Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Early computers

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[edit] Article requests

I'd like to see an article on the Harris/6. The one I used was purchased new in 1977. Its had a card reader, a printer, two or three 9600 bpi tape drives, and 7 or 8 CRT terminals and some sort of interactive operating system. OS/6 maybe. I remember that operating system upgrades also required work with a soldering iron. The CPU+memory+tape drives occupied four refridgertor-sized cabinets.

Also, something on the Cyber Data Systems ((maybe, I forget the name now??)) that it replaced (which was later renamed/acquired by Scientific Data Systems. I think its was a CDS/1 or SDS/1 something like that. This machine had been purchased in 1959, had 32KBytes of true core memory, with 16KB each in a refridgertor-sized cabinet. (These were actually heavily insulated ovens, since the core was heat to near the Curie temperature to improve memory access time. It had a big control panel of switches and lights, and an IBM selectric specially wired in as a terminal. It had four full-size tape drives (i.e. 5 foot high, 3 foot wide). Typical operation: load source code on reel on drive at far left. Load tape containing compiler in the middle. Load blank tape for object code on right. Flips switches, IPL. wait for compile to finish. (progress is output on the selectric). Next, move object tape from right-most to left-most drive, replace compiler tape with linker tape. A new blank tape for the executable on the far right. Do the link step. Then to run the executable ... you get the idea. linas 02:51, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Project directory

Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 00:03, 26 October 2006 (UTC)