On 6/8/24 11:56, Vincent Slyngstad via cctalk wrote:
On 6/8/2024 7:43 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote:
On 6/7/24 20:42, Vincent Slyngstad via cctalk wrote:
On 6/7/2024 6:19 PM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote:
OK, I have to chime in here. I worked for Artronix
about 1972. The LINC computer was developed at MIT for
use in biomedical research labs, and a bunch of people
involved with it later moved to Washington University
in St. Louis. The Biomedical Computer Lab there later
added some features such a a crude memory mapping unit
and more memory, and called this the Programmed
Console, so as not to scare people away. Artronix
began building these PC's and selling them to hospitals
for radiation therapy planning. I have no idea how
many were sold. They were built into a desk, and used
7400-series logic chips. They etched their own PC
boards, drilled them by hand and soldered in the chips
by hand. I wrote a series of diagnostics for them.
Do any survive? I've looked for them but never found one.
An Artronix PC? I seriously doubt it, but it is
possible. There is at least one LINC that was restored
about a decade ago, and taken out to VCF 10. If an
Artronix PC did evade the scrapper, it would not be that
hard to get it running again.
Even maintenance drawings would be great.
Does any software survive? Diagnostics would be cool, but
so would MUMPS. Not sure the radiology software would be
useful, but it would still be of historic interest.
Well, I believe that LINC LAP-6 will "boot" on an Artronix
PC. I am fairly sure I did try that a long time ago.
And, the guys who resurrected the LINC for the VCF demo did
have LAP-6 running. One big feature of the Artronix PC was
a TEK storage scope that allowed you to see a whole page of
text at a time, instead of the tiny window that was
available on the LINC. I think the LINC could only support
about 8 or 12 short lines due to the slow refresh.
Jon
