DDP-116 is a 16-bit Series 16 mini-computer from Computer Control Corporation (CCC). Announced in October 1964, the DDP-116 was the first serial 16-bit mini-computer [1] .
Creation History
On April 7, 1964, IBM announced the launch of the IBM System / 360 family [2] . Six System / 360 models, according to IBM, were supposed to cover the “360 degrees” of the market - from mini-computers to mainframes [2] . The 32-bit family included the sixteen-bit junior model S / 360-20, which is only partially compatible with other System / 360 machines [3] . Similar models developed by other companies used a data word length of 12 or 14 bits. These companies reacted differently to the IBM announcement. DEC , working on a 12-bit prototype, did not change its architecture and released PDP-8 in 1965 [1] . Computer Control Corporation , which worked on a 14-bit mini-computer, preferred to adapt to IBM [1] . During the summer of 1964, CCC developer Gardner Hendry changed the project from 14-bit to 16-bit, and in October 1964, CCC announced its serial release under the name DDP-116 [1] . The new machine sold successfully, analysts suggested that CCC would be able to take the lead from DEC, but in 1966, CCC came under the control of Honeywell, focusing on the mainframe market. The Series 16 mini-computer family lasted several more years and disappeared, giving way to competitors [1] .
DDP-116 was used in the first pointing system of the 36-foot radio telescope of the Kitt Peak Observatory [4] , and the subsequent modification of DDP-516 was used in the original 1967 ARPANET configuration [1] .
Description
According to the manufacturer’s documentation, a fully transistor DDP-116 processor with magnetic core memory performed 294 thousand operations per second. An elementary memory reading cycle took 1.7 μs; most instructions took two such cycles (including fetching a command from memory). Software integer multiplication was performed in 255 μs, division in 533 μs. Additionally, CCC offered hardware accelerators that performed multiplication in 9.5 μs and division in 17.9 μs. The amount of memory in the basic delivery was 1K or 4K words. The memory could be expanded to 32K words with modules of 1K, 4K or 8K words [5] .
The cost of a basic delivery with 4K words was set at $ 28,500, each word of RAM expansion modules cost about $ 4, magnetic tape drives with controllers were offered at prices ranging from $ 22,700 to $ 53,600 [5] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ceruzzi, 2003 , p. 194.
- ↑ 1 2 Ceruzzi, 2003 , pp. 144-145.
- ↑ Ceruzzi, 2003 , p. 158.
- ↑ Gordon, MA Recollections of "Tucson Operations": The Millimeter-Wave Observatory of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory . - Springer, 2005 .-- P. 19 .-- 221 p. - ISBN 9781402032356 .
- ↑ 1 2 DDP 116 general purpose computer . Computer Control Corporation. Date of treatment September 1, 2012. Archived on October 28, 2012.
Sources
- Ceruzzi, PE A History of Modern Computing . - MIT Press, 2003 .-- 445 p. - ISBN 9780262532037 . Archived on May 5, 2012. Archived May 5, 2012 on Wayback Machine
- Hendrie, G. From the first 16-bit mini to fault-tolerant computers // The Computer Museum Report. - 1986. - No. Spring . - S. 6-9 .
Links
- Technical Documentation Computer Control Corporation . William Maddox Date of treatment September 1, 2012. Archived on October 28, 2012.