Hi Andrew, could you drop me a message (if you search for me and KCL you’ll find my email), I’m currently writing a history of computing education in England and have a section on the IBM school’s computer that you might be interested in. I’ve had no luck contacting the Hursley Museum, they might be on holiday!
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Hello, I have hopefully sent you an email. I should be able to help with the Hursley Museum.
Hi.
We were given one of these back in 1969 at Highgate School in 1969.
However we din’t do anything with it because we already had an ASR-33 teletype and a time-sharing account where we could program much more easily in BASIC, ALGOL and FORTRAN
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I’ve just stumbled across this thread, which brings back many memories. Prior to the production model you replicated, there was a prototype, which was loaned to my old school between Sep and Dec 1967. This prototype was in a large box with a separate keyboard. Also, the instruction set got changed slightly between the prototype and production models. I still have my notes and several programs from those exciting days. Tony
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Welcome! It would be most excellent if you could share those materials.
Hello,
I’d also be very interested in the earlier instruction set, I haven’t seen that at all. From some photographs you can tell that the display changed slightly, but I had no idea that the instructions were different. I could probably have two instruction sets in the emulator.
Any programs you have will be the first ones I have seen that were written by someone using the machine as opposed to the programs in the tutorial.
This is embarrassing for me, this board is not letting me upload a document, either as .pdf or .jpg
e.g. An error occurred: Sorry, you can’t embed media items in a post.
Nothing in the FAQ, can’t even pm
Ah, indeed, we don’t generally have attachments here. (We do have PMs, click on a person’s circular avatar and you should see a Message button. Although if you’re very new here, you might not.)
You should be able to drag and drop, or copy and paste, an image. Or you can link to an online photo album, be it Apple or Google or Microsoft’s cloud offering.
For myself, I’d usually upload to github or to the Internet Archive, but I appreciate both of those need an account and a bit of familiarity with the process.
I’ll PM you!
Ah, basically, I needed to reach level 1 before I can upload, or PM. But I’'m there now.
That last message is a program I wrote back in 1967, originally written for the old instruction set (new being in red)
Be interesting to know if it runs on Andrew’s replica
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Fantastic - thanks for sharing!
It should run on my replica, I’m going to have a go.
Were you aware of this picture?
I thought I recognised the name.
Great, love to know if it works. I have more.
Yes, I was aware. I proof read it, and named the boys for David (I’m one of them).
The attached photo shows my collection of old notes/manuals/etc. for the IBM Schools Computer. Some of which you already have, however, there is additional stuff here. Of particular note is a copy of the “extracode”, the subroutines loaded into the upperstore for the three address instructions. Maybe Andrew could modify his replica to use this, which would make for a more realistic replica that doesn’t have to emulate the 7x/8x/9x instructions.
Also in my collections is a draft for the Second Course. This followup course never got completed as IBM cancelled their schools computer programme. (Because, big blue was concerned about anti-competetive litigation being pursued by the US authorities.)
My collection contains several programs that I wrote, of dubious quality - I was very young at the time! Even a game, well a noughts and crosses program. And course work as part of our maths lessons.
Unfortunately, this forum does not appear capable of accepting pdf docs (easy for me as I have a scanner with a sheet feeder), otherwise I’d offer them. There is just too much for me to scan as individual images. Maybe post on github, or even offer to IBM Hursley Museum.
Us boys at St. Edwards were involved with the computer from a very early stage. Our Head of Maths, David Tinsley, was also Field Trials Director for IBM. Some of us were bussed to IBM Hursey for market research, we had access to an early prototype late 1967, and later had one of the 10 production models - only six were offered to schools, four spares. One of which was needed, as a friend (who I won’t name) drop tested one! Sadly, David passed in 2020, he would have loved to see the replica.
PS I still can’t PM anyone
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Fantastic news that there are more programs. The differences in the instruction set look minimal, it should all work. i don’t suppose you had any experience with entering the code that implemented the ‘three address instructions’? This was entered in addresses 100-199 and is currently lost. I’d like to find it so the replica can run the original code for those instructions. At the moment I have simulated them in C, like the other instructions. I’ve seen mention of the code having to be re-entered if it was lost or over-written, but haven’t seen the document that had that code.
See my second post, I have a copy of the extracode. We’d just reload it from tape.
If only I could PM you…
Oh! Fabulous. i thought that had been lost.
I’ve sent you a copy, check your email. Have fun…
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This is really interesting, Tony. Many thanks for sharing! I’m working on writing a history of the device as part of a larger work on the history of computing education in England. Your September '67 start date helps make Tinsley’s claim
that:
“A prototype was delivered in September 1966 and ran almost
continuously until Christmas”
make more sense - this was impossible, given the physical development date of 1967. Tinsley must have been out by a year! Do you have anything dated from September that year? The only archive evidence I have so far suggests a December delivery to the school. If the system is still causing issues, please search for my name and KCL you are welcome to drop me an email and I can help connect you with @amenjet.
Peter,
The program listing of mine, posted above, is dated 13 Dec 1967, which I think confirms the 1967 date.