Interdata 7/32 and 8/32

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The Interdata 7/32 and 8/32 were 32-bit minicomputers developed by Interdata in the 1970s. They are mostly remembered for being the first non-PDP computers to run Unix. The 8/32 was a more powerful machine than the 7/32.

After the first commercial success of the microcode-ed IBM 360 series of computers, minicomputer startups arrived that leveraged microcode technology. Among them were Prime Computer, Microdata, and Interdata. Interdata used microcode to faithfully clone the IBM 360 instruction set. It had a Disk based OS operating system.

They were often used as non-IBM peripherals in IBM networks serving the role of HASP workstations and spooling systems.

The 7/32 and 8/32 were clean, fast and powerful machines. As such they became the computers of choice in large scale embeded systems such as FFT machines used in real time seismic analysis, CAT scanners, and flight simulator systems. Their success in these markets made them attractive to Perkin-Elmer, a larger scientific instrumentation company with a large presence in the defense and aerospace industries. Perkin-Elmer was also a primary competitor of Varian a company marketing its own computer systems. They were acquired by Perkin-Elmer in 1976 and disgorged by Perkin-Elmer in 1985.

Interdata computers were used by 1976 by the Architecture Machine Group and Joint Computer Facility at MIT, using FORTRAN and PL/1, but not Unix.