Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 28/05/2016 11:27 AM, Paul Anderson wrote: Thanks Lionel, You just helped me start a new list! Hi Paul, and others You have stimulated me to drag out a couple more useful programs - basic stuff, I used them to demo to students, and get them started. Also the practical side to check

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

Thanks Lionel, You just helped me start a new list! On Thu, May 26, 2016 at 5:44 AM, Lionel Johnson wrote: > On 25/05/2016 5:06 AM, Paul Anderson wrote: > >> I used to have a notebook of toggle in programs for the PDP8s and PDP11s, >> but it seems to be lost forever.

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Wed, May 25, 2016 at 08:35:33PM +0100, Dave Wade wrote: > one salesman claims to have sold 1,000. And we know salesmen would never, ever, lie. mcl

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/26/2016 05:02 AM, Noel Chiappa wrote: In addition to reading/writing memory locations, and basic machine control (boot, start, stop, continue, single-step, etc), some machines had additional functionality, but what it was (if any) varied widely from machine to machine. Most IBM 360's

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 4:43 PM, Sean Caron wrote: > > > On Tue, 24 May 2016, Swift Griggs wrote: > > >> It probably still impressed the suits when they walked the data center. >> I've done data center tours with row after row of HP or Dell x86 servers >> and it's not much

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 25/05/2016 5:06 AM, Paul Anderson wrote: I used to have a notebook of toggle in programs for the PDP8s and PDP11s, but it seems to be lost forever. Not being a software person it takes me hours to write and debug the simplest routines. Is there a site with a list of toggle in maintenance

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 25/05/2016 5:06 AM, Paul Anderson wrote: I used to have a notebook of toggle in programs for the PDP8s and PDP11s, but it seems to be lost forever. Not being a software person it takes me hours to write and debug the simplest routines. Is there a site with a list of toggle in maintenance

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

> From: Swift Griggs > I'm curious about all these older machines with front panel buttons and > switches. What all did they do? In addition to reading/writing memory locations, and basic machine control (boot, start, stop, continue, single-step, etc), some machines had additional

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/25/2016 12:41 PM, Lawrence Wilkinson wrote: Card (paper) ones did exist! But I suspect they were only for emergency FE use. It may be that the mylar ones were not manual-punch friendly, so you could make a duplicate to use while you waited for the proper spare to arrive. There's a

RE: Front panel switches - what did they do?

> -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Chuck Guzis > Sent: 25 May 2016 20:54 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > Subject: Re: Front panel switches - what did they do? >

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/25/2016 12:35 PM, Dave Wade wrote: > According to Wikip around 10,000 1130's were sold. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1130 > > one salesman claims to have sold 1,000. They were dotted about all > over the place, so when I was a Student in the UK Newcastle > University had a

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-May-24, at 5:48 PM, Paul Koning wrote: >> On May 24, 2016, at 8:30 PM, Eric Smith wrote: >> >> On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 3:09 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: >>> Yes, I examined this in some detail last year after mention on the list, >>> and wrote it up:

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-May-24, at 5:30 PM, Eric Smith wrote: > On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 3:09 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: >> Yes, I examined this in some detail last year after mention on the list, and >> wrote it up: >>http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~hilpert/e/corerope/index.html > > That's a

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-May-24, at 7:18 PM, Jon Elson wrote: > On 05/24/2016 02:33 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: >> On 2016-May-24, at 12:08 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: >>> On 05/24/2016 11:22 AM, Al Kossow wrote: On 5/24/16 10:44 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > There was also automated "stapled wire". I forget

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 25/05/16 01:03, Paul Berger wrote: On 2016-05-24 7:44 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 05/24/2016 02:21 PM, Paul Berger wrote: The CROS cards used in a 360/30 where the same size as an 80 column card on purpose so you could you a keypunch machine to program the microcode. But I believe that

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/25/2016 09:01 AM, jwsmobile wrote: > McAuto in St. Louis used a lot of the /20's for their printer farm, > and that was the only place I ever saw one in use. They spooled tape > to printer in the use it was put to. According to WikiP, IBM leased over 7,000 of the 20s, so that would make

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 5/25/2016 8:48 AM, Jon Elson wrote: The only /20s I ever saw were used as offline spool printers and card readers in large 360 shops. At our school, University of Missouri, Rolla, they purchased a 360/50 in maybe 69 or so. Because of the nature of the order it couldn't be delivered, and

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 11:47 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 05/24/2016 08:48 PM, Jon Elson wrote: For sure! The 360/30 was an 8 BIT machine, 8-bit memory, 8-bit data paths, etc. Really hobbled the performance, and restricted the peripherals that could be attached. The models /22 and /25 had 16-bit memory

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Wed, May 25, 2016 at 6:50 AM, Paul Koning wrote: > > The emulator was loaded, on those rare occasions where the memory got > wiped, using the "Emulator IPL" button, from a binary card deck. That deck > was pretty slick: it was a channel program loop. No CPU code

Re: IBM1130 (was RE: Front panel switches - what did they do?)

> is dated almost exactly one month before DEC announced the PDP-8 and I am > sure targets the same markets DEC did. You just wonder if IBM had spies in > DEC, or more likely they both spotted a marketing opportunity. The latter. Every company in the world seems to have explored the

Re: IBM1130 (was RE: Front panel switches - what did they do?)

On 2016-05-25 7:06 AM, Dave Wade wrote: paths. Do you mean the 360/20? On the topic, were the 20 and 40 the only members of System 360 to use TROS? I remember picking up the programming manual for a Model 20 and realizing that I'd essentially have to re-learn programming. 16 bit registers,

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

> On May 24, 2016, at 10:05 PM, Jon Elson wrote: > > On 05/24/2016 02:13 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: >> I seem to recall that reworking the 360/30 microprogramming was preferred by >> tinkerers over the 360/40 was primarily that CROS was easier to work with >> than TROS. I

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

> On May 24, 2016, at 9:49 PM, Jon Elson wrote: > > On 05/24/2016 12:17 PM, Paul Koning wrote: >> A couple of observations. >> >> Taking the PDP-11 as a fairly typical example, the switches are "data" and >> "address". While running, the data switches were visible to

IBM1130 (was RE: Front panel switches - what did they do?)

paths. > > Do you mean the 360/20? On the topic, were the 20 and 40 the only members > of System 360 to use TROS? > > I remember picking up the programming manual for a Model 20 and realizing > that I'd essentially have to re-learn programming. 16 bit registers, > stripped- > down instruction

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 08:48 PM, Jon Elson wrote: > For sure! The 360/30 was an 8 BIT machine, 8-bit memory, 8-bit data > paths, etc. Really hobbled the performance, and restricted the > peripherals that could be attached. The models /22 and /25 had 16-bit > memory and data paths. Do you mean the

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 09:29 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 05/24/2016 07:05 PM, Jon Elson wrote: And the 360/25 had all writeable control store. The control store was just the top 16 KB of main core memory! To change emulators, restore from a microprogram crash, etc. you loaded the emulator from a card

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 05:44 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 05/24/2016 02:21 PM, Paul Berger wrote: The CROS cards used in a 360/30 where the same size as an 80 column card on purpose so you could you a keypunch machine to program the microcode. But I believe that the CROS cards were mylar, no? On the

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 02:33 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: On 2016-May-24, at 12:08 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 05/24/2016 11:22 AM, Al Kossow wrote: On 5/24/16 10:44 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote: There was also automated "stapled wire". I forget the name for the process. stitch wire you spot weld to a socket

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 02:15 PM, Eric Smith wrote: On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 1:08 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: Yes, but there was a trademarked name for the process that slips my mind. Capable of very high densities. Multiwire? No, multiwire is a process where lots of wires are laid down

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 01:22 PM, Al Kossow wrote: On 5/24/16 10:44 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote: There was also automated "stapled wire". I forget the name for the process. stitch wire you spot weld to a socket post No, there was another system made by AMP. The backplane connectors had rectangular

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 11:54 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: Oh and here is a replica of an Apollo launch computer with a component LED display like I was mentioning: http://i.imgur.com/bbXZVcx.jpg ... probably too expensive to embed in a computer system, but still hard to beat for geek aesthetics. -Swift

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-05-24 9:30 PM, Eric Smith wrote: On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 3:09 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: Yes, I examined this in some detail last year after mention on the list, and wrote it up: http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~hilpert/e/corerope/index.html That's a great write-up!

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

> On May 24, 2016, at 8:30 PM, Eric Smith wrote: > > On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 3:09 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: >> Yes, I examined this in some detail last year after mention on the list, and >> wrote it up: >>

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 9:44 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: > On Tue, 24 May 2016, Charles Anthony wrote: > > "Older machines" covers a lot of ground. > > Sorry, I should have said "machines from the 50's - 70's which used > buttons, toggles, rockers or other switches on the

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-05-24 7:44 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 05/24/2016 02:21 PM, Paul Berger wrote: The CROS cards used in a 360/30 where the same size as an 80 column card on purpose so you could you a keypunch machine to program the microcode. But I believe that the CROS cards were mylar, no? --Chuck

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 02:52 PM, Ethan Dicks wrote: > So if not Multiwire, perhaps Unilayer. They are similar but visibly > distinguishable. Hitachi Chemical still seems to be active in this area: http://www.hitachi-chemical.com/products_pwb_05.htm --Chuck

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 02:21 PM, Paul Berger wrote: > The CROS cards used in a 360/30 where the same size as an 80 column > card on purpose so you could you a keypunch machine to program the > microcode. But I believe that the CROS cards were mylar, no? --Chuck

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, 24 May 2016, Sean Caron wrote: > It's true, modern computers are pretty dull to look at, but you can > still find some stunning views in the data center from time to time. Heh, that would be when the sales girls come walking through doing client tours on Fridays while one of us geeks is

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 3:28 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > On 05/24/2016 12:15 PM, Eric Smith wrote: >> On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 1:08 PM, Chuck Guzis >> wrote: >>> Yes, but there was a trademarked name for the process that slips >>> my mind. Capable of very high

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, 24 May 2016, Swift Griggs wrote: It probably still impressed the suits when they walked the data center. I've done data center tours with row after row of HP or Dell x86 servers and it's not much to look at. -Swift It's true, modern computers are pretty dull to look at, but you

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-05-24 4:13 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 05/24/2016 11:39 AM, Eric Smith wrote: On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 12:25 PM, Paul Koning wrote: On May 24, 2016, at 2:07 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: ...and the "transformer" ROS used on the 360/40 (and others).

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-May-24, at 1:49 PM, Eric Smith wrote: > On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 1:49 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: >> We were discussing this last year, perhaps I'm being pedantic but I would >> note that while, as you say, there is commonality of principle in use of >> induction and the

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

> On 5/24/2016 12:15 PM, Eric Smith wrote: >> On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 1:08 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: >>> Yes, but there was a trademarked name for the process that slips my >>> mind. Capable of very high densities. >> >> Multiwire? On 2016-May-24, at 1:26 PM, jwsmobile wrote:

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

We bought a Multiwire job on our clone of the Microdata 1600 and the tech it used, I think, was welded wires laid in muck that was soft. They would fab up a firm carrier board with all the thru-holes set, then put down a soft pliable layer of epoxy(??). They would weld one of the wires to an

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

...@gmail.com> To: cctalk@classiccmp.org Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 10:18:45 AM Subject: Re: Front panel switches - what did they do? On 2016-05-24 1:54 PM, Swift Griggs wrote: > On Tue, 24 May 2016, Charles Anthony wrote: >> Honeywell 6180 display panels: >> http://jimsoldtoys

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-May-24, at 11:39 AM, Eric Smith wrote: > On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 12:25 PM, Paul Koning wrote: >>> On May 24, 2016, at 2:07 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: >>> ...and the "transformer" ROS used on the 360/40 (and others). >> You mean "Core rope memory"? >

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 12:15 PM, Eric Smith wrote: > On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 1:08 PM, Chuck Guzis > wrote: >> Yes, but there was a trademarked name for the process that slips >> my mind. Capable of very high densities. > > > Multiwire? That sounds familiar! --Chuck

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 12:18 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: > EL (Electro-luminescent) is another technology that more-directly > excites the phosphor with an AC supply. No vacuum bottle or hot > filament. Nowhere near as prevalent as VF. You still see them in military/aerospace applications. Planar used to be

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 10:00 AM, Charles Anthony < charles.unix@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 9:44 AM, Swift Griggs > wrote: > >> >> It probably still impressed the suits when they walked the data center. >> I've done data center tours with row after

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-May-24, at 12:08 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > On 05/24/2016 11:22 AM, Al Kossow wrote: >> >> On 5/24/16 10:44 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote: >> >>> There was also automated "stapled wire". I forget the name for the >>> process. >> >> stitch wire >> >> you spot weld to a socket post > > Yes, but

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-May-24, at 11:58 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: > On Tue, 24 May 2016, Marc Howard wrote: >> Those aren't LED's on the Apollo display. They are EL's (Electro >> Luminescent displays). Each segment of each digit was controlled by a >> relay. They astronauts eventually got use to the tinkling

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 1:08 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > Yes, but there was a trademarked name for the process that slips my > mind. Capable of very high densities. Multiwire?

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 11:39 AM, Eric Smith wrote: > On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 12:25 PM, Paul Koning > wrote: >>> On May 24, 2016, at 2:07 PM, Chuck Guzis >>> wrote: ...and the "transformer" ROS used on the 360/40 (and >>> others). >> You mean "Core rope memory"? >

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 11:22 AM, Al Kossow wrote: > > > On 5/24/16 10:44 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > >> There was also automated "stapled wire". I forget the name for the >> process. >> > > stitch wire > > you spot weld to a socket post Yes, but there was a trademarked name for the process that slips

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

I used to have a notebook of toggle in programs for the PDP8s and PDP11s, but it seems to be lost forever. Not being a software person it takes me hours to write and debug the simplest routines. Is there a site with a list of toggle in maintenance programs? On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 11:23 AM,

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 12:58 PM, Swift Griggs wrote: > Is that the same as the EL that was used in the 1980's on lots of old > stereo gear ? Ie.. you'd hit rewind and some little backlit > glass-and-silkscreen template would say "Rewind" in blue or green or etc.. Those

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, 24 May 2016, Marc Howard wrote: > Those aren't LED's on the Apollo display. They are EL's (Electro > Luminescent displays). Each segment of each digit was controlled by a > relay. They astronauts eventually got use to the tinkling sound of the > relays. Is that the same as the EL

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, 24 May 2016, Brent Hilpert wrote: > I think one of the most impressive front panels is that of the IBM 360/91: > http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/36091.html Ha! I was looking at that and I said to myself "This looks like something that'd have been at NASA during the

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

> On May 24, 2016, at 2:07 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > > On 05/24/2016 11:00 AM, jwsmobile wrote: > >> Diode boards were one form of read only storage in systems. Another >> was the IBM and other's capacitance system. > > ...and the "transformer" ROS used on the 360/40 (and

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 5/24/16 10:44 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > There was also automated "stapled wire". I forget the name for the process. > stitch wire you spot weld to a socket post

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 11:00 AM, jwsmobile wrote: > Diode boards were one form of read only storage in systems. Another > was the IBM and other's capacitance system. ...and the "transformer" ROS used on the 360/40 (and others). --Chuck

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

It was thus said that the Great Swift Griggs once stated: > On Tue, 24 May 2016, william degnan wrote: > > Here's a power point pres I did at VCF-E4, this will get you started. > > Using Altair 680b front panel in basic terms is covered a few slides in. > >

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 5/24/2016 9:56 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: On Tue, 24 May 2016, Jon Elson wrote: The early PDP-11s had a diode matrix ROM for the boot memory. You could change the boot code with a wire cutter and soldering iron. Is that similar to "wire wrap" ? I remember my grandmother talking about having

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 10:25 AM, Charles Anthony wrote: > Very good for prototyping, automated wirewrapping was for some > production. There was also automated "stapled wire". I forget the name for the process. I still prototype projects where I'm not entirely sure of what I'm after using wirewrap.

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

Those aren't LED's on the Apollo display. They are EL's (Electro Luminescent displays). Each segment of each digit was controlled by a relay. They astronauts eventually got use to the tinkling sound of the relays. In fact the entire console panel of the command module was a giant EL, covered

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 9:56 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: > On Tue, 24 May 2016, Jon Elson wrote: > > The early PDP-11s had a diode matrix ROM for the boot memory. You could > > change the boot code with a wire cutter and soldering iron. > > Is that similar to "wire wrap" ? I

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-May-24, at 9:34 AM, William Donzelli wrote: >> The improved reliablity of LSI logic over discrete and SSI, and the creation >> of ROM chips of reasonable capacity (to hold the bootstrap or a monitor), >> would bring about the demise of the blinkenlight front panel. >> Note that only a

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-05-24 1:54 PM, Swift Griggs wrote: On Tue, 24 May 2016, Charles Anthony wrote: Honeywell 6180 display panels: http://jimsoldtoys.blogspot.com/2016/03/honeywell-6180-system-maintenance-panel.html Holy rocker switch, Batman! Is that all for one machine? That looks like a man-machine

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-May-24, at 9:54 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: > On Tue, 24 May 2016, Charles Anthony wrote: >> Honeywell 6180 display panels: >> http://jimsoldtoys.blogspot.com/2016/03/honeywell-6180-system-maintenance-panel.html > > Holy rocker switch, Batman! Is that all for one machine? That looks like a

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

A couple of observations. Taking the PDP-11 as a fairly typical example, the switches are "data" and "address". While running, the data switches were visible to the software, and could do something if you wanted to (typically this wasn't done). When stopped, you could set an address in the

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

The switches on, say, an IBM 1401 and 1620 were negligible. The lights could tell a lot about the state of the system, however. The CDC 6000-7000-STAR, etc. had no switches or lights.There was a "deadstart panel" with a matrix of toggle switches whose contents were initially used to start

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 9:34 AM, William Donzelli wrote: > > The improved reliablity of LSI logic over discrete and SSI, and the > creation of ROM chips of reasonable capacity (to hold the bootstrap or a > monitor), would bring about the demise of the blinkenlight front

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

>>> The PDP-5 I did a fair bit of work on needed a bootstrap program >>> loaded in from switches, it had no internal ROM for that. >> How long did it usually take to do it? > We had contests, I think some people got under 15 seconds. > All from memory, of course! I don't think I ever used a

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 5/24/16 9:34 AM, William Donzelli wrote: > The demise was really about money. All those lights, switches, wiring, > metalwork, etc. for a full panel was EXPENSIVE. > And the functionality could be replaced by scan chains connected to a small computer so you still had all the visibility w/o

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 9:44 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: > > It probably still impressed the suits when they walked the data center. > I've done data center tours with row after row of HP or Dell x86 servers > and it's not much to look at. > > Definitely. Several OSes would

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

Tuesday, May 24, 2016 9:54:17 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: Front panel switches - what did they do? On Tue, 24 May 2016, Charles Anthony wrote: > Honeywell 6180 display panels: > http://jimsoldtoys.blogspot.com/2016/03/honeywell-6180-system-maintenanc

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, 24 May 2016, Charles Anthony wrote: > Honeywell 6180 display panels: > http://jimsoldtoys.blogspot.com/2016/03/honeywell-6180-system-maintenance-panel.html Holy rocker switch, Batman! Is that all for one machine? That looks like a man-machine interface to run a nuclear power plant or

RE: Front panel switches - what did they do?

I wrote: > Swift Griggs wrote: > > Machine Language Using a Program Listing Using Toggle Switches". > > That's pretty hard core. I'm surprised they didn't at least use > > component displays with LEDs to show the values rather than > > reading it straight off some blinkenlights. > > It's much

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 11:34 AM, William Donzelli wrote: The improved reliablity of LSI logic over discrete and SSI, and the creation of ROM chips of reasonable capacity (to hold the bootstrap or a monitor), would bring about the demise of the blinkenlight front panel. Note that only a couple of the

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 05/24/2016 11:32 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: On Tue, 24 May 2016, Jon Elson wrote: The PDP-5 I did a fair bit of work on needed a bootstrap program loaded in from switches, it had no internal ROM for that. How long did it usually take to do it? We had contests, I think some people got under 15

RE: Front panel switches - what did they do?

Swift Griggs wrote: > Machine Language Using a Program Listing Using Toggle Switches". That's > pretty hard core. I'm surprised they didn't at least use component > displays with LEDs to show the values rather than reading it straight > off some blinkenlights. It's much easier to tell if you have

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, 24 May 2016, Charles Anthony wrote: > "Older machines" covers a lot of ground. Sorry, I should have said "machines from the 50's - 70's which used buttons, toggles, rockers or other switches on the front panel" > Typically, there was a set of data switches (0/1 toggles) that could

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 9:25 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: > On Tue, 24 May 2016, william degnan wrote: > > Here's a power point pres I did at VCF-E4, this will get you started. > > Using Altair 680b front panel in basic terms is covered a few slides in. > >

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

> The improved reliablity of LSI logic over discrete and SSI, and the creation > of ROM chips of reasonable capacity (to hold the bootstrap or a monitor), > would bring about the demise of the blinkenlight front panel. > Note that only a couple of the first microcomputers had blinkenlight front

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, 24 May 2016, Jon Elson wrote: > The PDP-5 I did a fair bit of work on needed a bootstrap program loaded > in from switches, it had no internal ROM for that. How long did it usually take to do it? > And, whenever a program crashed, it generally wiped the entire contents > of memory, so

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On 2016-May-24, at 8:38 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: > Since I'm an igmo about most machines before the mid-eighties (and still > fuzzy even on most of those), I'm curious about all these older machines > with front panel buttons and switches. What all did they do? Primary front-panel operations

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, 24 May 2016, william degnan wrote: > Here's a power point pres I did at VCF-E4, this will get you started. > Using Altair 680b front panel in basic terms is covered a few slides in. > http://vintagecomputer.net/vcf4/How_to_Session/ There are some nice clean photos in that presentation.

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 8:38 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: > > Since I'm an igmo about most machines before the mid-eighties (and still > fuzzy even on most of those), I'm curious about all these older machines > with front panel buttons and switches. What all did they do? You

RE: Front panel switches - what did they do?

I have it on good authority that Dazzlemation, recreated source code here: http://wsudbrink.dyndns.org:8080/dazzler.html was initially written on paper and then toggled in on the front panel of an Altair. Whether that is entirely true, I'm not sure, but evidence in the code clearly shows that

Re: Front panel switches - what did they do?

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 11:38 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: > > Since I'm an igmo about most machines before the mid-eighties (and still > fuzzy even on most of those), I'm curious about all these older machines > with front panel buttons and switches. What all did they do? You