Wayback

[James Knott]

D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> | From: teddymills <teddy-5sHjOODPK7E at public.gmane.org>
>
> | http://www.computerhistory.org/brochures/search.php
>
> Nice.  Must resist reading it all.
>
> | Love that IMSAI 8080 and the Osbourne Laptop :)
>
> Well, the IMSAI 8080 was an improved copy of the Altair 8080 (I have
> an Altair).  Drew used to use an IMSAI.
>
> Do you mean the Osborne 1 portable?  It was not a laptop.  I have a
> Kaypro II, which is an improved copy of the O1.
>
> I like the Ferranti Mercury brochure
>   http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Ferranti/Ferranti.Mercury.1956.102646224.pdf
>
> They used 1k bit core arrays for memory.  Apparently the system has 44
> so about 5.5KiB (1k words, with parity).  A word can hold one number
> or two "orders" (instructions).  There is a drum that can hold about
> 16k words.  All normal arithmetic is apparently floating point.  An
> add takes 180 microseconds.  Index register ("b-line") operations take
> only 60 microseconds.
>   

Many years ago, I worked on a Teleregister "computer" in the old Toronto
Stock Exchange building at 234 Bay St..  This device was built with
vacuum tubes and relays.  It used a memory drum for data storage and it
was "hard wired" programmed.  At the TSE, the post boys, on the trading
floor (2nd floor) would talk to the operators, located in the basement. 
The operators would key in the stock info on keyboards.  They had huge
panels in front of them, displaying all the stocks.  The Teleregister
system transmitted the stock prices to the brokers.   It was later
updated to send the data to a Ferranti Packard 6000 computer, which was
located on the 1st floor, just off the lobby.  Part of my duties back
then was to start up this system in the morning and and turn it off at
night.  To start it, I'd gradually crank up the filament voltage and
then a few minutes later I'd start the motor/generator sets, to provide
+ & - 130V DC power.  Incidentally, that system was older than I was.

There's a small bit of info on Teleregister "Automatic Quotation
Displays" here:
http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Teleregister/Teleregister.SpecialPurposeSystems.1956.102646324.pdf
The numbers in the picture are on "indicators" which were drums with all
the digits around the perimeter.  The drum would spin to the appropriate
position, according to the number of pulses received.  I may have one of
those indicators here somewhere.

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