Burroughs B1955

From: Hans B PUFAL <hansp_at_citem.org>
Date: Fri Jul 23 11:34:46 2004

Al Kossow wrote:

> If people are curious about the details, I've been scanning a LOT
> of 19xx material lately. The 1955 was the last of the 1000 series
> to have a control panel with lights and switches, too (it is under
> the right front door in the main cpu cabinet) and has the classic
> panel layout of the earier models which were visible on the front.

I would definitely second any attempt to save this system. The 1900 had
a quite unique architecture with bit addressable main memory and what
could be construed as dynamic microcode. Definitely an interesting machine.

An anecdote : I used to work for Burroughs doing software support for
the B1900 series in Europe. One day at a Burroughs office in Brussels,
one of the center staff complained to me that their B1900 would
occasionally halt requiring a reboot. Halts were programmed and the
reason was displayed on the console panel as a pattern of lights. I ask
him what the halt code was. His reply "Oh some of the lights are on, and
some are off" Needless to say I was not motivated to find out what
their problem was.

I am in touch with some of my ex-colleagues in Belgium where I worked
and will see if they have any docs which might be helpful.

    -- HansP
Received on Fri Jul 23 2004 - 11:34:46 BST