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GeneralRe: This just happened at lunch. Pin
Alister Morton22-May-24 0:31
Alister Morton22-May-24 0:31 
GeneralRe: This just happened at lunch. Pin
David Crow22-May-24 2:25
David Crow22-May-24 2:25 
GeneralRe: This just happened at lunch. Pin
Choroid22-May-24 7:19
Choroid22-May-24 7:19 
GeneralRe: This just happened at lunch. Pin
raddevus22-May-24 7:47
mvaraddevus22-May-24 7:47 
GeneralRe: This just happened at lunch. Pin
Choroid23-May-24 5:28
Choroid23-May-24 5:28 
GeneralRe: This just happened at lunch. Pin
trønderen23-May-24 6:18
trønderen23-May-24 6:18 
GeneralRe: This just happened at lunch. Pin
Choroid24-May-24 8:09
Choroid24-May-24 8:09 
GeneralRe: This just happened at lunch. Pin
trønderen24-May-24 14:37
trønderen24-May-24 14:37 
Choroid wrote:
Curious what machine were you running in 1978 with tape readers?
If you have ever heard about them, I'd be very surprised Smile | :)

In the mid-1960s, the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (NDRE, or FFI in Norwegian) developed several small computers for military purposes. I am not into military terminology and do not really understand how they were used, but apparently, they controlled weapons directly, e.g. Penguin rockets. Some people at NDRE got the idea that the SM-2 machine could be a model for a computer aimed at the civilian market. So they gave that task to Kongsberg Weapons Factory (KV). In 1970, KV brought SM-3 to market, a couple of years later the SM-4 (I am not sure about the difference between these; they were binary compatible) and in 1975 the KS-500, also binary compatible. The KS-500 had semiconductor RAM, while the SM machines used ferrite core.

These were machines in the 'PDP-11 class' - 16 bit, single 19" rack general machines. The SM-4 and KS-500 were the ones I was "working on" in 1978 - this was before I started my studies, in a summer job, so I was mostly a runner boy: I didn't develop software. One of my tasks was duplicating paper / mylar / aluminum tapes for shipping to customers - punched tape was the "floppy disk" of those days Smile | :)

The SM-4/KS-500 never made a hit in commercial markets by themselves, but KV produced some highly recognized pen drafting boards (typically of A0 or A -1 size, the biggest one was 2.6 by 3.7 meters) controlled by these machines. Also, they were used for computer controlled cutting torches and welding machines, considered very advanced technology in the early 1970s. There were some significant military uses as well. (In peaceful years, in spite of its company name, most of KV's production was civilian, but in a crisis, it could all be switched to military production within a couple of weeks, I was told. So it is not surprising that the military products made use of the SM-4 and KS-500.)

My supervisor in my summer job was rather military oriented, and could never accept the KS-500: Semiconductor memory is just a fad! Completely useless, when you take the computer out in the field, and it looses the contents of the program memory if the power is broken - noone can live with such unreliability! (I guess that a paper tape might useless in muddy trenches, but with the software on an aluminum tape you might be able to reload the memory as soon as power was restored Smile | :) The SM-3 could run on 24V and could take a shock of 50G!)

So, if you were into computer controlled drafting, steel cutting or welding in the 1970s, you might have hear about these machines. Otherwise, they are rather obscure.

Bonus chatter:
You might have heard of NORD-1 and NORD-10 computers, and then came ND-100. These were highly successful in the commercial marked. When NDRE wanted to commercialize SM-2, they let two different companies have a go at it: The old, established KV, and the newly established Norsk Data (ND). In theory, the SM-3 from KV and the NORD-1 from ND should be more or less identical, binary compatible. They were not, and the story behind that is why I mention Norsk Data:

KV was no doubt old and established, with classical work patterns. They do thorough planning, and write the documentation before starting to solder components onto the board. The technical writers didn't know much about computers, and made a few mistakes. For shift instructions, one bit in the instruction word indicated rotational shift, another bit was "don't care" - and the TW mixed them up, different from the SM-2. He also misinterpreted the role of the B register (Base, i.e. stack pointer) in the calculation of the physical address; the description didn't match that of SM-2. (The way the B register was documented made it almost useless!)

This was discovered before the assembly line was started, but after 500 copies of the reference manual had been delivered from the print shop. So KV had a choice: Throw away 500 copies of a thick reference manual (printing was expensive in 1970!), or build the machine as documented. They chose the second alternative.

At the same time, the ND people built their NORD-1 with the circular shift bit and the B register use like the SM-2 "template", but different from the SM-3. So the two machines were not able to run each others' software (as originally planned).

Bonus chatter #2 - on tape readers:
The historical corner in my tech. university had a 1961 vintage Danish GIER computer with an optical paper tape reader that would read 2000 characters/sec! A well known secret was the purpose of the yellow tape on the floor in front of the GIER, with another short strip of yellow tape across, a couple of meters to the side. The cross was were you should place the basket to collect the paper tape after it shot out of the reader at a speed of 200 in/sec!
Religious freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make five.

GeneralRe: This just happened at lunch. Pin
Choroid24-May-24 20:23
Choroid24-May-24 20:23 
GeneralStatic security code analysis. Pin
GKP199220-May-24 20:52
professionalGKP199220-May-24 20:52 
GeneralRe: Static security code analysis. Pin
Pete O'Hanlon20-May-24 21:10
mvePete O'Hanlon20-May-24 21:10 
GeneralRe: Static security code analysis. Pin
GKP199220-May-24 21:11
professionalGKP199220-May-24 21:11 
GeneralRe: Static security code analysis. Pin
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter20-May-24 21:47
professionalKornfeld Eliyahu Peter20-May-24 21:47 
GeneralRe: Static security code analysis. Pin
RickZeeland20-May-24 22:58
mveRickZeeland20-May-24 22:58 
GeneralRe: Static security code analysis. Pin
jschell21-May-24 12:38
jschell21-May-24 12:38 
GeneralRe: Static security code analysis. Pin
Sander Rossel21-May-24 22:31
professionalSander Rossel21-May-24 22:31 
GeneralRe: Static security code analysis. Pin
Matt Bond22-May-24 3:21
Matt Bond22-May-24 3:21 
GeneralRe: Static security code analysis. Pin
QED200323-May-24 3:49
professionalQED200323-May-24 3:49 
GeneralRe: Static security code analysis. Pin
englebart1-Jun-24 17:59
professionalenglebart1-Jun-24 17:59 
GeneralRe: Static security code analysis. Pin
GKP19922-Jun-24 3:41
professionalGKP19922-Jun-24 3:41 
GeneralWordle 1,067 Pin
Shane010320-May-24 18:05
Shane010320-May-24 18:05 
GeneralRe: Wordle 1,067 Pin
OriginalGriff20-May-24 18:41
mveOriginalGriff20-May-24 18:41 
GeneralRe: Wordle 1,067 Pin
GKP199220-May-24 18:58
professionalGKP199220-May-24 18:58 
GeneralRe: Wordle 1,067 Pin
ChandraRam20-May-24 20:12
ChandraRam20-May-24 20:12 
GeneralRe: Wordle 1,067 Pin
Amarnath S20-May-24 20:17
professionalAmarnath S20-May-24 20:17 

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