------------------------------------
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 42
Owen Linzmayer's _The Mac Bathroom Reader_ is an extremely
accurate history of Apple Computer, focusing on the Macintosh
computer's first decade, but embellished with several sections
of irreverent humor. In Linzmayer's words, this book
concentrates "on the events, people, products, and companies
that made the Macintosh what it is today....a unique collection
of amazing anecdotes, interesting lists, exploded myths, silly
stories, embarrassing quotes, and other useless factoids meant
to be enjoyed at your leisure, wherever you happen to enjoy
reading."
The book contains over two dozen chapters, but a sample will
suggest how well Linzmayer knows his Mac history:
Ron Wayne: The Forgotten Founder
What Were They Thinking?
Broken Breakout Promises
IBM: The Strangest Bedfellow of All
Folon's Forgotten Logo
Bold Intros and Quiet Exits
Lemmings: Why 1985 Wasn't Like 1984
The Great Caffeine Conspiracy
The Official History of the Dogcow
Windows: How Sculley Betrayed the Mac
If these titles leave you hungry for more, you're getting the
idea! As a long-time Apple observer I was impressed not only
with the facts that Linzmayer uncovered, but also with his
verification of these facts; I've read most of the books
concerning Apple's history, and _The Mac Bathroom Reader_ is by
far the most meticulous. He interviewed many key participants
in Apple's strategic development, including the inventor of the
Macintosh, Jef Raskin, who has called this book "outstandingly
accurate" in recent e-mail to me. Important historical
buttressing, in my opinion, is provided by the bushel-basketful
of quotations; almost every other page appears to contain a
quote from some notable Apple personage.
To my mind, two chapters stand out as extremely interesting:
"The Apple /// Fiasco" and "Lisa: From Xerox With Love," which
provide insight into Steve Jobs' decision-making before he
became a key player in Macintosh development. Linzmayer clearly
demonstrates Jobs' failure to learn from his /// and Lisa
mistakes, and its influence on his direction of the Macintosh
project. In the Lisa chapter, Linzmayer analyzes Apple's
leveraging of Xerox's work with the Alto computer system. He
even includes a photo of a Xerox Alto, although a nice addition
would have been a sample Alto screen showing its bit-mapped
architecture, graphics capabilities, and raster fonts. The
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 43
chapter concerning the Alto may contain one of the book's few
mistakes; Linzmayer claims that a group of Apple people saw an
Alto running the Smalltalk environment in 1979. I've read
elsewhere that the system demonstrated to the Apple executives
was a Xerox Dorado, but I need to check this with the Xerox
employee who gave the Smalltalk demo. In the Lisa chapter,
also, Linzmayer did an "insanely great" research job; I've
owned a Lisa since 1984 and collected a tremendous number of
Lisa-related artifacts, and I found only one statement here
that I considered questionable.
The "Making of the Macintosh" chapter is a _tour de force_, a
blazing fusillade of accuracy and detail. Linzmayer profiles
Jef Raskin, Apple employee #31, who started at the company as
Manager of Publications. In 1979 Raskin was given the
opportunity to develop a game system, code-named Annie, with a
target price of $500. After some study Raskin changed the
project specification to a text-based but bitmapped system, and
on 11 September 1979 renamed the project Macintosh. Raskin
remained with Apple and with the Macintosh project until early
1982, by which time Steve Jobs had turned the nascent Mac from
a simple-to-use system based on Raskin's ideas into a
face-saving mini-Lisa, less capable and innovative than the
original but still a startling break from the "TV typewriter"
paradigm of the CP/M and MS-DOS platforms. The amount of change
required here is summed up in a terrific chart showing the
Macintosh's evolution from May 1979 paper specifications -- a
6809 CPU, 64K RAM, 200K 5.25" floppy, no mouse pointer, $500
target price -- to the January 1984 customer machine with a
68000 CPU, 128K RAM, 400K 3.5" floppy, mouse pointer, and a
retail price of $2495.
"Macintosh Insiders: Where Are They Now?" ends the book on a
great note: a list of the names that appear inside the case of
early Macintosh computers, all 50-or-so people who worked in
the Macintosh division as of February 1982. Included with each
name is a copy of the signature as found in the case, a
description of what the person did for the Macintosh, and where
that person could be found at the time of publication.
Copious photos, many of them rather rare, include the Apple 1
singleboard, the Xerox Alto computer, and a snapshot of a
bulldozer and a Lisa keyboard in the Logan, Utah, landfill
where Apple buried about 2,700 Lisa computers as a tax
write-off in September 1989.
If you'd like a second (equally positive) opinion on this book,
check Jef Raskin's review on page 145 of the February 1995
issue of WIRED magazine -- in which even _he_ admits to a red
face. But I hope I've told you enough here to interest you in
buying a copy from the author. Send US$10 cash, check, money
order, or Visa/MasterCard, for one autographed book, to:
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 44
Owen W. Linzmayer
2227 15th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94116-1824, USA
CompuServe: 71333,3152 (preferred)
AppleLink: Owen
America Online: Owen Ink
eWorld: Owen Ink
For USPS Priority Mail service on domestic orders (optional,
but faster,) include $3 extra. Non-US customers should add $2
for international shipping.
-------------------------------------------------
ACQUISITIONS
-------------------------------------------------
[Officially, the CHAC is not acquiring at this point. This is a
heavy burden to us since, by the time we have more storage
space, some of the material we've agreed to accept may have hit
the dumpsters instead. But what can we do about this most
painful contradiction? Only wait, and work, and hope. To those
of you who have promised to donate and are waiting, we can only
entreat your patience. -- KC]
COMMODORE 64
-------------------------------------------------
Mark Greenia
The noted author of the Lexikon Services computer history stack
sent us a C= 64, probably a comparatively recent one and in
very nice condition. This is, we hesitate to admit, the first
Commodore computer we've ever owned, so we don't know a lot
about it; but it's a technically interesting device and its
historical importance is unquestionable. (Anybody got a 1541
they're not using? We look forward to firing this up.)
Mark also donated copies of the _1993 Computer Industry
Almanac_ by Juliussen and Juliussen -- which hasn't left our
office desk since we got it -- and of _IBM's Early Computers_ by
Bashe et al. We thank our brother in history for his
thoughtfulness.
BOOK PURCHASES
-------------------------------------------------
There's no end to computer books, it seems. And they're so
small, so cheap (used) and such fun to read.... The overriding
consideration is that, if we pass over a copy of a significant
title, we may never find a second one. Recent purchases of
particular interest include:
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 45
_8085A Cookbook_, Titus, Larsen and Titus (Blacksburg)
_Apple Machine Language_, Inman and Inman (Reston)
_Beginner's Guide to Computers & Microprocessors_, Adams (TAB)
_Handbook of Microprocessor Applications_, Kuecken (TAB)
_TV Typewriter Cookbook_, Lancaster (Sams)
-------------------------------------------------
LETTERS
-------------------------------------------------
CURTA CALCULATOR FOR SALE
-------------------------------------------------
A friend of the CHAC has donated a Curta Model 2 (large)
"peppermill" calculator, and instructed us to sell it to pay
operating expenses. The calculator itself is in mint condition;
the black metal case nearly so, with some scuffing only on the
bottom. Full original docs are included.
Recent sales of Curta Model 2's at retail or auction have
realized US$550 to $625. We will accept the best offer over
$550 that we receive by May first, 1995.
Kip Crosby
cpu@chac.win.net
SAVE THAT XDS 930!
-------------------------------------------------
Save that SDS 930, if at all possible! The Berkeley Timesharing
System, an important and significant ancestor of UNIX developed
at the University of California at Berkeley, was written for
the SDS 940, which was a slightly modified SDS 930 -- modified
to support demand paged virtual memory. That was the first
machine I ever used, back in high school in 1968, and it was
only later that I learned about its historical significance.
My first paid job as a programmer was at Com-Share in Ann
Arbor, Michigan, in the summer of 1972. One of the first things
I had to do was to port a big customer application written in
FORTRAN from their SDS 940 system (billed as Commander I, but
really still running the Berkeley Timesharing System) to their
new XDS Sigma 7 system (billed as Commander II). The biggest
problem I encountered in that job was that the character
handling parts of the FORTRAN code used H3 format on the 940
and H4 format on the Sigma 7 (H3 was 3 characters per word, H4
was 4 characters per word). There was also an ASCII-to-EBCDIC
change, but that was only a minor hassle.
I still have my 1972 vintage Commander II FORTRAN manual, but
that's one of only two relics I have of my connection to
Com-Share. The other one is an aluminum bar with "Scientific
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 46
Data Systems" engraved across the top. It once graced some SDS
computer, but by the time I got to it, the relay rack had been
stripped of everything but the nameplate.
-- Doug Jones
-------------------------------------------------
MORE ON THE PERIPATETIC 74x181
-------------------------------------------------
I read with interest the article in ENGINE 2.2 about the 74181
ALU chips that were used in the Xerox Alto. These chips were
also used in a lot of other minicomputers of the time - many
Unibus PDP11's contained them; the PDP11/45, for example had 4
74S181's on the data path module, another 3 on the memory
management address path, and yet a lot more in the floating
point coprocessor. They were also used in the Philips P850
which contained a pair on the ALU module (what was that board
called? I forget), and I guess other machines. The idea was
quite simple: It's well known that there are 16 possible
2-input gates. Think of filling in the 4 lines of the truth
table - there are 2 ways to do it for each combination of
inputs, leading to 2^4 for the entire table. The 74181 had 4
select inputs which allowed you to select one of these
functions -- yes, all were available -- to be applied between the
2 4-bit input words.
But there was more; a carry system that could be enabled by the
fifth control input, or M bit. This turned the XOR function
into addition, and also gave useful(ish) functions for the
other select codes. I'm not sure if any machine ever used those
though. Many machines had a ROM between the instruction
decoder/microcode word and the ALU inputs. Thus not all the
functions were available to the user. This carry system allowed
propagate/generate carry between cascaded chips, rather than
the slower ripple-carry system. A companion look-ahead carry
generator, the 74182, was used for this purpose. Logic diagrams
and equations for both these devices are in any good TTL data
book.
Now for another machine that used 74181's, and which was
related in a sense to the Alto. This is the PERQ, probably the
first commercial workstation. The 20-bit CPU contained 5 of the
74181's. The machine was soft-microcoded, and a 4-bit field in
the microcode word selected which operation was performed.
Twelve of the 16 logic operations (i.e. with the carry logic
turned off) were available, along with two versions of add and
subtract, with or without carry-in. On the later PERQ 2
machines, a bit more logic allowed the fundamental steps of
shift-and-add multiplication, and even of non-restoring
division, to be performed in 1 microcycle. I believe a small
ROM is used to decode the ALU field, the carry bits, and the
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 47
appropriate signals from the multiplier register and to provide
the control signals and carry input to the 74181's.
The PERQ was a fine machine that has been largely forgotten.
They had a graphics accelerator, the Raster-Op machine, which
was used to efficiently combine 2 bitmaps on the screen;
built-in Ethernet; hard disks, and so on.
TTL logic is qualitatively important to hardware of its period
and, as was mentioned in the article, a lot of TTL chips are
likely to disappear very soon. Even the AMD 29xx series of
bit-slice stuff is officially on the endangered species list!
Those chips (the 2901, 2910, etc) turned up in a lot of late
'70s hardware such as VAXen, PERQs, disk controllers, and much
else. A UK organisation which I am involved with, the P850 User
Group, is trying to find ways to replace them, possibly by
programming some of the advanced GAL-like chips now available.
We've not found anything suitable yet, but we're actively
looking. That's one way to assure that some of this great
hardware will still be usable in years to come.
-- Tony Duell
ard@siva.bris.ac.uk
-------------------------------------------------
HELP WANTED WITH RESEARCH ON CALCULATORS
-------------------------------------------------
I'm presently doing research on the history of early pocket
electronic calculators and I could use your readers' help. The
tremendous growth and rapid price drops of the (then) newly
developed integrated circuit chip was heavily fueled by the
popularity of pocket calculators in the consumer market during
the 1970 to 1975 time period.
As a result, there were a number of medium and small sized
companies (many from California) that jumped onto the
calculator manufacturing bandwagon. They pushed that early
technology to the limit. Unfortunately, information about these
companies is hard to come by -- so far impossible, in many
cases.
Companies like Berkey/Litton, Busicom, Calcupen, Calfax,
Corvus, Dataking, Kings Point, Litronix, M.I.T.S., Melcor,
National Semiconductor, Netronics, Rockwell, Summit,
TeleSensory, Universal Data, Unicom, Victor, and Vista had a
major impact on the way we calculate (and compute) today. And
it would be a shame to let that information die away.
If you have ANY information on any company (named or not) that
was involved in calculators at that time, please contact me.
Any and all information would be appreciated.
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 48
Contact:
Guy Ball
14561 Livingston Street
Tustin CA 92680 USA
email mrcalc001@aol.com
fax/message +1 714 730-6140.
[Note: This is for Guy and Bruce's forthcoming book which
intends to list "every LED/LCD-type, nixie-type, or
fluorescent-tube-type pocket electronic calculator ever made."
A tall order, but an ambition that absolutely compels applause.
If you have any information that Guy might find useful, please
make it a priority to contact him. -- KC]
-------------------------------------------------
QUERIES
-------------------------------------------------
[Queries are sorted by subject, and within that, by model if
applicable.
If the person querying has permitted us to publish an e-mail
address, we have done so, and please reply directly to it;
otherwise, reply to cpu@chac.win.net or the Palo Alto address,
and we will store and forward.
AIR DEFENSE INFORMATION WANTED
-------------------------------------------------
I would be most grateful if anyone out there in cyberspace
could point me toward any available sources on the Air Defense
Integrated System (ADIS), a failed air defense project of the
early 1950s conducted by the Willow Run Research Center at the
University of Michigan.
The ADIS project began about 1950 and continued until 1953. In
sharp contrast to the centralized, digital-computer-controlled
SAGE system which eventually won out, ADIS was based on analog
computing aids and semi-automated communication among
decentralized command posts. I have so far been unable to
locate more than passing references to the project in any
published literature.
Thanks!
Paul N. Edwards
Program in Science, Technology and Society
School of Engineering, Bldg. 370
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-2120
pedwards@pcd.stanford.edu
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 49
APOLLO: HELP WANTED WITH ORPHAN SYSTEMS
-------------------------------------------------
I'm not sure if this iron is old enough to be discussed here,
but I can't find any Apollo-specific groups (perhaps they're
buried deep in the *.hp.* hierarchy).
I've been given two Apollo Domain series 3000 machines, about
which I know nothing. One is a server and one appears to be
diskless; they are connected using Apollo token-ring. Both will
happily boot to the login prompt. Unfortunately (you guessed
it), I have no docs, no operating system disks (one machine has
a 5.25 floppy, but no tape), and no information about the
accounts which are on there, if any.
So: how does one bring these machines up from scratch to allow
a new root password to be set? I know such information isn't
parted with lightly, and you have no guarantee that I'm not
some pimply hacker trying to crack somebody's system, but
you'll just have to believe me.
Given that I have done this, is there anything useful I can do
with these machines? We have a lab Linux network and they would
make two excellent X terminals - is this feasible? I don't even
know if the window system is an X-like system, or whether they
have/can be given an Ethernet connection - I have never used
these machines before.
Please help to save these machines from ending up in the skip.
Mark Robinson
mark-r@spec0.ee.man.ac.uk
APPLE II SOFTWARE: SOURCES URGENTLY WANTED
-------------------------------------------------
Where the h**l can people still buy Apple software, as distinct
from Macintosh? We get 5 or 10 people a week asking. E-mail on
this subject would be more than appreciated.
thanks,
Dan Henry
Daniel.J.Henry@dartmouth.edu
[We've said it before and we'll say it again; the Apple II
remains a remarkably healthy platform. Let's, please, get
together on this and help Mr. Henry out. -- Ed.]
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 50
APPLE LISA: TIME TO DIG OUT THE CARDBOARD BOX
-------------------------------------------------
I am writing a book about the rise and fall of the Apple Lisa
computer. Anyone with comments, gossip, folklore, materials,
etc. is encouraged to contact me by e-mail at any of the
addresses below. If you have hard copy material, I will gladly
pay copying/shipping charges and give credit in the book.
Michael Posner
Lisa Lives Users' Group
cwld@ix.netcom.com
AOL: Mac n Lisa
CIS: 72262,447
CALCULATORS WANTED
-------------------------------------------------
I continue to look for mechanical calculating devices and slide
rules to add to my collection. Some of my interests include
older wooden slide rules and small adders (dial-type,
stylus-driven type, etc.), unusual slide rules (circular or
spiral). lever-set calculators (such as Brunsviga, Marchant,
Walther, and others) and arithmometers (Peerless, Bunzel,
Archimedes, Thomas, Burkhardt, and others). I collect all types
of devices which calculate in some way. I also enjoy discussing
this topic and sharing historical information on old
calculating devices.
Please respond to me either by e-mail,
rdecesar@pcocd2.intel.com, or phone me at (916) 356-5769.
Thanks.
Bob De Cesaris
CDC CYBER SYSTEMS: INFO REQUESTED
-------------------------------------------------
I am doing a paper on an old computer architecture, the CDC
Cyber 70 and model 6000 series, typically systems like the
72/73/74 or the 6400 and 6600 mainframe computers.
If anyone has information on how the core was used between
jobs, core addressing methods, PPU programs, channel
allocations, buses and any other interesting data about the
architecture, I would really appreciate mail or email.
Thanks.
Gregory Pilkington
Tape Division, StorageTek
plg@qualifier.stortek.com (129.80.216.162)
(303) 673-3531
Fax: (303) 673-7694
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 51
2345 Clover Basin Drive
MS 0224
Longmont, CO 80501 USA
DEC: DECODING WANTED FOR ACRONYMS
-------------------------------------------------
I was looking in a local charity shop (computer history appears
in the oddest places), and found a copy of 'Programming
Languages', a handbook of the DEC-supplied languages for the
PDP-8, from 1970. I quickly bought it for 45p (<US$1). Anyway,
there are a couple of things in it I'd not heard before, and I
wondered if anyone else had comments.
1) I have read in several books that FOCAL stood for FOrmula
CALculator. According to this book it's 'Formulating On-line
Calculations in Algebraic Language'. Has anyone else ever heard
that one?
2) The character tables in appendix B2 seem to be ASCII with
the high bit set, but are headed ANSCII-1 Character set. ANSCII
stands for American National Standard Code for Information
Interchange. When was the National dropped from the name?
Tony Duell
ard@siva.bris.ac.uk
DEC PDP-11 PLUG-COMPATIBLE PARTS SOUGHT
-------------------------------------------------
I'm trying to find a source of replacements for spares for
products built by a company called ACC, Associated Computer
Consultants.
In the early 1980's ACC sold communication controllers and
other boards that plugged into the DEC PDP-11 Unibus. We are
still running a control system that uses some of their boards.
They're working fine, but we're interested in obtaining some
spares. The boards we have are ACC products called UMC TIO and
UMC Z80.
I have an old phone number for ACC in Santa Barbara but it's no
longer in service. I looked through some DEC-oriented magazines
but didn't find them.
Jonathan Jacky
jon@radonc.washington.edu
DEC VAX: IN SEARCH OF SECRETS
-------------------------------------------------
I'm interested in material concerning Digital's VAXes,
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 52
especially on the design of VAXes or VAX variants -- chips,
systems, or architecture varieties -- whether or not the
results were ever actually built.
This specifically includes such things as modifications of the
microcode (in microcoded variants), embedded systems, and VAX
clones, whether authorized or not. I'd also appreciate
references to published literature (except Digital's own public
product documents) and suggestions for additional contacts. At
your request I'll keep your identity confidential.
Peter Kaiser
kaiser@acm.org
+33 92.95.62.97
FAX +33 92.95.50.50
GEC 4000 SERIES, ANY TAKERS?
-------------------------------------------------
I was just wondering, has anyone ever spent much time working
with GEC 4000 series machines? When I worked at Prestel, some
years ago, we had roomfuls of the things. I'd be interested/
intrigued to know if anyone else ever came across them! Are
they still made/supported, and what else were they used for?
Info/trivia most welcome,
cheers,
Phil Clark
phil@stimpy.demon.co.uk
GO COMPUTER: RESCUE INFO NEEDED
-------------------------------------------------
I have been, er, "gifted" with a "GO" pen based computer. The
catch is that it doesn't seem to boot right now. The BIOS
message appears when power is applied, but nothing further
takes place. I recall reading about this system back in 90/91
(which is also the copyright date on the BIOS message) so it
isn't totally historical (hysterical... perhaps). The physical
description is:
Unit is about 9" x 13" x .5" and heavy
The screen is touch sensitive (passive)
A slot at the top of the unit, presently empty, appears to be
for a removable hard-drive
A D-type connector at the top appears to have a 50-flange (i.e.
Centronics style) male connector
The external floppy drive has a 25-pin SCSI connector, another
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 53
of the odd "mini-Centronics" connectors, and no visible power
supply connector
I have no cables or other hardware.
I have a bunch of PenPoint OS disks and the PenPoint
developers tool kit (whee!)
So: is anyone out there familiar with this machine? Can anyone
provide some information about how to get the darn thing to
start up? How about a supplier for cables and such? My memories
of what I read about this machine are that PenPoint is an
OS/environment based upon a "notebook" metaphor with tabs along
one side of the "notebook" to activate another app. I will
hazard a guess that the mysterious flanged connector is
intended to connect to a "docking station" of sorts which has a
SCSI interface, rendering the floppy-drive useless without this
additional hardware. Apparently the company sank without a
trace before the recent PDA craze. This seems like a classic
"orphaned hardware" story and I have a personal reason to look
for info: my director has challenged me to "do something cool"
with this beast. How can I but try? Feedback via email or post,
please, of any information that seems generally interesting.
Fritz Lowrey
University of Southern California
jlowrey@ucs.usc.edu
HP-10: URGENTLY WANTED BY FORMER OWNER
-------------------------------------------------
Stephen Meyer of Monterey, CA wishes to hear from anyone
willing to sell an HP-10 printing calculator -- the original,
larger model circa 1977-78. He had one in use until a few years
ago and would very much like to replace it. Anyone with an
HP-10 or a lead to one, please contact:
Stephen H. Meyer
Cypress Tree Inn
2227 North Fremont
Monterey CA 93940 USA
+1 408 372-7586 voice
+1 408 372-2940 FAX
INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS SUN CLONES: ANYTHING!
-------------------------------------------------
I'm looking for information on SUN (680x0) "clone" systems made
by Integrated Solutions. Please contact me if you know anything
about these systems. I'm specifically interested in later
systems with a desktop-GUI, but any info would be appreciated.
I'm also *very* interested in acquiring one of these systems,
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 54
working or otherwise, and any software, docs, or
sales/marketing literature for these systems.
Thanks!
Bill von Hagen
wvh@transarc.com
MATTEL AQUARIUS SWAPS WANTED
-------------------------------------------------
I would be curious if anyone knows much about Mattel's Aquarius
computer. I'd like to hear if anyone ever tried the CP/M box or
modem that was apparently developed for the Aquarius and then
cancelled. Also, I have some Aquarius stuff I'd like to trade
for other Aquarius items, particularly the following:
Biorhythms cartridge (loose; I could get a photocopy of the
instructions though)
Mini Expander (with two control pads - I could provide a
photocopy of the instructions)
Aquarius CPU (with original Guide to Home Computing and
Simplified Instruction Cards)
The Aquarius is a Z80-based personal computer Mattel released
in 1982-83. The MiniExpander adds a second cartridge slot for
extra RAM, and hand controllers for game play.
I'm most interested in OTHER Aquarius items (cartridges such as
Night Stalker, Utopia, the RAM cartridges, the printer, etc.)
but will consider trades for Intellivision or other classic
video game items. Thanks,
David
6500dtpt@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu
-------------------------------------------------
ARTICLES NOTED
-------------------------------------------------
"Computer Creators: Adam Osborne," Mike James, _Computer
Shopper_, December 1994, pp. 557-558. A summary of Osborne's
adventures as a writer, developer and entrepreneur.
"Ensuring the Legibility of Digital Documents," Jeff
Rothenberg, _Scientific American_, January 1995, pp. 42-47.
Problems of durability and readability in stored digital media.
Highly recommended!
"Heavy Donation," _Leading Edge_, November 1994, p. 19. Sidebar
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 55
with photo on the donation of a Cray 1S to the National Atomic
Museum at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.
-------------------------------------------------
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
-------------------------------------------------
_ Australian Computer Museum Society Newsletter_ #2, 25 October
1994. Member profiles; Teaching the History of Computation;
Aims and objectives; Philipson profiled in AUSTRALIAN; more. 8
pp. From Jim Walsh.
Charles Babbage Institute NEWSLETTER, Volume 17 Number 1, Fall
1994. ARPAnet at 25; The Year at CBI; Recent publications; CBI
on gopher; Research in the History of IP; IBM Oral Histories;
Burroughs Records Project. 10 pp. From Judy O'Neill.
The Computer Museum: _Annual Report 1994_. Ten-year history;
balance sheet; photo highlights; list of sponsors and donors.
24 pp.
The Computer Museum NEWS, Winter 1994. Recommendations on
children's software and holiday gifts. 4 pp. From Gail Jennes.
Hewlett-Packard _Journal_, recognizing and publicizing
technical contributions made by HP personnel.
Volume 45 Number 6, December 1994. Digital audio tape; state
machines; debugging; wavelet analysis; test vectors in
manufacturing; software project management; clock design and
measurement; more. 1994 index. 120 pp.
Volume 46 Number 1, February 1995. Special optics issue with
particular attention to fiber-optics, reflectometry and
improved lasers. _Caution_: Underlying physics is of
breathtaking complexity. 124 pp. From the editors.
_HISTORY OF COMPUTING: An Encyclopedia of Computer History_ by
Lexikon Services. Version 3.1, December 1994. Hyperstack for
MS-DOS or MS-Windows, greatly expanded from previous versions,
with digitized photographs. Approximately 800 pages. US$19.95.
From Mark Greenia. _Caution_: This version exhibits
compatibility problems with Novell DOS.
_ International Calculator Collector_, Issue 7, Fall/Winter
1994. Sinclair Story; Upcoming Texas calculator/instrument
show, Craig profile; Photo Album; Pricing trends; classifieds,
resources, more. US$12 per year with membership ($16 foreign).
From Guy Ball.
_The Z-Letter_, newsletter of the CP/M and Z-System community.
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 56
Number 33, September/October 1994. Palmtech CPUZ180; CP/M
CD-ROM in beta; DISCAT, TERM III, WDCOUNT; YASMIO design
history; Amstrad PCW8256; correspondence, resources and
technical discussion. 20 pp.
Number 34, November/December 1994. Novell/DRI and Echelon
products; CP/M CD-ROM release version; Kaypro 10 Tinker Kit;
reviews of Augarten, Haddock, Greenia; Z-System scripting;
correspondence, resources and technical discussion. 22 pp.
US$18 for 12 issues (2 years); Canada/Mexico, US$22;
International, US$36. From David A. J. McGlone.
-------------------------------------------------
ADDRESSES OF CORRESPONDING ORGANIZATIONS
-------------------------------------------------
Australian Computer Museum Society, PO Box 103, KILLARA 2071,
NSW, Australia. Michael Chevallier, secretary.
Charles Babbage Institute, 103 Walter Library, 117 Pleasant
Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Judy E. O'Neill, associate
director.
The Computer Museum, 300 Congress Street, Boston MA 02210.
Brian C. Wallace, curator of historical computing.
Hewlett-Packard _Journal_, Hewlett-Packard Company, Box 51827,
Palo Alto CA 94303-0724. Richard P. Dolan, editor.
Historical Computer Society, 2962 Park Street, #1, Jacksonville
FL 32205. historical@aol.com. David A. Greelish, director and
editor.
International Association of Calculator Collectors, 14561
Livingston Street, Tustin CA 92680-2618. Guy Ball, Bruce L.
Flamm, directors.
International Interactive Communications Society, 2601 Mariposa
Street, San Francisco CA 94110. Sheila Farrell, membership
secretary.
Lambda Software Publishing, 149 West Hilliard Lane, Eugene OR
97404. David A. J. McGlone, editor and publisher.
Lexikon Services, Box 1328, Elverta CA 95843. lexikon2@aol.com.
Mark Greenia, director.
_The Mathematical Intelligencer_, Springer-Verlag New York, 175
Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Chandler Davis,
editor-in-chief.
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 57
Unusual Systems, 220 Samuel Street, Kitchener, Ontario N2H 1R6,
Canada. Kevin Stumpf, president.
-------------------------------------------------
THANKS TO....
-------------------------------------------------
Bob Crosby for the Curta calculator, and the Computer Shopper
article.
Myron Piker for the Scientific American article.
Emery Rogers for suggesting the Oliver interview; and Frank
McConnell and Jason Zions for help with preparation.
Len Shustek for his donation.
Tim Swenson for the Leading Edge article.
Larry Tesler for his donation.
Susan Winn for a stellar job of transcription on the Oliver
interview.
Whole Access for subsidizing KC's attendance at the
Fremont/Newark Board Survival Training workshop.
-------------------------------------------------
NEXT ISSUE
-------------------------------------------------
The HP 2000 interview; articles, letters and queries; and, we
hope! the enthralling, hour-by-hour rescue of the XDS 930.
-------------------------------------------------
GUIDELINES FOR DISTRIBUTION
-------------------------------------------------
The ANALYTICAL ENGINE is intellectual shareware. Distribution
of _complete, verbatim_ copies through online posting, Internet
mail or news, fax, postal service or photocopying is encouraged
by the Computer History Association of California.
Excerpting or brief quotation for fair use, including review or
example, is also permitted, with one exception: Any material
copyright to or by a third party and reprinted in the
ANALYTICAL ENGINE by permission shall not be used in another
periodical or context, unless the permission of the copyright
holder is separately secured for the new use.
Alterations, abridgments or hacks of the ANALYTICAL ENGINE
which change the intent or meaning of original content; or
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 58
which contrive to bring income to any person or organization
other than the Computer History Association of California; or
which contrive to injure the Computer History Association of
California, its officers, contributors, volunteers or members;
are PROHIBITED. Reproduction of the ANALYTICAL ENGINE without
its subscription coupon is abridgment in this sense.
-------------------------------------------------
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION
-------------------------------------------------
The ANALYTICAL ENGINE solicits manuscripts of 750 to 2500 words
on the general topic of the history of computing in, or with
significant reference to, the State of California. Articles
should focus on one interesting or illuminating episode and
should be written for a technically literate general audience.
Submissions are welcome from both members and non-members of
the CHAC. Article deadlines are: July 15 for the November
issue, October 15 for the February issue, January 15 for the
May issue, and April 15 for the August issue.
Each author may publish a maximum of one signed article per
year. This restriction does not apply to letters, queries, book
reviews or interviews. Thank you for cooperating to protect
diversity of voices and topics. Previously published material
will be republished only in clearly attributed quotations or
citations; or when its publication in the ANALYTICAL ENGINE
will bring it to the attention of a significantly broader
audience; or when the original publication is materially
obsolete or inaccessible.
Decision of the editors is final but copyright of all published
material will remain with the author.
The preferred document file format is Microsoft Word for DOS or
Windows, but almost any DOS or Macintosh word processor file
will be acceptable. Submit manuscripts on DOS 5.25" or 3.5", or
Mac HD (1.4) diskettes. Alternatively, please send your article
as ASCII or ISO Internet mail. Please avoid submitting on paper
unless absolutely necessary.
-------------------------------------------------
NINES-CARD
-------------------------------------------------
FORM LETTERS THE TELETYPE WAY
by Dave Breneman
The PC and Macintosh "CPU on every desktop" fad has, for the
last 10 years, provided job security for both network
administrators and their doctors. At the same time it has
molded a generation of office workers who depend on graphical
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 59
interfaces and rodentiform pointing devices for the completion
of the simplest tasks. Rather than being set free by
automation, we have become so reliant on it that something as
benign as a power outage can literally bring the typical office
to a halt. Although we cannot turn back the tide of progress in
the case of electricity (after all, there are no wood-fired
microwave ovens) we can at least deflect the impulse to obtain
every new toy and gadget.
Nothing, not even a Corvette in the hands of a teenager,
depreciates faster then a computer. Yet there is still much
utility left in those HP 9000/300s, NCR Towers and AT&T 3B2s.
How much more environmentally friendly it would be, as well, to
wring the last ounce of productivity from a tried and true
technological friend, rather than to consign it to the trash
heap after 2 or 3 years. Consider also that IS directors are
under constant pressure from management to keep budgets in
line. All of these issues are addressed by a business forms
solution which is low-overhead, environmentally conscious,
simple, and ultimately challenging and fun for the worker. Yes,
you -- and your office staff -- can produce impressive form
letters on an ASR-33 Teletype (tm).
Now, many will object that a Teletype has no lower-case
characters, and these people do have a point. In bulk mailings,
however, this is an advantage! THINK HOW MUCH MORE EYE-CATCHING
AND URGENT YOUR MESSAGE WILL APPEAR IN ALL CAPS. IT LITERALLY
JUMPS OFF THE PAGE LIKE A USENET POST FROM AOL.COM! If you too
find this an unexplored virtue of the teleprinter typeface and
technology, read on.
Begin by assembling all the elements for your
office-of-the-future-of-the-past. You will, of course, need
your mailing list. Also procure a Teletype Corporation ASR-33
teleprinter. For reasons that will shortly be apparent, your
ASR-33 must be equipped with an automatic, rather than a
manual, tape reader. The automatic tape reader is easily
identified because its control lever has 4 positions (Manual
Start, Auto, Manual Stop and Free) as distinct from the manual
tape reader's 3 positions (Start, Stop and Free). Make sure
that the lever is in the Auto position. For the best
appearance, you should put a new ribbon in your ASR-33; most
office supply stores can order such a ribbon for you at quite
reasonable cost, often under $20. You will require a roll of
printer paper (still available in case lots from several
business forms dealers,) a bottle of white glue, and a roll of
1" lubricated paper tape. The location of this last item is
left as an exercise for the reader.
With your Teletype set up and ready to go, place it in Local
mode and turn on the tape punch. Start with a series of about
10 or 12 <NUL>s, which produces a nice leader. Tear off any
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 60
paper remaining above the cutting edge. This will help you
position your text. Next, <LINE FEED> down until you reach the
area where the recipient's address goes. This is where we begin
to put technology to work for you. Type ^T^T. We all know that
^T turns off the tape reader. When you read your tape back,
your Teletype will stop at this point and allow you to enter
the address. Always enter two ^Ts. This is because the tape
reader will frequently coast a bit after it shuts off, and if
the character over the sensing pins is not a ^T, it will start
up again. I like to include a ^G before the ^T, to notify the
user that the ASR-33 has stopped printing and is awaiting
input. Now enter a <CARRIAGE RETURN> and two s. This
gets you to the salutation line. Type "DEAR ^G^T^T
;<CR>". This way, when the machine stops for your
input, you don't need to include the ";" or any of the
carriage-control characters every time you begin a new letter.
Your ASR-33 adds them automatically!
Continue through the rest of the letter. Don't forget to
terminate each line with two <CARRIAGE RETURN>s followed by a
<LINE FEED>. This gives the carriage plenty of time to get back
to its stop, especially if the carriage return dashpot cylinder
vent is restricted. After your letter is complete, using a
ruler, continue entering <CR>s until the 66th line of your
prototype letter (11") is even with the cutting edge. Several
^Gs and the two ^Ts will remind your operator to tear off the
letter and start the next one. Now enter enough <NUL>s to get
all of your tape out past the cutting edge of the tape punch,
and several more <NUL>s to provide a good trailer on the end.
Carefully tear the tape off. The cutting edge of the tape punch
provides a nice V-shaped tear that helps guide the tape through
the tape reader in the next step. Press the CLR button on the
Call Control Unit panel to turn off the motor.
Two create the tape loop necessary for printing multiple
letters, apply a thin coating of white glue to the top of the
tape leader and, being careful not to introduce any twists into
the tape, press the end of the trailer on top of the leader.
Remember to always press the trailer on top of the leader, as
this keeps the edge of the overlap from actuating the Tight
Tape bail in the tape reader as it passes by. Make sure all the
perforations line up correctly.
After the glue has dried, place your tape loop in the tape
reader at the point where the leader and trailer overlap. Put
the ASR-33 in Local mode. It will begin printing and stop at
the space provided for the recipient's address. Enter the first
address followed by the Tape On command (come on, ^R,
remember?). Do the same for the recipient's name in the
greeting, etc. If you get really fancy, you can include lines
like this:
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 61
NOW YOU, M^G^T^T, CAN BE THE FIRST IN ^G^T^T TO OWN THIS
PRODUCT!
...Then just fill in "RS. JONES" and "CHICAGO" at the
appropriate pauses. If you anticipate sending these letters
repeatedly, turn on the tape punch before you begin. Then
you'll have all the letters, complete with names and addresses,
ready to go again when necessary. Note, however, that you will
probably want to use the tape punch backspace and <NUL>-out the
^Ts in your tape copy.
That's all there is to creating professional correspondence the
ASR-33 way! Now form letters aren't drudge work, they're fun!
The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 62
-------------------------------------------------
ADD MONEY, MAIL....
-------------------------------------------------
and enjoy fascinating articles, letters, queries and editorials
while you support the study and preservation of California's
unparalleled contribution to computing. Annual membership will
bring you four issues of the ANALYTICAL ENGINE and the
satisfaction of working toward a world-class computer museum
for the Golden State.
____ Yes! Please enroll me in the Computer History Association
of California for the next year. I enclose
Individual membership: $25 on-line / $35 paper (circle)
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(circle)
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and send four issues of the ANALYTICAL ENGINE to
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The Analytical Engine, Volume 2, Number 3, May 1994 Page 63
National Computing Science Day PRELIMINARY BALLOT
____ I vote FOR the Federal proclamation of a National
Computing Science Day.
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Computing Science Day.
____ I think a National Computing Science Day, if proclaimed,
should implement the following features; and/or these are my
reasons for my vote (optional):
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