[cctalk] Re: Try Algol 68 on Windows

> > On Jan 17, 2025, at 12:10 PM, ben via cctalk > > wrote: > > > > On 2025-01-17 8:46 a.m., Paul Koning wrote: > > > > As for ALGOL, I know that Burroughs ALGOL (which > > is an extended ALGOL-60) has separate compilation, through a linker called > > "Binder". T

[cctalk] Re: Try Algol 68 on Windows

Yes, 1620 addition and subtraction do stop if the addend is shorter than the augend and there's no further carry. There was no pre-defined limit to the length of integer operands. If you had the memory to do it, you could add two 10,000-digit operands. Floating-point numbers were limited to 99

[cctalk] Re: Any Burroughs B5000/A Series NEWP programmers out there?

I haven't done any NEWP programming to speak of, but am still active with the current successors to the A Series, now known as Unisys ClearPath MCP systems. I am pretty familiar with the hardware architecture and the high-level aspects of the MCP architecture, and am still programming in ALGOL.

[cctalk] Re: HCF [was: System 360 question]

CAREY SCHUG wrote: > I'm going to suggest that the 1620 had the most HCF instructions of any > commercially > produced computer, ever. And the most intentionally used on a daily basis. > 1. you could press "insert" on the typewriter and enter a program starting at > location zero which was exec

[cctalk] Re: Odd IBM mass storage systems

The main storage area of the ElectroData/Burroughs Datatron 205 was 20 tracks of 200 words each for a total of 4000 words. The drum rotated at 3570 RPM, so the average access time was about 8.4ms. The four quick-access tracks (or "loops" as they were called) were 20 words each and worked as a d

[cctalk] Re: Odd IBM mass storage systems

The tape for the Burroughs 220 drives was not metallic. It was 3/4-inch wide, and I think a Mylar sandwich. It could be spliced much the same way you would have spliced quarter-inch reel-to-reel audio tape back in the day. If the tape controller detected a parity error, it would backspace the bl

[cctalk] Re: Paper tape in casettes...

erik＠baigar.de wrote: > > > think the Bendix G-15 had cassettes for the 5-level > > tape > > they used. > Aha, interesting! Did a short search, but have not been able to > find a picture of a casette. Just a pile of paper tape instead ;-) > > https://images.app.goo.gl/HYqkpYHJUxZeGfiA8 Bits

[cctalk] Re: mainframe vs mini

The term "mainframe" comes from telephone switching technology -- the electromechanical kind from before the time of electronic telephone switches. Its association with computers is from the earliest days of the commercial computer business and precedes the minicomputer era by quite a bit. As I

[cctalk] Re: on the origin of home computers

Yes, the G-15 was definitely a digital computer, but I'm not aware that it had any "add-on analog element," at least not any that was a standard Bendix product. There was a differential analyzer, the DA-1, that attached to the G-15 and used some of its drum memory lines for storage, but it was a

[cctalk] Re: Mechanical Selectric keyboards on video terminals (was Re: Typing class in high school)

Paul Berger wrote: > On 2023-01-29 12:25 a.m., Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote: > > On 1/28/23 20:20, Paul Berger via cctalk wrote: > > > > [snip] > > believe it is the same > > as the 029.  The printer in the 1052 is a keyboardless Selectric with no > > tab rack and they spaced via a cam on the

[cctalk] Re: Bendix G-15 Restoration

Paul Pierce in Portland, Oregon has a copy on paper tape, but the tapes have been water-damaged and will require restoration. He told me that is on his list of projects, but it will be a while until he can get to it. There may be other copies, but I don't know of them at present.

[cctalk] Re: Bendix G-15 Restoration

We'd all like to see the ALGO compiler, but be forewarned -- it's something like 14 passes on paper tape, with intermediate results punched on paper tape. I understand it's a bit more convenient to use if you have magnetic tape drives, but it's still going to be slow -- there's only so much you

[cctalk] Re: Bendix G-15 Restoration

I would also be interested in receiving a copy.

[cctalk] Re: Bendix G-15 Restoration

I recently completed an emulator for the G-15. It supports the basic machine configuration -- just paper tape and typewriter I/O -- but I'm interested in implementing other peripheral devices as software that uses them becomes available. The emulator attempts to run at the speed of a real G-15,