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Howdy - just wanted to share the IBM etc books I have from my Dad from the 1960's and a few from the 1950s - a walk through history

dnewton99

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Hello - I have some of the very old books and manuals of my Dad's from 1958-1969 and just thought I would share the list for others who might find it interesting - it's an interesting look into someone's life who was in this world early on. He got into computers in the 60's (maybe the late 50s) when his company bought an IBM and as the most junior mechanical engineer they assigned him to work with the IBM guy - he did not want this assignment at first.

But then the rest is history and he did many things in mainframes/computers but for a long time was a VAX VMS type at MD Anderson Cancer Center in the Biomathematics department (analyzing patient and protocol treatments) for decades and was always part of install of newer and newer computers till his retirement in the 90s. IBM, Control Data, DEC (then Compaq). I even worked at Compaq at one time after it acquired DEC while Dad was still "a customer" . His collection of old manuals and books that I have illustrates the times. Funny that he saved all of these and now I have them. I probably still have a few punch cards from visiting his office in the 60's as a child and later I remember rooms full of huge gear that probably was just one mainframe and storage at the times. He also taught FORTRAN a few times as a university course because they were always short of those back in day.

  • Reference Manual IBM 1710 Control System, 1962
  • 124 pages
  • Rice University Computer Basic Machine Operation, 1962
  • IBM System/ 360 Introductory Notes, 1964
  • 59 pages
  • Reference Manual IBM 1401 Data Processing System, 1960
  • 176 pages
  • Reference Manual 101 Electronic Statistical Machine, 1958
  • 88 pages
  • Reference Manual 85, 87 Collators, 1958
  • 115 pages
  • Reference Manual 557 Alphabetic Interpreter, 1959
  • 47 pages
  • Reference Manual 513, 514 Reproducing Punches, 1959
  • 32 pages
  • Reference Manual IBM 407 Accounting Machine, 1959
  • 223 pages
  • Reference Manual IBM 1620/1710 Symbolic Programming System, 1962
  • 116 pages
  • Reference Manual IBM 1620/1710 Symbolic Programming System, 1962
  • 116 pages
  • 1710 Fortran, L. Newton
  • Technical Report IBM System/360, Model 92, G. M. Amdahl, T. C. Chen, and C. Conti, 1964
  • 31 pages
  • IBM 1050 Operator’s Guide
  • Original Equipment Manufacturers’ Information IBM 1050 Data Communications System, 1963
  • 23 pages
  • Instruction Manual for 202-5A, 9D, 5AR and 9DR Modems, 1975
  • Xerox Data Systems Reference Manual XDS 930 Computer, 1969
  • 65 pages
  • SDS 940 Time-Sharing Computer, 1965
  • 11 pages
  • SDS 900 Series input/output
  • 16 pages
  • Reference Manual SDS 930 Computer, 1967
  • 65 pages
  • Reference Manual XDS 925 Computer, 1966
  • 63 pages
  • SDS 920 Computer reference manual, 1964
  • 87 pages
  • SDS 910 Computer Reference Manual
  • 73 pages
  • Reference Manual Control Data 1604-A Computer
  • 43 pages
  • Fortran 63 Reference Manual, 1964
  • Co-op Monitor/ Operator’s Guide, 1962
  • 84 pages
  • Control Data 3600 Computer System Reference Manual, 1963
  • SDS 9300 Computer Reference Manual, 1965
  • IBM 7040/7044 Operating System Fortran IV Language, 1963
  • 33 pages
  • IBM 7040/7044 Operating System Input/ Output Control System, 1962
  • 51 pages
  • IBM 7040/7044 Operating System Macro Assembly Program Language, 1963
  • 46 pages
  • IBM 7040/7044 Operating System Operator’s Guide, 1963
  • 51 pages
  • IBM 7040/7044 Operating System Programmer’s Guide, 1963
  • 87 pages
  • IBM 7040/7044 Operating System Systems Programmer’s Guide, 1963
  • 79 pages
  • Programming the IBM 1620, Clarence B. Germain, 1965
  • 189 pages
  • IBM 1130 Computing System Input/ Output Units
  • 24 pages
  • IBM 1130 System Summary, 1965
  • 37 pages
  • IBM 1800 FORTRAN Language, 1964
  • 30 pages
  • IBM 1800 Data Acquisition and Control System Functional Characteristics
  • 105 pages
  • IBM 1800-2310 Monitor System Specifications, 1964
  • IBM 1800 Assembler Language, 1964
  • 35 pages
  • IBM 1800 Subroutine Library, 1964
  • 57 pages
  • IBM 1800 Utility Routines, 1964
  • 33 pages
  • SDS Business Language, 1965
  • 75 pages
  • SDS Symbol and Meta-Symbol, 1965
  • 97 pages
  • SDS 900 Series FORTRAN II, 1965
  • 36 pages
  • SDS ALGOL 60 Reference Manual, 1966
  • 38 pages
  • SDS 920/930 Computer Programmed Operators Technical Manual, 1965
  • 217 pages
  • 8400 Input/ Output Control System Preliminary Edition, 1965
  • 8400 Monitor System Preliminary Edition, 1965
  • 8400 Macro Assembler Manual Preliminary Edition, 1966
  • FORTRAN IV Language Preliminary Edition, 1966
  • Co-op Monitor/ Programmer’s Guide 1604/1604-A, 1962
  • 161 pages
  • Control Data 6600 Computer System Reference Manual, 1963
  • 76 pages
  • CDC/ Adcomp 8032 and 8033 Conversion Systems Instruction Manual, 1964
  • 31 pages
  • Control Data 160 Computer Installation Manual
  • 9 pages
  • 160 FORTRAN Reference Manual, 1962
  • 91 pages
  • Control Data 3200 Computer System Preliminary Reference Manual, 1963
  • Cyber 70 Computer Systems Reference Manual, 1971
  • Control Data 6400/6500/6600/6700 Computer Systems Reference Manual, 1971
  • Control Data 6600 Series Computer Systems Reference Manual, 1972
  • Control Data 6000 Series Computer Systems Scope 3.2 TC Operating System Reference Manual, 1970
  • Time Critical Simulation Systems General Information Manual, 1970
  • 1604 Computer Installation Instruction Book, 1960
  • Control Data 1604/1601-A Computer Co-op Monitor/ Library Subroutines, 1962
  • 67 pages
  • Control Data 1604/1601-A FORTRAN-62/ Reference Manual, 1962
  • 101 pages
  • Control Data 1604/1601-A Computer Sort/ Reference Manual, 1964
 
Sounds like yout Dad worked on big iron jn the glory days of computing. What years did he work at the ancer center? Facinating stuff and welcome to the forum.
 
Amazing collection. Thanks for sharing. Invaluable material there would be worth scanning and sharing on archive.org, although it would be a lot of work...

Perhaps some of them are already available and you would only have to scan a few... Just a suggestion :)
 
Sounds like yout Dad worked on big iron jn the glory days of computing. What years did he work at the ancer center? Facinating stuff and welcome to the forum.
I think like 1963 to 1999..he quasi retired then got hired by another hospital that needed VMS help for Cerner..since MD Anderson is part of University of Texas system it got both private and public funding..always was buying new stuff and growing to a huge campus plus satellites
 
Amazing collection. Thanks for sharing. Invaluable material there would be worth scanning and sharing on archive.org, although it would be a lot of work...

Perhaps some of them are already available and you would only have to scan a few... Just a suggestion :)
Yeah I figured some collectors and experts might tell me which ones are needed/rare
 
Yeah I figured some collectors and experts might tell me which ones are needed/rare
Very kind of you.
I guess I am not the adequate person, as I hardy worked with this kind of systems. Let's hope someone in the forum could provide better guidance. Again, thanks for sharing !!!
 
You may also want to check bitsavers.org to see if some of the content is duplicated. For the non-duplicated stuff, drop Al Kossow a line and see if he'd like to incorporate any of this into bitsavers, where it will be permanently archived.
 
I suspect these are the rarest:-

  • Reference Manual 101 Electronic Statistical Machine, 1958 - 88 pages
  • Reference Manual 85, 87 Collators, 1958 -115 pages
  • Reference Manual 557 Alphabetic Interpreter, 1959 - 47 pages
  • Reference Manual 513, 514 Reproducing Punches, 1959 - 32 pages
  • Reference Manual IBM 407 Accounting Machine, 1959
as they relate to punch card equipment which preceded computers in "Business Information Processing" but continued to be user along side computers into the 1960's.
Then I think the 7040 manuals, but perhaps also some of the others. Of course "rare" does not equate to "valuable" ...
 
I don't think I've ever seen these:

Control Data 6000 Series Computer Systems Scope 3.2 TC Operating System Reference Manual, 1970
Time Critical Simulation Systems General Information Manual, 1970

They'd certainly be worth a read to me. I wonder if they're related to the TCM/RA1 system for the 6000. I mangled a lot of the monitor code for that one back in the day.
 
  • Control Data 6000 Series Computer Systems Scope 3.2 TC Operating System Reference Manual, 1970
  • Time Critical Simulation Systems General Information Manual, 1970
these seem pretty high of the list of things to preserve
there are lots of 101,85,557,513 manuals that have survived

  • 8400 Input/ Output Control System Preliminary Edition, 1965
  • 8400 Monitor System Preliminary Edition, 1965
  • 8400 Macro Assembler Manual Preliminary Edition, 1966
manufacturer for these isn't jumping out at me

  • Co-op Monitor/ Programmer’s Guide 1604/1604-A, 1962
  • Control Data 1604/1601-A Computer Co-op Monitor/ Library Subroutines, 1962
don't think i've scanned these

amazing how many from that list I do recognize as uploaded to bitsavers
 
The 8400 stuff sounds a lot like the SDS/XDS Sigma 7 models. Or maybe the EAI 8400.

Year would be right for the EAI machine, so that's my vote. Good thing if so, there's not a lot in print about this competitor to the IBM 7090. Many of CDCs early staff were EAI alums.
 
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I learned to program on the IBM 1401 in the Marine Corps in 1972 in Japan. My training consisted of "Do you want to be a programmer? Here, read this manual." It was the IBM 1401 reference guide. We had the big one, with 5 disk drives, 2 tape drives and 16K of memory. I still love that machine. A whole core dump fit on 4 sheets of paper. That got me started in IT, where I worked on IBM mainframes, UNIX, now in HPC. Yep, that old, still working, because it's fun and pays better than crossword puzzles.
 
I have to wonder if the Scope 3.2 TC manual was linked to the TCM/RA1 implementation. The idea was that much of the operating system was moved to CM from PP, thereby guaranteeing a response time of 100 microseconds to external events. PPMTR was essentially a short loop that checked for things like an RA+1 request and updated the system clock. I doubt that the loop was more than 100 PP instructions. ("TC" = Time Critical, TCM = Time Critical Monitor).

The timing and basis (SCOPE 3.2 and 1970) would be about right. TCM/RA1 became the basis for Zodiac and TOOS--another pair of forgotten CDC operating systems.
 
I learned to program on the IBM 1401 in the Marine Corps in 1972 in Japan. My training consisted of "Do you want to be a programmer? Here, read this manual." It was the IBM 1401 reference guide. We had the big one, with 5 disk drives, 2 tape drives and 16K of memory. I still love that machine. A whole core dump fit on 4 sheets of paper. That got me started in IT, where I worked on IBM mainframes, UNIX, now in HPC. Yep, that old, still working, because it's fun and pays better than crossword puzzles.
Hi Mark, best to make a formal "Hello" in the introductions section and update your avatar to show where in the world you are. Welcome.
 
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