Fifty Years Ago .... from the pages of Computer Weekly
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September 1975 computing, compiled by TNMOC volunteer archivist, Brian Aldous.
A selection of stories from Computer Weekly from September 1975. 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.
Argus 700S on the way:
The first Ferranti Argus 700S minicomputer configuration for the data communications network to link British Steel's four DP centres and 10 production sites in the UK has been delivered to Leasco Software at Maidenhead for program development work. The 700S will form the network operations installation and is scheduled for British Steel's new bureau at Rotherham where it will provide a man/machine interface to the network. In all, Ferranti will be supplying 23 Argus configurations to British Steel under a £4.5 million contract. A £1.5 million slice of this is allocated to Leasco, Ferranti's main subcontractor, who will be writing the network software in Coral 66. The NOI hardware includes the Argus 700S with 128K words of core memory, two Megabytes of fixed head disc storage and 20 Megabytes of cartridge disc storage. (CW 461 4/9/1975 p1)
System to improve white blood cell analysis:
A system that could ultimately revolutionise the organisation of haematology departments in hospitals and research centres has been released in the UK by the medical division of the US corporation, Corning Glass. It is the first computer system to function as a tool within the hospital, designed specifically for operation by trained medical staff. Called Larc (leucocyte automatic recognition counter), the system will be operated by technicians concerned with the analysis of white blood cells (leucocytes), a process which when carried out manually is laborious and time consuming, and requires a high degree of skill. It is likely to be used in hospitals with 600 beds or more. Costing around £50,000, the Larc system is based on a Digital PDP8 with 16K memory, and comprises of three units. The first two components are essentially preparative, consisting of a spinner, which produces uniform layers of blood on the microscope slide, and a staining device. The third part of the Larc system is the analyser which incorporates the microscope, console and computer. (CW 461 4/9/1975 p7)
Training simulator for nuclear plant:
A nuclear power plant operator training simulator is to be supplied to the Virginia Electric and Power Co, Vepco, by Electronic Associates Inc of New Jersey. Valued at more than $3 million, the simulator will be installed at Vepco’s Surry nuclear power station, about 75 miles from Richmond. The EAI system will be based on two System 32 medium scale computers from Systems Engineering Laboratories, which will store mathematical models of equations and parameters concerning both normal and abnormal operating situations. Under the control of an instructor, the system will respond to an operator’s inputs via the mathematical models which will be used to represent the operations of each segment of the actual plant. In addition, the simulator will be used to give periodic retraining courses necessary to requalify experienced operators. Other applications will include operating procedures development and verification. (CW 462 4/9/1975 p39)
UK PoS system for European market:
Seeing a big potential market among cash and carry wholesalers all over Europe for purpose-built interactive point of sale terminal systems, a UK minicomputer systems house, Real Time Controls, has produced an inexpensive system for which major orders have already been placed by one of the biggest cash and carry firms in the UK, Nurdin Peacock. Real Time Controls has been involved with minicomputer and terminal systems since it was set up five years ago, and has worked closely with Honeywell on many Series 16 mini systems development projects and contracts throughout Europe. However, RTC decided to go to an independent supplier, Data General, for the mini to control its cash and carry system. This is the Nova 2/10, which provides three of the most valuable features of the system, on-line multiple VAT rate calculation and invoice printing, on-line price ticket printing for goods inwards and on-line price validation for goods going through the checkout, something that could save a cash and carry warehouse as much as £100,000 a year by preventing wrong input of prices at the checkouts. (CW 462 11/09/1975 p56)
Low-cost OCR data capture:
Low-cost OCR data capture is provided by three page readers, the Bardata OCR 10, 20 and 30, built in the US by the Datatype Corp of Miami, Florida, and now available in the UK from British Airways at prices starting at £4,300. The three readers employ the same data capture technique as the two Bardata readers already sold by British Airways, the DFR 400 and DFR 500. The Bardata machines read a compact barcode printed just beneath each of the eye-readable characters. A Bardata machine can read these barcoded characters at up to 110 chps, and incorporates a microprocessor which enables it to be programmed to carry out a wide variety of editing and checking functions. (CW 463 18/9/1975 p20)
Police get Collator machine:
After six days of acceptance trials, the Honeywell 6025 chosen for the Thames Valley Police’s Collator Project has now been handed over to the Home Office. The trials were carried out by the Technical Services Division of the Central Computer Agency. The Scottish-built 96K computer was ordered a year ago and cost £500,000. Installed near Oxford, it will be used for a crime information collation and handling application which is to be carried out by the Police Scientific Development Branch in conjunction with Thames Valley. The aim is to evaluate crime data handling methods with a view to recommending techniques that could be applied more generally. VDUs will be used to enter, retrieve and handle data and some of these will be located in police stations in the Thames Valley area. (CW 463 18/9/1975 p20)
Micro based on GIM’s CP-1600:
A microcomputer system based on the CP 1600 microprocessor introduced by General Instrument Microelectronics earlier this year has been announced. Known as the GIC 1601, a typical system with 8K 16-bit words of RAM and 3K words of ROM memory costs £1,379. In addition, the purchase price includes full software support. A User is supplied with operating system, assembler, text editor, relocatable linking loader and diagnostic programs on paper tape, together with listings for binary maths routines and code conversions for incorporation in user application programs. General Instrument is also offering the individual cards already tested and debugged. Customers can buy the computer card, an I/O card and a console interface card incorporating a microprogrammed operating routine. The basic 8K RAM memory may be expanded to 65K. The microprocessor card alone costs £213 reducing to £106 for quantities of 100 or more. For assembling a system from the MOS chips, the CP 1600 microcircuit can be purchased for £127 reducing to £69 for quantities over 100. Hardware and software manuals are available at a cost of £5 each. The CP 1600 family includes the microprocessor, the1630 series of 1 Kbit static RAMs for variable data storage and the 1620 series of four 16K ROMs for microprogram storage. General Instrument reports that additions to the family are already planned. (CW 464 25/9/1975 p39)
Viewdata to be based on GEC 4080:
Although news of the Post Office’s latest telephone information service has been in the air for some time, the capabilities of this new interactive system were not made known until this week at the Eurocomp conference. At the same time an order for a GEC 4080 computer, on which the Viewdata system will be based, has been placed by the Post Office. The service, which is called Viewdata will permit a wide range of information to be called up over the public switched network and displayed on a modified television set, accessible by means of a hand-held keypad. Alternatively a purpose-made Viewdata terminal will also be available to commercial users, with built-in control and telephone. The service will differ from the BBC’s Ceefax and the IBA’s Oracle services in that it is interactive, and will permit simple messages to be transmitted to users. (CW 464 25/9/1975 p40)
