From: prp@SSD.intel.com (Paul Pierce)
Subject: Re: dinosaur horsepower
Reply-To: prp@SSD.intel.com (Paul Pierce)
Organization: Intel
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 01:16:43 GMT

In article <Bs3oGt.6vp@helios.physics.utoronto.ca>, sysmark@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Mark Bartelt) writes:
|> Larry Stewart's proposal regarding the computer history project prompts
|> me to offer a suggestion for something I'd like to see:  A compendium of
|> old machines, and just how fast (well, slow) they were compared with the
|> systems we use today, and how much they cost when they were new.
|> 
|> A couple days ago I was explaining to my seven-year-old how much things
|> have changed (cost, size, speed) since I first started using computers
|> (1964, on an IBM 709 (the vacuum-tube predecessor of the 7090 and 7094)),
|> and although I could give her a good idea of how *large* the beast was,
|> I realized that I really couldn't give even a vague estimate of relative
|> computational power.  (And I haven't the foggiest idea how much it cost!)

I will now admit to the net the extent of my deranged "hobby": I have a 709.
Actually two. Serial numbers 1 and 30. No, I don't keep them in the basement.

Serial number 30 cost $2.5 million when new (I'm told), and consists of these
pieces. The size of each piece is in "IBM standard fits-in-an-elevator" units,
a bit more floor space than a desk and about 5 feet high:

	Qty Model	Description	Size

	 1   709	CPU	  	  1.25 (folds out into an L shape)
	 1   738	32Kx36 Core mem	  4    (in a T shape, 3 across the top)
	 1   740	Power Dist. Unit  0.75
	 1   741	Power supply (+)  1
	 1   746	Power supply (-)  1
	 1   766	Data channels (2) 1
	 1   711	Card reader	  0.5  (only 3 feet high)
	 1   716	Line printer      1    (only 4 feet high)
	 2   755	Tape control	  1
	14   729-I	Tape drive	  0.5  (like a refrigerator)

I probably have the power supply numbers and/or polarities wrong. The 14 tape
drives are the total number surviving from both systems, I don't know how many
came with each system originally.

The machine can probably be run comfortably in 2000 square feet of floor space.
Electrical power consumption is about 250 KW exclusive of air conditioning.
The weight is about 2000 pounds for each unit of size, although that varies.

The clock is 1MHz, with a fundamental machine cycle time of 12us corresponding
to the memory cycle time. It can do 41,666 additions per second.

Serial number 30 was last used in the mid to late 1970's. The CPU was last
powered up in 1987 before I dismantled it to bring it to Portland. All power
supplies were good, the clock ran, and the 3 main registers would hold data.
The memory wasn't connected, and only the bottom half of the switch register
worked, so it was not possible to check instruction execution.

Serial number 1 is pretty much a basket case, scavenged for spares. Both are
very dirty.

I also have complete hardware documentation, diagnostics on cards and tape,
lots of software manuals, and lots of tapes including IBSYS sources.


|> I suppose if I rummage around in my parents' attic, I may be able to find
|> the box of cards containing the source code from my first computationally
|> intensive program [...]

I would like to obtain a real FORTRAN program for IBSYS on the 709, so if you
find the cards please send me an electronic copy.

I am working on a 709/7090/7094 emulator. Currently it runs the original 709
diagnostics, but not all the 7090 diagnostics and it won't boot IBSYS. It is
written in C and on a 25 MHz 486 box it runs about the same speed as the 709. 

-- 
Paul Pierce			prp@ssd.intel.com
Intel
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers