Questions tagged [ibm]
For questions regarding the products of IBM, International Business Machines.
112
questions
4
votes
0
answers
184
views
How can I prevent unwanted key repeat when using PS/2 keyboard with USB adapter?
I'm currently using an IBM Model M keyboard with a PS/2-to-USB active adapter. When I type fast on my main PC, almost any key will get "stuck" and keeps repeating until I press another key.
...
- 41
2
votes
0
answers
172
views
How small a punched card or punched tape batch job could be?
A while ago I read a post about creating the smallest possible ELF executable doing something observable — printing the number 42, for example — which Linux could accept and execute successfuly. The ...
- 17.7k
12
votes
4
answers
2k
views
History of High Availability in the mainframe and minicomputer eras?
When tracing the source of High Availability, I found to my surprise it led to a company named Tandem Computers which since 1974 made a series of minicomputers called NonStop system, to my surprise ...
- 3,582
4
votes
0
answers
163
views
IMPI Instruction set: is there any reference?
I've had an IBM 9404 B-10 for some time and I'm curious about its assembly language. I'm fully aware the AS lines were designed with portability in mind as much IBM didn't seem to provide assembly ...
- 623
4
votes
1
answer
202
views
What series of AS/400 is the 9406 F2?
I am considering the acquisition of an old IBM AS/400 midrange computer. The provider has stated the model is "9406 F2".
I have dived into the AS/400 information provided by IBM in their own ...
- 623
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Information about a VGA card named PC-601170-R2
This card is made by Colorgraphic Communications in 1988, and has two VGA ports, and works well with a 80486 computer.
I tried to used that with IBM 5150 and other XT clones, but I failed. According ...
- 349
9
votes
11
answers
892
views
Towards people who were there, what programs did you use to develop applications for the IBM 5150? [closed]
I want to get into programming on old MS-DOS systems, before then going to older DOSs like CP/M. However, while programming for MS-DOS I'd like to also use era-appropriate software, both for the ...
4
votes
1
answer
247
views
How many additions per second (or, generally, instructions per second) could the IBM System370 Model 115 perform?
I can find a lot of information about that model's memory access time, but not so much about its actual computational speed. I'm interested in the number of additions per second if possible, but I'll ...
- 2,979
5
votes
1
answer
339
views
What is IBM DCF (Document Composition Facility) used for today?
I am scanning the 1986 manual of HDCF/3 (5748-XX9), the Hebrew version of IBM's Document Composition Facility (DCF).
When Googling to find about the software, I see that IBM still sells this software. ...
- 353
20
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What date is 74029 on an IBM Mainframe?
I have an old printout of a Fortran code.
It's a simple code intended for educational purposes.
The header is:
FORTRAN IV G LEVEL 21, MAIN, DATE=74029, 15/28/03, PAGE 001
I assume it's from an IBM ...
- 353
5
votes
3
answers
904
views
Does Intel Inboard 386/PC work on XT clone systems?
I don't have an Intel Inboard 386/PC, but I have a plan to buy it in the future. When I read its manual, there was no support for XT clones.
It says:
Install the Inboard 386/PC only in the computers ...
- 349
10
votes
1
answer
457
views
What's the story behind IBM's SKU numbers?
Big Blue IBM seemingly since forever is using a fixed numbering scheme for all their parts, where every little thing, dingus and gizmo is labeled with the so-called IBM SKU#. It's always in the form:
...
- 633
5
votes
2
answers
431
views
Which keyboard replaced the IBM Model M?
Setting aside the fact that the Model M keyboard is still made by Unicomp, which keyboard did IBM market as the successor to their Model M (aka "Enhanced") keyboard? My understanding is that ...
- 754
7
votes
1
answer
366
views
How can I resolve these intermittent memory issues?
I own a 1999 IBM Personal Computer 300GL (Type 6275-90U). It's a Slot 1 Pentium III, Intel 440BX chipset, with a riser board for adding PCI and ISA cards and 3 PC100 DIMM memory sockets.
About 50% of ...
- 754
7
votes
1
answer
543
views
Why did IBM skip "System/380" as a mainframe family name?
I've been reading Exhibit 14971 from US vs. IBM (Parts 1, 2, 3) which seems to give a very good overview of the history of the computer industry up to 1980, particularly the way IBM handled its ...
- 541
7
votes
3
answers
442
views
How did reserve tracks work on early hard disks?
The Wikipedia article History of IBM magnetic disk drives describes the details of the IBM 2311 device, introduced in 1964, as
The 2311 stores 7.25 megabytes on a single removable IBM 1316 disk pack. ...
- 17.7k
8
votes
0
answers
521
views
What did the Big Red Button actually do on the IBM 4341?
Wiktionary explains the origin of the term molly guard:
Originally a Plexiglas cover improvised for the Big Red Switch on an IBM 4341 mainframe after a programmer's toddler daughter (named Molly) ...
- 15.4k
9
votes
2
answers
334
views
What was the use case for the 96-column punch cards introduced with the IBM System/3?
Shown here at the Computer History Museum site (*)
Not sure when they were introduced but it was before optical scanning (barcodes) was possible / affordable, maybe even before magnetic stripe ...
- 5,468
10
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Why did IBM want to keep ICL alive?
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Computers_Limited
International Computers Limited (ICL) was a British computer hardware, computer software and computer services company that ...
- 55k
9
votes
2
answers
600
views
Cleaning buckling spring keyboards
How do you clean keyboards with buckling springs?
I have mentioned in an earlier question that I've recently bought an IBM keyboard but how do you clean a keyboard with buckling springs? I only know ...
- 143
4
votes
1
answer
315
views
Unicomp's IBM model keyboards
I've recently purchased the Spacesaver M Black Buckling Spring USB keyboard (still didn't get it due to shipping delays) and was wondering whether anyone has a real original IBM keyboard.
What is so ...
- 143
10
votes
1
answer
391
views
What sort of intermediate representation did the first Fortran compiler use?
Proebsting's Law asserts that improvements to compiler technology double the performance of typical programs every 18 years, but even granted that this is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, it's not really ...
- 55k
3
votes
1
answer
736
views
Is this keyboard a clone of IBM Model M?
I have this old Quest keyboard:
And I was wondering whether IBM did allow rebranding of their keyboard technology. Physically it seems similar-looking to IBM Model M. Is that a typical el-cheapo ...
5
votes
3
answers
626
views
Was there an analog of local labels in the IBM assembly language?
In the assembly language used in Unix on DEC machines (PDP-11, VAX), one can use numerical labels and refer to them with suffixes "b" and "f" meaning "backwards" and &...
- 17.7k
16
votes
0
answers
393
views
Uninstalling OS/400 by deleting one program
This is about the AS/400 which is an IBM mini-computer launched in 1988. It lives on today after several name changes and considerable hardware and software changes. It is still often informally ...
- 1,832
7
votes
1
answer
395
views
Did other computer companies need to license Fortran from IBM?
Reading a fascinating online book about the history of computing, I came across this passage on http://ds-wordpress.haverford.edu/bitbybit/bit-by-bit-contents/chapter-seven/7-5-assembly-language-...
- 55k
7
votes
2
answers
307
views
Why have both the ORG and LOC pseudo-operations in the SHARE/Symbolic/Fortran Assembly Programs for the IBM 704/709/7090/7094?
This is a fairly basic question, and I almost feel ashamed to ask it; I'm guessing it can be answered in a single sentence.
There was a rather influential series of assemblers for some of IBM's ...
- 3,397
27
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why was IBM's Scientific Subroutine Package superseded?
It is a familiar fact that scientific software tends to do a lot of vector arithmetic and similar, that one does not want to keep rewriting the low-level code for such, so the usual practice is to use ...
- 55k
4
votes
0
answers
243
views
What keyboard protocol do IBM 3151 Terminals speak over RJ45
I've recently acquired an IBM 3151 Terminal without keyboard and I'm not willing to spend any money on an original keyboard. This is why I've tried searching Google for any datasheets of the IBM RJ45 ...
- 41
0
votes
2
answers
308
views
How to decode hexadecimal number in IBM/360 column binary format
I have a message:
x2400\x1100\x2001\x1020\x2100\x0900\x2008\x2012\x0900\x1001\x2001\x1010\x2001\x0900\x0802\x0812\x1200\x2010\x0802\x1004\x0820\x1010\x2100\x2002\x1012
It's in IBM column binary ...
- 3
6
votes
1
answer
2k
views
What programming languages were most commonly used on the AS/400 in the 90s?
The IBM AS/400, formerly known as System/38, subsequently known as i (sic), is remarkable in being essentially the most future-proof of all the minicomputers, thanks among other things to the use of ...
- 55k
17
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How did SABRE work interactively without screens?
The SABRE airline reservation system went online in 1964, astonishing the world by being among other things the first large-scale interactive computing system.
Once the IBM 3270 video terminals were ...
- 55k
1
vote
1
answer
305
views
Why did IBM decide to use 8 bits for EBCDIC?
Why did IBM decide to use 8 bits for EBCDIC?
7 bits per character seems reasonable, since 2^7 = 128 symbols which is enough for all English letters and special symbols.
- 649
4
votes
4
answers
1k
views
IBM vs DEC and business partners
A Quora question Why did Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) fail? has gathered some really interesting answers, including from former DEC people.
There is one such answer I do not quite understand:
...
- 55k
1
vote
0
answers
126
views
Record definitions with IBM COBOL and IMS
A common technology stack for line of business applications in the sixties and seventies was IBM COBOL with the IMS database. I'm curious about how the combination handled record definitions.
COBOL ...
- 55k
3
votes
1
answer
282
views
Can I restore an S/38 program to a current IBM i?
The IBM System/38 or just S/38 was an IBM mini-computer launched in 1978. I don't know when IBM stopped marketing it but their AS/400 was released in 1988 and it was very easy to switch from the S/38 ...
- 1,832
21
votes
17
answers
5k
views
Were any IBM mainframes ever run multiuser?
Now of course there is a sense in which they were – some mainframe installations supported thousands of users! But there is a distinction.
Consider the familiar fixture in so many 80s computer science ...
- 55k
6
votes
4
answers
1k
views
How was it possible to run IBM mainframe software in emulation on HP?
... At least, without getting sued into the ground?
According to one of the answers to What was the most critical supporting software for COBOL on IBM mainframes?
We installed a new HP replacing an ...
- 55k
25
votes
7
answers
4k
views
What was the most critical supporting software for COBOL on IBM mainframes?
Over the past half-century, one of the largest trends in the computer industry has been the replacement of mainframes by microcomputers. Not total by any means – there are still many mainframes in ...
- 55k
20
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What is the function of this strange IBM apparatus?
Does anyone know what kind of device this is? I found it in my late dad's stuff, probably from the 1970s.
It has no number, type, model, serial number or anything else on it that could be used for ...
- 303
2
votes
2
answers
206
views
How plausible is this data corruption on an IBM 9-track tape?
Preamble
For a while, I had a copy of a BESM-6 Pascal compiler which worked only on very simple programs, like "Hello, world", and would throw a division by 0 exception on anything more ...
- 17.7k
6
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What specific factor(s) made Thomas Watson, Jr. (of IBM) so enthusiastic about early electronics?
One of my favourite computer history books is Stan Augarten's "Bit by Bit", which has an author-approved scanned copy at http://ds-wordpress.haverford.edu/bitbybit/
In it, the author makes ...
- 1,242
10
votes
5
answers
7k
views
How much data could be stored on a single punched card?
I was looking at this IBM webpage on the history of floppy disks and it says the original 8-inch floppy disk from 1971 could store 80 KB of data, equivalent to that of 3000 punched cards.
So, based on ...
14
votes
2
answers
588
views
What is the purpose of the "difference of absolute values" instruction?
The IBM NORC computer, among others, had an arithmetic instruction computing the difference of the absolute values of its operands (|x|-|y|, see NORC Programming Manual, page 11, opcode 28), which ...
- 17.7k
11
votes
3
answers
912
views
How can I boot or extract files from an IBM PS/1 with a DoubleSpace-compressed hard drive?
I’m trying to boot an old IBM PS/1, mostly with the intention to read out its hard disk. I realized quickly that the original floppy disk drive was broken, so I replaced it with a Gotek floppy ...
- 291
13
votes
2
answers
1k
views
In what year was my old, long-lost IBM PC made and which form factor/model was it?
I've spent a ridiculous amount of time and effort over the years just trying to figure out what exact IBM product I grew up with. At last, I've finally established for 100% certain that it was a:
IBM ...
3
votes
0
answers
195
views
Why was the IBM 7070 unsuccessful?
In a talk on the IBM 360 and the computers it replaced the speaker at 39:35 describes the 7070 as 'a dog', and elsewhere contrasts it unfavorably with the 1401 (which considerably exceeded ...
- 55k
11
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Were round punchcard holes mechanically stiffer?
The most common punch card format was the IBM 80 column by 12 row, with narrow rectangular holes. However, there were other possibilities, such as a later IBM format that used round holes. That one ...
- 55k
33
votes
9
answers
11k
views
What did code on punch cards do with the other six bits per column?
In the fifties and sixties, program source code was typically stored on punch cards, one card per line.
The most common card format was the IBM 80 column by 12 row. For source code, this was commonly ...
- 55k
3
votes
1
answer
452
views
Best way to swap IBM PC case badge?
A while back, I purchased an original IBM PC (5150). The seller had an improper top case or badge on it, as the badge actually said it was an XT (5160) instead. After confirming that it is indeed a ...
- 754