From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_ADSP_CUSTOM_MED, DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED,FREEMAIL_FROM,MAILING_LIST_MULTI, T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 19165 invoked from network); 21 Dec 2023 17:21:36 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (50.116.15.146) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 21 Dec 2023 17:21:36 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B39B043F33; Fri, 22 Dec 2023 03:21:34 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-pj1-x1029.google.com (mail-pj1-x1029.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4864:20::1029]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 78F5E43F31 for ; Fri, 22 Dec 2023 03:21:27 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-pj1-x1029.google.com with SMTP id 98e67ed59e1d1-28c0536806fso37187a91.0 for ; Thu, 21 Dec 2023 09:21:27 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20230601; t=1703179287; x=1703784087; darn=tuhs.org; h=to:subject:message-id:date:from:mime-version:from:to:cc:subject :date:message-id:reply-to; bh=XBw7XoDnnilPxZG5kkRL9Uxgu2seZY5f7n3Bdwcf6FA=; b=hyjfbqL6NidCs1RV7sEyn/kGuQTBvk7gK1RDX/pq+eURGSoOvQkPlTWehVv/oZnZ8Q /3XVDz+5dfR7RARZyJX2oGMu8pYl6nAff0himzQwpqyHj99ye4FM+g23VZOyTEwUNRzO gGR2df6q1VaWWmSBztFIq72l52enKNSzisO6xqQbWk19H4l/GcwL1MkXbhTDRTESu0QL JvyImzFSRaDyHwo1TYx/Ps/jmDWZTWIVSbXwU48iCFl5FODR0hezZ+UhUUjslrYZs+D+ WPDjfNXmq7l7JRzP3Zz848a+/dpUlyp6UNDVu7taXDMvY5quJdj1wTIhLtxef/PgonUM GlZw== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20230601; t=1703179287; x=1703784087; h=to:subject:message-id:date:from:mime-version:x-gm-message-state :from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:reply-to; bh=XBw7XoDnnilPxZG5kkRL9Uxgu2seZY5f7n3Bdwcf6FA=; b=IBeUvScPTMxvyRk1oe6DWP4yzLpcm94xihSCzz7EQe151D6dXzYc7Ge6EisIoOH5ob Hlayh6cflhizXWV0vBV/HEqtvsFOgH9kpAQgRP/wZZ8xUMr3x/xf55vxB84NaHn7Qc7e TIKlqy5HmzmlyIkpYJtQQ2BahoNA3GXAfNEhCqawGpCMmMm7nOUnJYQEXHQtxvjUxE6f jvgVCm7iB/LLPBbLCDpbg+fxOXYC0wu9x+cFAF1kzWy9svlXms8HELLhwF5iJIlLnu/+ zlKSvx/++lTvwP0Hj7cBc9p1OVIuwuniTEDKIlNl5SvrLImjjg9y5q8NB4TjQoMuDgZO aPEg== X-Gm-Message-State: AOJu0YzISB4greudr1PKJI5aFPX3NpFP5OM+AFMr5Kk6wxWTqFZ+JRkk Yx5rLBCQFcvL1PAuCYdSx5CsjQs7vtzj5FPMosZ2Ocws X-Google-Smtp-Source: AGHT+IH0AxalKjLX/5+ZAuL6zs6MqK7AZVjURdPt0bQEkH7jdnE3kAxJPG5218/lFAgnb9D0NWy53ylWXGM8Hw5iAgM= X-Received: by 2002:a17:90b:1042:b0:28b:6aa5:34a3 with SMTP id gq2-20020a17090b104200b0028b6aa534a3mr61819pjb.60.1703179286589; Thu, 21 Dec 2023 09:21:26 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 2002:a05:6a10:a487:b0:52a:96f1:6718 with HTTP; Thu, 21 Dec 2023 09:21:26 -0800 (PST) From: Paul Winalski Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2023 12:21:26 -0500 Message-ID: To: Computer Old Farts Followers Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Message-ID-Hash: V5QJVFDITA5ZESIMOUQY7HZJWG3VLGUL X-Message-ID-Hash: V5QJVFDITA5ZESIMOUQY7HZJWG3VLGUL X-MailFrom: paul.winalski@gmail.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [COFF] IBM 1403 line printer on DEC computers? List-Id: Computer Old Farts Forum Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: There's been a discussion recently on TUHS about the famous IBM 1403 line printer. It's strayed pretty far off-topic for TUHS so I'm continuing the topic here in COFF. DEC marketed its PDP-10 computer systems as their solution for traditional raised-floor commercial data centers, competing directly with IBM System 360/370. DEC OEMed a lot of data center peripherals such as card readers/punches, line printers, 9-track magtape drives, and disk drives for their computers, but their main focus was low cost vs. heavy duty. Not really suitable for the data center world. So DEC OEMed several high-end data center peripherals for use on big, commercial PDP-10 computer systems. For example, the gold standard for 9-track tape drives in the IBM world was tape drives from Storage Technology Corporation (STC). DEC designed an IBM selector channel-to-MASSBUS adapter that allowed one to attach STC tape drives to a PDP-10. AFAIK this was never offered on the PDP-11 VAX, or any other of DEC's computer lines. They had similar arrangements for lookalikes for IBM high-performance disk drives. Someone on TUHS recalled seeing an IBM 1403 or similar line printer on a PDP-10 system. The IBM 1403 was certainly the gold standard for line printers in the IBM world and was arguably the best impact line printer ever made. It was still highly sought after in the 1970s, long after the demise of the 1950s-era IBM 1400 computer system it was designed to be a part of. Anyone considering a PDP-10 data center solution would ask about line printers and, if they were from the IBM world, would prefer a 1403. The 1403 attached to S/360/370 via a byte multiplexer channel, so one would need an adapter that looked like a byte multiplexer channel on one end and could attach to one of DEC's controllers at the other end (something UNIBUS-based, most likely). We know DEC did this sort of thing for disks and tapes. The question is, did they have a way to attach the 1403 to any of their computer systems? -Paul W.