Re: System 3 Code -- RPG400-L

Yes, I am sure about the 5440 cartridge disk size: 2.45 MB.

I don't remember the Model 6 having less than 8K of memory.  The OS took about 
3K, leaving
5K for programs.  As a result, programs often had huge numbers of overlays and 
performance
was, as you describe, horrible.  Upgrading to 12K provided a great deal of 
relief, but it
was expensive: $131 per month (machines were rented, not purchased, in those 
days).

The Model 6 "console" comprised a keyboard and a bi-directional dot matrix 
printer,
mounted in front of the operator's keyboard.  It functioned as both the 
operator's output
device and the system printer.  

I believe that printer was one of the first, if not, THE first production 
bi-directional
dot matrix printer.  Several IBM Rochester people hold the patent for 
bi-directional
printing.  One of them, a friend of mine, over the years has received many 
large monetary
awards from IBM for being one of the inventors.

Mel Rothman

booth@MartinVT.com wrote:
> 
> Are you sure of that?  I thought those were 250k platters, not 2,500k. The
> Model 6 didn't have a screen or terminal.  It had a typewriter in the
> desktop and the printer housing behind it.  The operator typed commands to
> the printer.  A programmer quickly learned that all print programs started
> with a skip before and at last record time you did a skip after, otherwise
> the operator would skin you alive for making her life miserable.    The
> smallest memory was around 5k, of which 3k was reserved for the operating
> system.  The H-spec position that talks about using 1/4k increments was
> important, as were overlays.  Overlays allowed larger programs but
> performance was horrible.
> 
> _______________________
> Booth Martin
> Booth@MartinVT.com
> http://www.MartinVT.com
> _______________________
> 
> Mel Rothman <melrothman@home.com>
> Sent by: owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com
> 09/28/2000 03:53 PM
> Please respond to RPG400-L
> 
> 
>         To:     RPG400-L@midrange.com
>         cc:
>         Subject:        Re: System 3 Code
> 
> Richard, here are a few more things to add to your list of "what happens
> when
> people have 'lots of experience.'"
> 
> Although you didn't say that RPG one never ran on System/3 (System/3 was
> announced with and faded out with RPG II), I wanted to make sure that no
> one
> thinks your were implying so.
> 
> I never had any experience with the console problems you mentioned.  Lucky
> me!
> 
> The "pizza platter's" capacity (5440 cartridge) was 2.45 MB, not 10 MB. If
> one
> had two full drawers of disk, F1, R1, F2, and R2, one had 9.8 MB of online
> capacity.
> 
> The early System/3s disks were installed in one or two drawers, drawer 1
> and
> drawer 2.  Drawer 1 was required.  Drawer two was optional.  A drawer's
> maximum
> capacity was evenly split between a fixed (non removable) platter and a
> removable platter mounted in a 5440 cartridge.  I believe the fixed
> platter in
> drawer 2 was optional.  The fixed platters were called F1 and F2 (fixed
> platter
> in drawer 1 and drawer 2, respectively); the removable platters were
> called R1
> and R2 (removable platter in drawer 1 and drawer 2, respectively).  Drawer
> 1
> always had an F1 and a R1.  The possible configurations were 2.45 MB (half
> capacity F1 and R1), 4.9 MB (full capacity F1 and R2), 7.35 MB (full
> capacity
> F1, R1, R2), and 9.8 MB (full capacity F1, R1, F2, R2).
> 
> The fixed platters were backed up by copying (DISKCOPY utility) them on to
> removable cartridges.  An inexperienced operator at one of my (not to be
> named)
> customers, backed up the system one day by copying F1 to EVERY removable
> cartridge.  It took them months to reconstruct their data from printed
> reports.
> What a nightmare!
> 
> Before 3340s were available on S/3, some models supported 5445s, which
> used 2314
> disk packs with approximately 20 MB capacity each.  I believe the maximum
> number
> of 5445s was either 2 or 4.
> 
> The smallest System/3 memory size I saw was 8 KB on the card Model 10 and
> the
> Model 6
> 
> I don't remember the "black crinkle paint."  I remember gray paint and
> panels in
> red, yellow, blue, or white.
> 
> Models 10 and 12 were available with the dual programming feature (DPF),
> which
> wasn't as sophisticated as the Model 15's partitioning.  I believe the
> maximum
> total memory size for DPF systems was the same as DPF systems, 64 KB.
> 
> I remember MRTs (multiple requester program) well.  I avoided them
> whenever
> possible.  I preferred SRTs (single requester program), which wrote to the
> display and ended.  Code to start the next program using program request
> under
> format (PRUF) was left on the display.  When the user pressed ENTER, the
> next
> program would load and process the display's input.  The AS/400 KEEP and
> ASSUME
> DDS keywords are PRUF's legacy.
> 
> I really liked 96 column cards.  They fit completely in my shirt pocket,
> leaving
> my IBM white shirt still looking "elegant."  80 column cards were more
> than
> twice the height of the pocket and hung out sloppily.  Since I worked in
> Phoenix, Arizona, where it gets very hot, I didn't always have a suit
> jacket on
> to cover the unsightly 80 column card.  So, I used 96 column cards
> exclusively!
> 
> I thought DITTO was a utility, not a programming language.  I thought RPG
> one
> was modeled after unit record (wired boards) equipment.
> 
> The hot 1403 printer was the Model N1 (affectionately called Nankeen).  It
> was
> an engineering marvel that printed 1100 lines a minute (still pretty fast,
> I'd
> say).  Like any high performance machine, you had to check the oil or risk
> having it burn out!  The 1403 printer family was used on System/360 and
> earlier
> IBM systems such as 1401 before System/3 came along.
> 
> There is much about System/3 that I remember but have not mentioned. There
> is
> even more that I have forgotten!
> 
> Mel Rothman
> 
> Richard Jackson wrote:
> >
> > That was a challenge.  Here is my reply - originally written to Lisa
> Abney.
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > After about 13 replies to your note below, it should be clear to you
> that
> > there are some awfully forgetful people on this mailing list.
> >
> > They don't remember that RPG I was created to replace DITTO.  That RPG
> one
> > was implemented on 360 and 1130 before System/3.  They didn't point out
> that
> > RPG I didn't permit subroutines.  I'll bet that some of them will tell
> you
> > that that they don't know what DITTO is.  Incredible.  See what the
> passage
> > of time does to memory?
> >
> > Somebody said that CICS ran on a 15D ... NEVER!  (read this next bit
> very
> > fast, in a quiet voice ... Of course, CCP was created by tearing big
> chunks
> > out of the CICS source code and porting it to an 8-bit machine and had
> to be
> > gen'd just like CICS where every file and program that ran under CCP was
> > specified and the memory region and buffers were described and ... well,
> > never mind.)
> >
> > They forgot to mention the legend that the smallest originally-announced
> > System 3 model never shipped because the RPG err, umm, "compiler"
> couldn't
> > be shoehorned into the max memory on the machine.  (Where is Hans Koert
> when
> > you need him ... :)  Or that they were done up in black crinkle paint
> and
> > looked like and antique coffee grinder.
> >
> > Mel mentioned the console on a 15D ... :)  He didn't mention what
> happened
> > if the bolt holding the 5-volt cable to the top of the main gate became
> > loose or if the grounding was correct.  Mel mentioned partitions - BG,
> F2
> > and F2.  Those the only places where stuff could run on a 15D.  Period.
> On
> > models 8, 10, 12 and 15, there was just one thread of execution.  See
> how
> > the memory goes?
> >
> > Nobody mentioned that the 96-column cards were approximately square and
> this
> > made it hard to properly orient them after you dropped a tray - the
> corner
> > cut was important.  Or that the holes were round instead of square which
> > made them easier on the eyes if you threw a handful of scurf at someone.
>  Or
> > that they made crummy book marks and note papers - unlike 80-column
> cards.
> > Nobody mentioned the 10 meg pizza-platter disks.  Nobody mentioned the
> awful
> > tape drives with the slide-up plastic doors - horrible things.  Nobody
> > mentioned that 15Ds used 1403 printers or told you what happened if the
> oil
> > ran low in the printer or talked about programming carriage tapes.
> Nobody
> > mentioned the fact that terminals were VERY heavy and VERY dumb and had
> to
> > be connected the machine using special coax cable with funny BNC
> connectors.
> > Nobody mentioned debugging a CCP gen - not funny given the absence of a
> > debugger and the available documentation.  Only Mel mentioned program
> > overlays - sort of important with that 32K max program size.  Nobody
> > mentioned the almost-undocumented $-sign macro calls used to read and
> write
> > to the displays.  Nobody mentioned MRTs (Is that wailing or moaning I
> > hear?).  Nobody mentioned that the System 3 didn't have a debugger.  Or
> that
> > the 3310/3340 were the original Winchester disk.  Nobody mentioned the
> > rewards of making SORT do everything or the mysteries of making it work
> > right.  Or the days where people didn't trust their disk drives because
> they
> > crashed all the time - remember 2311 and 2314?  Is that crying I hear?
> >
> > See what happens when people have "a lot of experience"?  They forget
> stuff.
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > I'm going to my room now - to look up more terrifying stuff!
> >
> > Richard Jackson
> > mailto:richardjackson@richardjackson.net
> > http://www.richardjacksonltd.com
> > Voice: 1 (303) 808-8058
> > Fax:   1 (303) 663-4325
> >
> > > |-----Original Message-----
> > > |From: owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com
> [mailto:owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com]On
> > > |Behalf Of Norm Dennis
> > > |Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2000 7:40 PM
> > > |To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
> > > |Subject: Re: System 3 Code
> > > |
> > > |
> > > |> I have a long satirical reply to this about how "very
> > > |experienced" people
> > > |> are forgetful - but it doesn't matter.
> > > |
> > > |Richard,
> > > |go to your room until you learn to respect your elders. <VBG>
> > > |
> > > |
> > > |Norm
> > > |
> > > |__________________________________________________
> > > |
> > > |Western Midrange Software Services Pty Ltd
> > > |Office Telephone: +61 8 9312 1995
> > > |Mobile Telephone: 0417 659 914
> > > |Web Site: http://www.iinet.net.au/~wmss
> > > |__________________________________________________
> > > |
> > > |
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