Fifty Years Ago .... from the pages of Computer Weekly
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Winter 1972/3 computing, compiled by TNMOC volunteer archivist, Brian Aldous.
A selection of stories from Computer Weekly from the Winter of 1972/3. 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.
Philips make move into OCR market:
In what represents the first real move into the difficult OCR market for the giant Philips group, MEL Equipment, a UK subsidiary based at Crawley, Sussex, has announced a flexible high-performance system for both page and document reading which costs less than £40,000. Known as the X1300, the new reader has been developed entirely at the Crawley centre. This plant will also be responsible for all manufacture of the X1300, which was officially announced this week at Computer 72 and simultaneously in Holland, France, Germany and Belgium. (CW 7/12/1972 p2)
Plessey library system for Sweden:
In what is understood to be the UK’s biggest ever export order of library equipment, the Data Systems Unit of Plessey Telecommunications is to supply a £300,000 library system to Bibliotekstjanst AB. of Sweden. This large Swedish order follows an agreement signed earlier this year under which Bibliotekstjanst, the sole supplier of books and equipment to Swedish libraries, is to supply only Plessey automated library systems. According to Plessey, Bibliotekstjanst expects to install about 100 systems over the next three years. The Plessey library system incorporates a light pen which is stroked over the book label and a borrower’s card. Information picked up is then automatically recorded on magnetic tape cassette and transferred by modem to the computer. The speed of data entry eliminates counter queues, enables fully automatic circulation control, provides an accurate statistical base and allows the librarian to provide a better service by taking away the drudgery of manual entering procedures. (CW 7/12/1972 p15)
Ferranti graphics package:
Advances in circuit technology and graphics accessory modules and the advent of the Argus 500E processor has enabled the Electronic and Display Equipment Division of Ferranti Ltd to introduce the Compact Graphics package. This is a flexible kit of parts, so called because it is possible to put all the main items of equipment except the display screen into a single six-foot rack. Apart from the display screen unit and the 500E 24-bit word processor, the package contains an MD3/4 display controller and a wide choice of input and output peripherals. Standard CRT displays include 11-, 21- and 26-inch diagonal tube sizes with others available to special order. Displays are random access types, available with dual video inputs for two level brightness working, and have high linearity to enable accurate graphical and format work. Display features include the drawing of solid or dashed lines, circles, ellipses and quadrants. Complete pictures as well as special symbols can be drawn and stored. Character sets include upper and lower case Roman and Italic in four sizes, the smallest allowing 64 lines of 128 characters to be displayed. According to Ferranti the Compact Graphics package is particularly suitable for the smaller user and for research and experimental establishments. (CW 7/12/1972 p31)
Gas grid gets telemetry network:
Using 15 Computer Technology Modular Ones, two Ferranti Argus 500s and software and system commissioning services from Logica, a telemetry network for the control of the UK natural gas grid has been accepted by the Gas Council and became fully operational last month. The telemetry service is made up of three separate but interrelated systems - 12 Mod Ones used as Data Reduction Computers (DRCs) with one located at each of the national Area Gas Boards supervising telemetry outstations; three Mod Ones at the main Hinckley Operational Centre (HOC), Leicestershire, acting as a front-end processor to two Argus 500s and as processor stand-bys; and the HOC Ferranti System 40 operational displays controlled by the Argus 500s. (CW 14/21 Dec 1972 p28)
Two models added to H2000 range:
Two new models have been added to the medium size Series 2000 range by Honeywell at the lower end, intended to compete on a price/performance basis with computers such as the IBM System 3, Burroughs 1700, NCR Century 50 and Univac 9200, according to the company. The new systems are designated the 2020 and 2030, and fit between the Model 58 and the 2040, according to Honeywell. In this respect they offer an alternative to the company’s existing 115/2 and 1200 systems in the Series 200 range, but whereas these are intended for conventional data processing, the Series 2000, announced earlier this year is more communications oriented. (CW 28/12/1972 p16)
Credit card system for automatic fuel:
The first commercial application for the updatable credit card system developed by Revenue Systems Ltd, and now called Money Card, is to be in the field of automatic fuel dispensing. The application has been developed by Automatic Fuel Dispensing Ltd, of Harpenden, Herts, a jointly owned subsidiary of Revenue Systems and Automation Devices, of Launceston, Cornwall, which has been marketing automatic fuel dispensers operated with prepaid cash for some time. With Money Card a customer wanting petrol from a garage which has issued him with a credit card simply has to insert the card into a terminal on the forecourt and key in his code number. This will activate the pump he requires and as he draws petrol his credit status which is magnetically encoded on the card is automatically updated. At the same time his code number, credit status before and after, the sale, and the amount involved in the sale are recorded on a printer inside the terminal to provide a record for the garage. The terminal also produces a receipt for the customer. (CW 4/1/1973 p2)
More features added to DECsystem-10:
New features announced by Digital Equipment to extend the capabilities of the large-scale DECsystem-10 processors include a remote terminal, memory units and some items of software. As well as supporting card reader and line printer, the new DC72 remote station, priced from £11,100, can also connect up to 16 typewriter or VDU terminals to the central DECsystem-10 machine. The new memory unit, called MF10, is priced a t £41,300 for 64K 36-bit words, 60 per cent cheaper than existing DECsystem-10 core. Although the basic cycle time is still about the same, at a microsecond, overlapped memory control logic in the MF10 unit allows the CPU to transmit a second message while still awaiting the outcome of a previous instruction, so achieving an effective increase in processing speed. (CW 4/1/1973 p5)
Potter’s diskette challenge to IBM:
A challenger to IBM’s revolutionary 3740 diskette data entry system using floppy discs has been launched by Potter Data Products Ltd. It has already been announced as the DDS 1073 diskette data station in the US, where it is unique as the IBM system has so far been only announced in Europe, and an announcement is expected over here within the next month. The 1073 consists of a keyboard. processor, printer and floppy disc unit, this being the DDS 480 unit which Potter announced last summer. A sample price quoted is about $7,500 (£3,125) for a unit with 4K processor. The floppy disc is a small flexible disc about eight inches square which is used for much the same purposes as a magnetic tape cassette, but has the advantages of random access. It was introduced by IBM as a microprogram storage device for the 370 series. (CW 11/1/1973 p1)
MDS 2021 cartridge tape drive for the UK:
The first cartridge tape drive to emerge from MDS Data Processing Ltd, the MDS 2021, has been introduced to the UK market just six months after the US launch. Available in nine versions, as a desk-top console, a panel mount assembly and a mechanism-only configuration, with single, dual or four-track recording, prices start at £100. The 2021 incorporates the 3M DC 300A Data Cartridge, which consists of two quarter-inch wide tape reels, 300 feet of magnetic tape and a drive system. The cartridge is packaged so that the tape need never be touched by hand. The recording head is a dual gap, read after write device with a spacing of 0.15 inches between gaps. Input receivers and output drivers are TTL circuits. The recording format used to store data on the tape is determined by the controller, with the density varying from 800 to 1,600 bpi. The cartridge transport writes forward, reads forward and backspaces at 30 inches per second, while fast forward search and tape rewinding carried out at 90 ips. (CW 18/1/1973 p11)
Firefighters aided by H316s in Glasgow:
The first computer system in Britain to provide a dedicated on-line firefighting information service has been ordered from Honeywell by Glasgow Corporation Fire Department. Glasgow has suffered a series of tragic fires over the last year and the new system will help in the fight against this menace. The system is based on a duplex Model 316 which will be able to provide detailed information on buildings and fire hazards directly to the cabs of the city’s fire engines as soon as the alarm has been raised. The 316 will be linked to each fire engine by a radio network which will feed a facsimile printer installed in each cab. Up to 40 fire engines are to be equipped in this way. The computers will be installed at Glasgow Central Fire Station and is due to come into operation during June and July. A database is to be created which will initially contain information on about 4,500 buildings in the city, building up to 10,000 in two years. This data will be gathered by fire officers in the normal course of their inspection work and will include plans of the buildings, details of occupants, and all known hazards. This information will be updated daily from routine inspection reports. (CW 18/1/1973 p17)
PDP-11 at the heart of new ‘bleep’ PO service:
At the heart of a new Post Office service which will enable people to be contacted via small radio receivers activated by a telephone call is a 28K byte Digital Equipment PDP-11 at the Reading trunk telephone exchange. Each user of the service will have a portable receiver which will emit a high-pitched ‘bleep-bleep’ signal when a unique 10-digit code is dialled over the public telephone network. At present the service is based at Reading and covers about 500 square miles of the Thames Valley. The PDP-11 is used to check that the 10-digit code is valid and then initiates the relevant radio signal to be transmitted to the paging equipment. The caller is also informed by a recorded message that the paging request has been accepted. In the trial scheme, two signals are transmitted. The first, which lasts for 2.7 seconds, will cause all available receivers to switch on and decode the signal and only those which respond to the first signal will be available for the second tone, which is transmitted for .0.8 seconds. There is a unique combination of tone pairs for each receiver so that only the relevant device will emit a bleep. The user of the service can then take some pre-determined action, such as telephoning the office or home. Future plans for the service, which the Post Office hope will eventually be nationwide, include providing three different types of ‘bleep’ to provide more action options for the user. (CW 25/1/1973 p5)
PO network to be tested by users:
The important experiment into the feasibility of setting up a national packet switched data transmission network in the UK will start at the end of 1974 and about a dozen organisations have already committed themselves, in principle at least, to take an active part in the evaluation. Last week the Post Office sent out a manual outlining the facilities and requirements of the service to about 100 groups, including large companies, bureaux, manufacturers and universities, together with a ‘letter of intent’ which must be signed by anyone wishing to become a user of the EPSS (Experimental Packet Switched Service). One of the first companies to sign up was British Olivetti, whose DP product manager, Lance English, described the Post Office’s attitude towards open involvement of users from an early stage as ‘an enormous step forward’. Other users who have committed themselves in principle, if not formally as yet, are understood to include BOAC, Edinburgh Regional Computing Centre, Scicon, Data Dynamics, Univac and CRC Information. Although he is aware that there are many difficulties to be ironed out during the experiment, such as the important question of how users will be charged for using the service, Mr English feels that the EPSS ‘makes sense because we must be approaching the limits of the number of data paths available on physical media and packet switching seems to make optimum use of physical resources. This is because in a packet switched network data is transferred in discrete packages preceded by a ‘header’, which includes the address of where the data is to be transmitted and ended by a ‘tail’ containing error checking information. Once entered into the system, the packet reaches its destination via routeing its packet switching exchanges (PSEs) which means that a two-way dedicated line need not be connected between transmission points as with existing circuit switching systems. (CW 1/2/1973 p1)
Plessey system to regulate gas supplies:
Supplies of gas to some 540,000 consumers in Wales are to be regulated by a £750,000 computer supervised telemetry system which is now being brought into use by Wales Gas from a control centre at Grangetown, Cardiff. Designed by Plessey, the system, claimed to be one of the most advanced of its kind, will eventually use three Honeywell computers, two 316s and one 516, to scan outstations, control valves and gas flow, process data and work out analyses and forecasts. At the Grangetown control room, engineers seated at a 20-feet long control desk will be able to assess the flow of gas, check pressures and activate valves at outstations throughout Wales. Alarm signals will indicate abnormal states such as pressures becoming too high or too low, or when there are insufficient stocks of gas. The two operator positions at the desk each have a visual display unit and control key board, a back projector with a magazine containing 80 slides to give information about the network and outstations, and a telephone link to all essential Post Office lines and private wires. Instructions to the system are given through the keyboard and displayed on the operator’s VDU. (CW 8/2/1973 p31)
UK link to ARPA in use by June:
The experimental data link between the UK and the Advanced Research Project Research Agency's ARPA network in the US is expected to start operation by June when an Interface Message Processor, IMP, for front-ending the UK side of the operation, is scheduled to become operational at London University Institute of Computer Science. The IMP unit, supplied by ARPA, will eventually be linked in the experiment with the institute's Digital Equipment PDP-9 machine, and to London University’s Control Data 6600 and the IBM 370/195 at the Science Research Council’s Rutherford Laboratory at Chilton. In the experiments, data will be transmitted by high-speed line to a seismic experimental centre in Norway equipped with an IBM 360/44 and then by satellite to the Seismic Analysis Centre, near Washington, DC, which is linked directly to the ARPA network. The UK end of the experiment is being funded largely by the National Physical Laboratory. The IMP is being supplied free of charge, ARPA itself is supplying over £20,000 of computer time, and the Post Office is not going to charge for the use of the direct line to Norway during the first year of operation. The project, which will bring US computing power to the UK ‘within weeks’ of the IMP becoming operational, makes no commitment to provide anyone with computer service, but the NPL obviously have a vested interest in the scheme as they are subsidising it to the tune of about £5,000. (CW 15/2/1973 p2)