Fifty Years Ago .... from the pages of Computer Weekly
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Autumn 1971 computing, compiled by TNMOC volunteer archivist, Brian Aldous.
A selection of stories from Computer Weekly from the Autumn of 1971. The full archive of Computer Weekly can be seen at TNMOC, where there are special rolling displays of front pages from 25 and 40 years ago.
OCR challenger for UK market:
A low-cost OCR system, capable of reading both pages of documents and which is claimed to be between two and five times faster than currently available page readers and faster than all currently available document readers, with one exception, has been announced in the UK by Scan-Optics of Maidenhead, a newly formed offshoot of Scan-Optics Inc of Connecticut. The new system, the Scan-Optics 20/20 Page/Document Optical Character Reader, operates off-line. Scanning at 2,000 characters per second it can read and process 8 1/2 by 11 inch pages, each with 300 characters at 150 pages a minute. (CW 2/9/1971 p12)
More nations back GEC’s ‘watchkeeper’:
The computer-based automatic watchkeeping system developed for the marine industry by GEC-Elliott Process Automation which was earlier this year granted type approval by Lloyds Register has now received similar approval from the American Bureau of Shipping and the French Bureau Veritas. Another GEC company, Marconi Space and Defence Systems, has also developed a sea-going system for ships – a radar processing system which displays the position of ships detected from radar inputs on a CRT screen, and also estimates the outcome of avoidance courses recommended by the computer in congested shipping lanes. The anti-collision system has been installed for sea trials in the Methane Progress, a tanker managed by Shell Tankers on behalf of British Methane, a jointly-owned subsidiary of the Gas Council and Conch International Methane. The ship plies between Britain and Algeria - a route which includes two of the most confined waterways in the world, the Straits of Gibraltar and the English Channel. (CW 9/9/1971 p3)
1900/Micro 16 coupler developed by Digico:
With the full knowledge and approval of ICL, Digico Ltd have developed a processor coupler for 1900 series computers to link Micro 16 or Micro 16-P computers as front-end processors. The first unit of the new hardware has been installed with a Micro 16-P at East Anglia University, Norwich, and two more orders, also for universities in the UK, are in the pipeline. At Norwich the Digico hardware replaces an ICL multiplexer and when the software is complete will be used to drive 10 Teletype terminals. The maximum number of terminals it can take is 16. Digico’s joint managing director, Keith Trickett, says that while 1900s are the only computers so far for which they have made a processor coupler, they have their sights on other computers, possibly System 4 and IBM 370, although he would give no indication of the time scale on this. One of the benefits of the coupler is its speed. It is very much faster than the British Standard Interface, and Mr Trickett claims that, in fact, data speeds are only limited by the speed of the 1900 central processor. The coupler has been designed to look like the inter-processor buffer of ICL’s 7901 front-end processor, so that standard software packages can be used, and the only change necessary to the operating software is the addition of a 7901 Executive patch. (CW 16/9/1971 p1)
Five H316s to be used in new power station:
The largest oil-fired power station now under construction in Europe is to have five 660-megawatt generating sets each controlled by a Honeywell 316 computer system. The Central Electricity Generating Board has placed a £480,000 order with Honeywell for five identical real time data acquisition systems each based on a 316 for a new power station at the Isle of Grain, Kent. Simpler software, easier commissioning and maintenance and improved overall reliability of the power station are given as the reasons for choosing a separate control system for each generating set, rather than one large computer. Each configuration will consist of a 16-bit Honeywell 316 with 16K main memory, fixed head disc of 360K words capacity, a real time interface, a visual display system, alarm and logging typewriters and paper tape reader and punch. They will be manufactured at Honeywell’s Newhouse factory and are due for delivery towards the end of 1973. Each system will be used to control start-up procedures for turbines and boiler feed pumps, as well as monitoring alarm systems and events and providing the operator with up-to-date information on the power station via visual display hardware. Before they are used in the power station’s operation, however, the computer systems are to be used in its commissioning. An earlier order was placed by the CEGB earlier this year for a single Honeywell 316 system which will be installed later this year in the CEGB computer centre in London and used for development of the software for the power station. The Isle of Grain power station is the first project for which the CEGB have used a system of two-stage contracts, wherein the design of key plant is determined during the phase 1 design contract stage before going on to phase 2 manufacturing contracts. The Honeywell order is part of phase 2 of this project. (CW 16/9/1971 p16)
Post code trainer accepted:
The mechanisation division of the Post Office has now completed acceptance trials of the Honeywell 516 system installed at its Croydon sorting office to assist in the training of postal sorters. To simulate the letter coding desks at which sorters will translate the post codes of letters into the phosphor dots which are recognisable by automatic sorting equipment, the 516 system has eight trainee positions, each consisting of a keyboard and VDU. During a 100-hour course spread over several weeks sorters will spend at least 60 hours at the training keyboards. On successive phases of the course the sorters will be led from the stage of learning to touch-type, by keying in the character which is flashing on a VDU display of a complete keyboard, to the final one in which the training position fully simulates a letter coding desk. To monitor the trainee positions, the 516 system has a supervisor desk with a VDU, a keyboard, and an audible alarm. It permits two-way transmission between supervisor and trainee screens so that mistakes can be pointed out and advice given directly. The system informs the supervisor if the trainee exceeds a predetermined error rate during a session, and it provides performance data on individuals and the class as a whole at the end of a session. The 516 system, for which special software was written by Honeywell, includes 16K of memory, a one mega-word disc file, and a display controller. It can be expanded to 20 trainee positions. (CW 23/9/1971 p1)
Programma 602 Launched by Olivetti:
For an increase of a third in the price and offering six times the power of the Programma 101, Olivetti is launching the Programma 602 microcomputer in the UK at the Business Efficiency Exhibition, following its United States debut three months ago. The P602 has a basic desk-top unit which is similar in size to the P101, and its price is £1,985 as compared with £1,485. But the P602 also has its own peripherals - a 28K random access memory on a magnetic tape cartridge, paper tape reader and paper tape punch. It can also work with a graph plotter or be linked on-line to scientific instruments. Olivetti have provided a good deal of software back-up for the P602, with a program library, a team developing special purpose packages and six customer support centres in different parts of the UK. Programs can be preserved on magnetic cards similar to those used for the PI01. The price of the full P602 configuration including magnetic tape cassette, paper tape reader and paper tape punch is £3,985. (CW 30/9/1971 p1)
PDP-11/45 giant mini launched by Digital:
By incorporating recent advances in high-speed logic in the architecture of the PDP-11 range, Digital Equipment has produced the PDP-11/45 which is claimed to be up to seven times faster than any other processor in this range, but to be only about twice the price of the PDP-11/20, previously the most powerful. The new PDP-11/45, which can have up to 124K of 16-bit word memory, is described as a giant minicomputer to bridge the gap between minicomputers and medium-scale machines. Typical prices will range from £9,500 to £100,000, and it is intended primarily for scientific computing, simulation, and OEM use in general. Deliveries will begin in mid-1972. The first UK order has been received from Instem Ltd, of Stone, Staffordshire, which specialises in on-line real time process control and data acquisition systems. The company will use its PDP-11/45 for software development for its gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance laboratory systems. (CW 14/10/1971 p1)
IBM increase System 3/370 compatibility:
Several enhancements announced for System/3 will increase the compatibility between it and System/370. Those include a new magnetic tape sub-system which IBM will manufacture at Greenock, Scotland, for markets outside the US. The existing 370 operating systems will support the new 3410/3411 magnetic tape subsystem, as will the 1400 and 7000 series emulators, and the System/3 Model 10 software has been extended to provide support. The 3411 unit contains the controller and one tape drive, and the 3410 is a single tape drive. Up to five 3410s can be attached to a 3411. Both will be available in three models - 1, 2 and 3 - with data transfer rates of 20,000, 40,000, and 80,000 bytes a second respectively. The first customer deliveries from Greenock are scheduled for December, 1972. The monthly rental under the two-year fixed term plan ranges from £333 for a Model 1 system with two drives to £1,070 for a Model 3 with six drives. The corresponding purchase prices are £16,752 and £54,127. Compatibility is also increased by the addition to the 360 and 370 ranges of the 2596 unit, which can read and punch System/3 96-column cards at speeds of 500 and 120 cards a minute respectively. The 2596 is a fully-buffered device which can interpret the cards while punching. (CW 14/10/1971 p24)
Satellite link gives UK access 360/195:
A satellite link to an IBM 360/195 in Dallas, Texas, is just one of the features of a new data centre offering an impressive array of IBM computing power, which is being opened in Central London by Texas Instruments. The London data centre is equipped with a Data 100 Model 78 programmable terminal which is connected to Texas Instruments’ 1.5 megabyte 360/ 50 at their Croydon offices and, via satellite, to the 360/195, a 360/65, a 360/85 and a 370/155, all located at TI’s US headquarters in Dallas. The Croydon 360/50 is shortly to be replaced by a 370/155. Organisations requiring significant amounts of batch computer power are increasingly turning to large service bureaux to supply their requirements, rather than enlarging their own existing in-house installations. Texas Instruments themselves have cancelled an order for a 64K-byte 360/30 for their Bedford plant and will instead employ their own international teleprocessing service. Max Factor of Bournemouth have also cancelled an order for a 360/30 in favour of a link to the TI network. (CW 21/10/1971 p16)
Council to go on-line with VDUs:
On-line data preparation through 10 visual display units will be one of the features of Staffordshire County Council’s computing when its IBM 360/30 is upgraded next July by the installation of a 370/145 central processor. The plan to continue with IBM computers is said to be definite, in spite of protests by local MPs and others that the county where ICL has a manufacturing plant (Kidsgrove) should be persuaded to use a British computer. The county council has had its Model 30 installed since 1967. (CW 4/11/1971 p1)
Ferranti package deal to aid the smaller user:
A first time ever chance for smaller manufacturing plants to go for computer-based process control is offered by Ferranti’s automation systems division, which has produced a complete process control package called CP 6, based on an Argus 600-2 minicomputer. CP 6 will handle with either sequential or continuous control, or both together, a range of options which Ferranti say can at present only be achieved with hard-wired systems at a very much greater cost. A typical CP 6 installation would cost between £10,000 and £20,000 and the maximum capability of a single CP 6 would be sequential control of 1,000 steps or continuous control of 48 loops, with an option to increase this to 64. But the system can also be used in much larger control situations, since CP 6 systems could be installed to control a number of sections of a process, all linked to a controlling computer such as Ferranti’s larger Argus 500. But the system is primarily aimed at users whose process control needs have previously been too small to warrant a computer-based system. The Ferranti package comes with complete hardware and software and full documentation, so that the user can choose either to set up his own system and commission it, or ask Ferranti to do this for him. The hardware consists of a single cabinet containing two sets of termination blocks leading to and from the plant, plus valve and relay drive circuits, the controlling Argus 600-2 minicomputer, and very simple operator's and stand-by control panels. A logging printer is also part of the system. The two control panels have a total of six knobs and four switches and two digital displays between them. (CW 11/11/1971 p1)
VAT work to be run on 4/72:
Faced with a lot more accounting when Value Added Tax, VAT, is brought into effect in April, 1973, HM Customs and Excise, which will administer the tax, has ordered by single tender from ICL, a System 4/72 estimated to be worth about £700,000. The 4/72 is due to be delivered to the Customs and Excise DP centre at Southend in the first half of next year, and is expected to have been fully commissioned by the middle of the year. Prior to the delivery of the 4/72, Customs and Excise staff will develop the programs for it on a System 4/50 which has been transferred to Southend from the Department of the Environment centre at Swansea where it has been used on the vehicle licensing project. When it has served this purpose the 4/50 will be used for the payroll, statistical and other departmental work which is currently done on an ICL Leo 3 at Southend. The latter machine will be gradually phased out. The 4/72 consists of a 320K byte CPU, two EDS 30 three-spindle disc units, 20 magnetic tape decks, two card readers, three line printers, and one paper tape reader. The preponderance of magnetic tape decks would seem to indicate that Customs and Excise has opted for what will basically be a simple batch system, and that it is playing safe in a current situation in which a lack of vital information about VAT is making life unnecessarily difficult for the designers of equipment and programs. (CW 18/11/1971 p1)