"Nico de Jong" <nico_at_farumdata.dk> wrote:
>My first encounter with 8" floppies was with a S/370, IIRC.
>There was a vertical floppy drive near the top of the system.
>What was that used for ? Microcode, diagnostics, .... ?
If the system was a bench-height, long box with the drive at one end, it was
most likely a 4341 or 4361. If so, the answer to your question is "All of
the above and more."
It normally did the IMPL (Initial Micro-Program Load) and was also used to
load diagnostics when required. It could also be used to load data from
data-entry system diskettes (e.g 3741/3742). There was also a feature/RPQ
that added a second drive "piggy backed" on the first one that was dedicated
to data entry.
If you needed to do bulk reading of diskettes, there was a channel-attached
box (that I forget the number of) that had a hopper on the top to take
stacks of diskettes.
--
Don Hills (dmhills at attglobaldotnet) Wellington, New Zealand
It's ironic that people who are too smart to engage in politics
are governed by people who are not as smart.
Received on Tue Aug 17 2004 - 00:37:44 BST