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GE-400 Series
The GE-400 series were time-sharing Information Systems computers by General Electric introduced in 1964 and shipped until 1968. System description The GE-400 series (Compatibles/400) came in models: 415, 425, 435 (1964), 455 and 465. GE-400 systems had a word length of 24 bits which could contain binary data, four six-bit BCD characters, three eight-bit (ASCII) characters or four signed decimal digits. GE-400 systems had magnetic-core memory with a cycle time of 2.7 microseconds (435) or 5.1 microseconds (425). The 425 and 435 had memory of 32k (32,768) words and 64k (65,536) words, respectively. The 455 and 465 had memory of 32k (32,768) words and 64k (65,536) words, respectively. As today's computers use bytes to designate memory size, the memory sizes of the GE-400 would be 98,304 bytes and 196,608 bytes. The systems supported up to eight channels for input/output. The GE-425 GE-435 were batch computers with no communication capabilities. The GE-455 and GE-465 were the tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the years, the company had multiple divisions, including GE Aerospace, aerospace, GE Power, energy, GE HealthCare, healthcare, lighting, locomotives, appliances, and GE Capital, finance. In 2020, GE ranked among the Fortune 500, ''Fortune'' 500 as the 33rd largest firm in the United States by gross revenue. In 2023, the company was ranked 64th in the Forbes Global 2000, ''Forbes'' Global 2000. In 2011, GE ranked among the Fortune 20 as the 14th most profitable company, but later very severely underperformed the market (by about 75%) as its profitability collapsed. Two employees of GE—Irving Langmuir (1932) and Ivar Giaever (1973)—have been awarded the Nobel Prize. From 1986 until 2013, GE was the owner of the NBC television network through its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Time-sharing
In computing, time-sharing is the Concurrency (computer science), concurrent sharing of a computing resource among many tasks or users by giving each Process (computing), task or User (computing), user a small slice of CPU time, processing time. This quick switch between tasks or users gives the illusion of Parallel computing, simultaneous execution. It enables computer multitasking, multi-tasking by a single user or enables multiple-user sessions. Developed during the 1960s, its emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s represented a major technological shift in the history of computing. By allowing many users to interact concurrent computing, concurrently with a single computer, time-sharing dramatically lowered the cost of providing computing capability, made it possible for individuals and organizations to use a computer without owning one, and promoted the Interactive computing, interactive use of computers and the development of new interactive application ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
24-bit
Notable 24-bit machines include the CDC 924 – a 24-bit version of the CDC 1604, CDC lower 3000 series, SDS 930 and SDS 940, the ICT 1900 series, the Elliott 4100 series, and the Datacraft minicomputers/ Harris H series. The term SWORD is sometimes used to describe a 24-bit data type with the S prefix referring to sesqui. The range of unsigned integers that can be represented in 24 bits is 0 to 16,777,215 ( in hexadecimal). The range of signed integers that can be represented in 24 bits is −8,388,608 to 8,388,607. Usage The IBM System/360, announced in 1964, was a popular computer system with 24-bit addressing and 32-bit general registers and arithmetic. The early 1980s saw the first popular personal computers, including the IBM PC/AT with an Intel 80286 processor using 24-bit addressing and 16-bit general registers and arithmetic, and the Apple Macintosh 128K with a Motorola 68000 processor featuring 24-bit addressing and 32-bit registers. The eZ80 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BCD (6-bit)
BCD (''binary-coded decimal''), also called alphanumeric BCD, alphameric BCD, BCD Interchange Code, or BCDIC, is a family of representations of numerals, uppercase Latin letters, and some special and control characters as six-bit character codes. Unlike later encodings such as ASCII, BCD codes were not standardized. Different computer manufacturers, and even different product lines from the same manufacturer, often had their own variants, and sometimes included unique characters. Other six-bit encodings with completely different mappings, such as some FIELDATA variants or Transcode, are sometimes incorrectly termed BCD. Many variants of BCD encode the characters '0' through '9' as the corresponding binary values. History Technically, ''binary-coded decimal'' describes the encoding of decimal numbers where each decimal digit is represented by a fixed number of bits, usually four. With the introduction of the '' IBM card'' in 1928, IBM created a code capable of representing al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ASCII
ASCII ( ), an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for representing a particular set of 95 (English language focused) printable character, printable and 33 control character, control characters a total of 128 code points. The set of available punctuation had significant impact on the syntax of computer languages and text markup. ASCII hugely influenced the design of character sets used by modern computers; for example, the first 128 code points of Unicode are the same as ASCII. ASCII encodes each code-point as a value from 0 to 127 storable as a seven-bit integer. Ninety-five code-points are printable, including digits ''0'' to ''9'', lowercase letters ''a'' to ''z'', uppercase letters ''A'' to ''Z'', and commonly used punctuation symbols. For example, the letter is represented as 105 (decimal). Also, ASCII specifies 33 non-printing control codes which originated with ; most of which are now obsolete. The control cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnetic-core Memory
In computing, magnetic-core memory is a form of random-access memory. It predominated for roughly 20 years between 1955 and 1975, and is often just called core memory, or, informally, core. Core memory uses toroids (rings) of a hard magnetic material (usually a Ferrite (magnet)#Semi-hard ferrites, semi-hard ferrite). Each core stores one bit of information. Two or more wires pass through each core, forming an X-Y array of cores. When an electrical current above a certain threshold is applied to the wires, the core will become magnetized. The core to be assigned a value – or ''written'' – is selected by powering one X and one Y wire to half of the required current, such that only the single core at the intersection is written. Depending on the direction of the currents, the core will pick up a clockwise or counterclockwise magnetic field, storing a 1 or 0. This writing process also causes electricity to be electromagnetic induction, induced into nearby wires. If t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Channel I/O
In computing, channel I/O is a high-performance input/output (I/O) architecture that is implemented in various forms on a number of computer architectures, especially on mainframe computers. In the past, channels were generally implemented with custom devices, variously named channel, I/O processor, I/O controller, I/O synchronizer, or '' DMA controller''. Overview Many I/O tasks can be complex and require logic to be applied to the data to convert formats and other similar duties. In these situations, the simplest solution is to ask the CPU to handle the logic, but because I/O devices are relatively slow, a CPU could waste time waiting for the data from the device. This situation is called 'I/O bound'. Channel architecture avoids this problem by processing some or all of the I/O task without the aid of the CPU by offloading the work to dedicated logic. Channels are logically self-contained, with sufficient logic and working storage to handle I/O tasks. Some are powerful or fle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DATANET-30
The DATANET-30, or DN-30 for short, was a computer manufactured by General Electric designed in 1961-1963 to be used as a communications computer. It was later used as a front-end processor for data communications. It became the first front end communications computer. The names on the patent were Don Birmingham, Bob McKenzie, Bud Pine, and Bill Hill. The first freestanding installations beginning in 1963 were Chrysler Corporation message switching systems, replacing Teletype punched tape systems. In 1964, acting as a front end processor along with an interface to the GE-225 computer, a professor at Dartmouth College developed the BASIC programming language. Multiple teletype units were attached to be the first time-sharing system. The DATANET-30 used magnetic-core memory with a cycle time of 6.94 μs. The word size was 18 bits and memory was available in sizes of 4K, 8K, or 16K words. The system could attach up to 128 asynchronous terminals, nominally at speeds of up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Process Control
Industrial process control (IPC) or simply process control is a system used in modern manufacturing which uses the principles of control theory and physical industrial control systems to monitor, control and optimize continuous Industrial processes, industrial production processes using control algorithms. This ensures that the industrial machines run smoothly and safely in factories and efficiently use energy to transform raw materials into high-quality finished products with reliable consistency while reducing Efficient energy use#Industry, energy waste and economic costs, something which could not be achieved purely by human manual control. In IPC, control theory provides the theoretical framework to understand system dynamics, predict outcomes and design control strategies to ensure predetermined objectives, utilizing concepts like feedback loops, stability analysis and controller design. On the other hand, the physical apparatus of IPC, based on automation technologies, cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Accumulator (computing)
In a computer's central processing unit (CPU), the accumulator is a register in which intermediate arithmetic logic unit results are stored. Without a register like an accumulator, it would be necessary to write the result of each calculation (addition, multiplication, shift, etc.) to cache or main memory, perhaps only to be read right back again for use in the next operation. Accessing memory is slower than accessing a register like an accumulator because the technology used for the large main memory is slower (but cheaper) than that used for a register. Early electronic computer systems were often split into two groups, those with accumulators and those without. Modern computer systems often have multiple general-purpose registers that can operate as accumulators, and the term is no longer as common as it once was. However, to simplify their design, a number of special-purpose processors still use a single accumulator. Basic concept Mathematical operations often take ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GE-600 Series
The GE-600 series is a family of 36-bit Mainframe computer, mainframe computers originating in the 1960s, built by General Electric (GE). When GE left the mainframe business, the line was sold to Honeywell, which built similar systems into the 1990s as the division moved to Groupe Bull and then NEC. The system is perhaps best known as the hardware used by the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System (DTSS) and the Multics operating system. Multics was supported by virtual memory additions made in the GE 645. Architecture The 600-series CPU operates on 36-bit words, and addresses are 18 bits. The ''Accumulator (computing), accumulator Register'' (AQ) is a 72-bit register that can also be accessed separately as two 36-bit registers (A and Q) or four 18-bit registers (AU,AL,QU,QL). An eight-bit ''Exponent Register'' contain the Exponentiation, exponent for floating-point operations (the Significand, mantissa is in AQ). There are eight eighteen-bit index registers X0 through X7. The 18-bit ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GE-200 Series
GE 210 advertisement from 1960 The GE-200 series was a family of small mainframe computers of the 1960s, built by General Electric (GE). GE marketing called the line ''Compatibles/200'' (GE-205/215/225/235). The GE-210 of 1960 was not compatible with the rest of the 200 series. 200 series models The main machine in the line was the GE-225 (1961). It used a 20-bit word, of which 13 bits could be used for an address. Along with the basic central processing unit (CPU) the system could also have had a floating-point unit (the "Auxiliary Arithmetic Unit"), or a fixed-point decimal option with three six-bit decimal digits per word. It had eleven I/O channel controllers, and GE sold a variety of add-ons including disks, printers, and other devices. The machines were built using discrete transistors, with a typical machine containing about 10,000 transistors and 20,000 diodes. They used magnetic-core memory, and a standard 8 kiloword system held 186,000 magnetic cores. They wei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
