Yes, Amdahl UTS supported the 1403 from earliest days. There even seem to be some mods to 'tbl' to support it. On Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 9:40 AM Paul Winalski wrote: > On 12/18/23, Dave Horsfall wrote: > > On Mon, 18 Dec 2023, Paul Winalski wrote: > > > >> The 132-character screen width was for displaying files originally > >> formatted to be printed on a line printer. Compiler listings and linker > >> maps, for example. > > > > Such as the mighty 1403 :-) > > > > Hint: never leave your cup of coffee on top of it, as the lid will open > > automatically when it runs out of paper... > > The 1403 was the best line printer ever made. It was originally the > printer for the IBM 1400 second-generation (discrete transistor-based) > computer. It continued to be the line printer for S/360. The deluxe > model, the IBM 1403 N1, had a power cover that could be operated under > computer control. The OS/360 operating system would raise the > printer's cover if an error condition occurred, such as out of paper > or a paper jam. This was a very useful feature in large data centers > where there were several line printers, to indicate which printer had > a problem. > > The cover of a 1403 N1 also provided a convenient and attractive flat > surface on which to place things. But a dangerous one. Many a card > deck magtape reel, coffee cup, or pizza box has been unceremoniously > dumped on the floor. > > When our shop upgraded from a S/360 model 25 to a S/370 model 125, our > 1403 was replaced by a 3203 line printer. It was not as good as the > 1401 had been. > > There was a business in Massachusetts in the 1980s that bought and > sold old IBM computer gear. A company asked them for a quote on their > IBM 1400 system (1401 processor, 1402 card read/punch, 1403 printer). > They were offered $18,000 for the whole system, or $15,000 for the > 1403 printer alone. That's how valued those printers were. > > To bring this closer on-topic, was there Unix support for the IBM 1403? > > -Paul W. >