[COFF] [TUHS] AP-3 minicomputer

[COFF] [TUHS] AP-3 minicomputer

[crossd]

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On Wed, Dec 18, 2019 at 1:52 PM Paul McJones <paul at mcjones.org> wrote:

> Computer History Museum curator Dag Spicer passed along a question from
> former CHM curator Alex Bochannek that I thought someone on this list might
> be able to answer. The paper "The M4 Macro Processor” by Kernighan and
> Ritchie says:
>
> > The M4 macro processor is an extension of a macro processor called M3
> which was written by D. M. Ritchie for the AP-3 minicomputer; M3 was in
> turn based on a macro processor implemented for [B. W. Kernighan and P. J.
> Plauger, Software Tools, Addison-Wesley, Inc., 1976].
>
> Alex and Dag would like to learn more about this AP-3 minicomputer — can
> anyone help?


[I recommend that follow-ups go to coff, which is Cc'ed here]

I took a short stab at this, but can find little beyond references in the
aforementioned M4 paper.

I did, however, run across this:
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp78b04770a000100110018-1

This appears to be a declassified letter written to the US Air Force at
Bowling Green Air Force Base in regards to spare parts fo the AP-3
computer; dated October 19, 1966. The list of parts seem reasonable for a
minicomputer, and it further seems reasonable to believe that this may be
related to the same type of computer referenced in the M4 paper. However,
details of the sending party have been redacted, and there is nothing
pointing to the identity of the manufacturer.

Sadly, that's all that seems available. I wonder if, perhaps, Doug McIlroy
(Cc'ed directly to float this to the top of his stack) can shed more light
on the topic?

        - Dan C.
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[COFF] [TUHS] AP-3 minicomputer

[ats]

Dan Cross <crossd at gmail.com> writes:

> https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp78b04770a000100110018-1
> However, details of the sending party have been redacted, and there is
> nothing pointing to the identity of the manufacturer.

The 1704689 flip-flop PCB is a Bendix part:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/263975518840

This page has a picture of a "Nistri-Bendix AP/3 analytical
stereoplotter (a special purpose instrument primarily used to compile
contour maps and terrain profiles)", which sounds like the kind of thing
the Air Force would have:
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol15no1/images/index.html

There's more information online about the AP/1, AP/2 etc., which consist
of a digital computer driving some specalised plotting hardware -- so it
sounds like the letter's talking about spares for the computer part of
the AP/3. Whether that's the same as the AP-3 you're after, though...

-- 
Adam Sampson <ats at offog.org>                         <http://offog.org/>

[COFF] [TUHS] AP-3 minicomputer

[alex]

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Dan Cross <crossd at gmail.com> writes:

> On Wed, Dec 18, 2019 at 1:52 PM Paul McJones <paul at mcjones.org>
> wrote:
>
>     Computer History Museum curator Dag Spicer passed along a
>     question from former CHM curator Alex Bochannek that I thought
>     someone on this list might be able to answer. The paper "The M4
>     Macro Processor” by Kernighan and Ritchie says:
>    
>     > The M4 macro processor is an extension of a macro processor
>     called M3 which was written by D. M. Ritchie for the AP-3
>     minicomputer; M3 was in turn based on a macro processor
>     implemented for [B. W. Kernighan and P. J. Plauger, Software
>     Tools, Addison-Wesley, Inc., 1976].
>    
>     Alex and Dag would like to learn more about this AP-3
>     minicomputer — can anyone help?
>
>
> [I recommend that follow-ups go to coff, which is Cc'ed here]
>
> I took a short stab at this, but can find little beyond references in
> the aforementioned M4 paper.
>
> I did, however, run across this: https://www.cia.gov/library/
> readingroom/document/cia-rdp78b04770a000100110018-1
>
> This appears to be a declassified letter written to the US Air Force
> at Bowling Green Air Force Base in regards to spare parts fo the AP-3
> computer; dated October 19, 1966. The list of parts seem reasonable
> for a minicomputer, and it further seems reasonable to believe that
> this may be related to the same type of computer referenced in the M4
> paper. However, details of the sending party have been redacted, and
> there is nothing pointing to the identity of the manufacturer.

Good find. The part numbers suggest Bendix.

> Sadly, that's all that seems available. I wonder if, perhaps, Doug
> McIlroy (Cc'ed directly to float this to the top of his stack) can
> shed more light on the topic?
>
>         - Dan C.
>
>
>

-- 
Alex.

[COFF] [TUHS] AP-3 minicomputer

[dspicer]

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Wow — wonderful Dan, thanks for this!

And prospective thanks to anyone else for their thoughts…

Warm (in machine room) regards,

Dag



On Dec 20, 2019, at 12:49 AM, Dan Cross <crossd at gmail.com<mailto:crossd at gmail.com>> wrote:

On Wed, Dec 18, 2019 at 1:52 PM Paul McJones <paul at mcjones.org<mailto:paul at mcjones.org>> wrote:
Computer History Museum curator Dag Spicer passed along a question from former CHM curator Alex Bochannek that I thought someone on this list might be able to answer. The paper "The M4 Macro Processor” by Kernighan and Ritchie says:

> The M4 macro processor is an extension of a macro processor called M3 which was written by D. M. Ritchie for the AP-3 minicomputer; M3 was in turn based on a macro processor implemented for [B. W. Kernighan and P. J. Plauger, Software Tools, Addison-Wesley, Inc., 1976].

Alex and Dag would like to learn more about this AP-3 minicomputer — can anyone help?

[I recommend that follow-ups go to coff, which is Cc'ed here]

I took a short stab at this, but can find little beyond references in the aforementioned M4 paper.

I did, however, run across this: https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp78b04770a000100110018-1

This appears to be a declassified letter written to the US Air Force at Bowling Green Air Force Base in regards to spare parts fo the AP-3 computer; dated October 19, 1966. The list of parts seem reasonable for a minicomputer, and it further seems reasonable to believe that this may be related to the same type of computer referenced in the M4 paper. However, details of the sending party have been redacted, and there is nothing pointing to the identity of the manufacturer.

Sadly, that's all that seems available. I wonder if, perhaps, Doug McIlroy (Cc'ed directly to float this to the top of his stack) can shed more light on the topic?

        - Dan C.