Well, ... the IBM 1401 was built in a substantial frame; and in the context cited it appears to have the only (hence surely the "main") computer present. Other members of the same general family like IBM 1410 were certainly regarded as a mainframe. I'm pretty sure any computer large enough to require one or more dedicated frames was called a "mainframe" in those days. When mini-computers first came out, they weren't considered mainframes because they were typically only the size of a single rack and could even be carried.
With a recent MS in Comp Sci, I found myself in the U.S. Army 1969-1971 (started in Infantry but ended up as head Company Clerk at HHC of "The Old Guard" at Ft Myer VA). I remember reading some memo that came down from above the Battalion suggesting the possibility of using a punched-card-based system for maintaining and producing our Company Roster. That might have involved an IBM 1401, but my impression at the time was that the functions they were describing could easily have been done with just unit-record equipment. Nothing ever came of it while I was there. It would have saved us the periodic tedium of one or more man-hours of manually typing up a new roster in which few names changed, but given that our time was cheap and available, there would have been no way to cost-justify using a process that would save our time but slow down the overall process by requiring outside resources. Clearly, at that time, punched card decks were one of the databases used for tracking military personnel. Joel C. Ewing On 12/26/18 2:42 PM, Seymour J Metz wrote: > What is he smoking? Since when was the 1401 a mainframe? > > > -- > Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 > > ________________________________________ > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> on behalf of > Mark Regan <marktre...@gmail.com> > Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2018 8:28 AM > To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU > Subject: How about a little Christmas fudge? | Computerworld Shark tank > > https://secure-web.cisco.com/1iMlW_GZ2Scqioa5F4rqymcywO0OTBLBFOtYPuQZZF6F73Kv0x_B9nU3SOTiheXf32DsESHEBSvbzXuJ78Z2XaRKtXr7A2GITbjxnEDGjBqcDiOzF9WOIQCYJIH89nABmY7xso9DckpD3Q10YPvrxhvPVeFvR6IYMhBl0Po4k4-03fXnkJSammKYm3lrjMJyX4f-lcp9YlEt59dyzYTF_at6wT-i9VPdyfHx5DVlOyFFEzAQxZe-ifUcS7uOAE70lUB6w6ZfwDLRp9vhqQVEaCVSjXFSY0F4a2YhM92FII0XRqIAu4y7yW4Iop4TXQVM-iMQuqleDME3jgueepL3jXWQ797SaO4hRpNph47Gl9FOTKIqwIXeAe2DNqPGTQMlRexhctM6zHXZYT2EbywHPaw/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerworld.com%2Farticle%2F3330396%2Fapplication-development%2Fsituation-normal-all-fudged-up.html > > ... > -- Joel C. Ewing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
