3B1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 3B1 (also known as the PC7300, or Unix PC) was a Unix workstation computer originally developed by Convergent Technologies (later acquired by Unisys), and marketed by AT&T in the mid- to late-1980s. Despite the name, the 3B1 had little in common with AT&T's other 3B-series computers.
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[edit] Hardware configuration
- 10 MHz Motorola MC68010 (16 bit external bus, 32 bit internal) with custom MMU
- Internal MFM hard drive, originally 5 MB, later models with up to 67 MB
- At least 512K RAM on main board, expandable via expansion cards
- 3 expansion slots
- Monochrome green phosphor 10 inch monitor
- Internal 300/1200 bit/s modem
[edit] PC7300
The initial PC700 model offered a very limited 512 KB of memory and an extremely slow 5 MB hard drive. This model, although progressive in offering a Unix system for desktop office operation, was painfully slow and had an aggravating 'grinding' noise even when not in active use. The modern-looking "wedge"design was innovative, and in fact the machine gained notoriety appearing in many movies as the token "computer".
[edit] AT&T 3B1
A later enhanced model was renamed "3B1". The cover was redesigned to accommodate a full-height 67 MB hard drive. This cover change added a 'hump' to the case, expanded onboard memory to 1 or 2 MB, as well as added a better power supply.
[edit] Operating system
The operating system is based on UNIX System V Release 2, with extensions from 4.1 and 4.2BSD, System V Release 3 and Convergent Technologies. The last release was 3.51.
[edit] Programming languages
- SMC BASIC
- RM COBOL
- RM FORTRAN
- LPI FORTRAN
- LPI Pascal (programming language)
- LPI C (programming language)
- SVS FORTRAN
- SVS Pascal
- AT&T BASIC
- GNU C++
- LISP
[edit] Application software
- SMART System (Office Suite)
- Informix (DBM)
- Oracle (DBM)
- Multiplan (Spreadsheet)
[edit] Word processors
- Microsoft Word
- AT&T Word Processor
- Crystalwriter
- WordStar 2000
- Samna Word
- WordMarc
- SMART Word Processor
[edit] Games
[edit] Utility
- HoneyDanBer UUCP package.
- Various Shells: Bourne, C, and Korn
- EMACS
- Kermit
- TeX
- SPICE/NUTMEG (circuit simulation tool)[3]
[edit] The Store
The Store is a public domain software repository which was available for all 3B1 users. [4]
[edit] Expansion Cards
- DOS-73 8086 co-processor card running MS-DOS, which could be fitted with an 8087 math co-processor chip.
- RAM card could be added using 1 or 2 MB RAM cards (up to a maximum of 4 MB)
- EIA/RAM combo cards contained extra RAM and two RS-232 serial ports.
- Dual EIA port card
- Ethernet LAN card.
- VoicePower card allowed for the capture and digital recording of voice conversations.
- Tape drive card provided interface for 23 MB MFM Tape Cartridge Drive.
- Expansion chassis card was hard-wired to Expansion Chassis (with three added slots)
[edit] Networking
- StarLAN - 1 MB/s local area network typically used in star format.
