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Viatron Computer Systems Corporation, or simply Viatron was an American computer company headquartered in
Bedford, Massachusetts Bedford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of Bedford was 14,161 at th2022 United States census History ''The following compilation comes from Ellen Abrams (1999) based on information from Abram Engl ...
, and later
Burlington, Massachusetts Burlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 26,377 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History It is believed that Burlington takes its name from the English town of Bridlington, York ...
. Viatron coined the term "''microprocessor''" although it was not used in the sense in which the word
microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...
is used today. Viatron was founded in 1967 by engineers from
Mitre Corporation The Mitre Corporation (stylized as The MITRE Corporation and MITRE) is an American not-for-profit organization with dual headquarters in Bedford, Massachusetts, and McLean, Virginia. It manages federally funded research and development centers ...
led by Dr. Edward M. Bennett and Dr. Joseph Spiegel. In 1968 the company announced its ''System 21'' small computer system together with its intention to lease the systems starting at a revolutionary price of $40 per month. The basic system included a microprocessor with 512 characters of read/write RAM memory, a keyboard, a CRT display and two cartridge tape drives. The system specifications, advanced for 1968 – five years before the advent of the first commercial personal computers – caused a lot of excitement in the computer industry. The System 21 was aimed, among others, at applications such as
mathematical Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
and
statistical analysis Statistical inference is the process of using data analysis to infer properties of an underlying probability distribution.Upton, G., Cook, I. (2008) ''Oxford Dictionary of Statistics'', OUP. . Inferential statistical analysis infers properties of ...
, business
data processing Data processing is the collection and manipulation of digital data to produce meaningful information. Data processing is a form of ''information processing'', which is the modification (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an o ...
, data entry and media conversion, and educational/classroom use. The expectation was that the use of new large scale integrated circuit technology (LSI) and volume would enable Viatron to be successful at lower margins, however the prototype did not incorporate LSI technology. In 1968 Bennett claimed that by 1972 Viatron would have delivered more "digital machines" than had "previously been installed by all computer makers." He declared "We want to turn out computers like GM turns out Chevvies," The semiconductor industry was unable to produce circuits in the volumes required, forcing Viatron to sell fewer than the planned 5,000–6,000 systems per month. This raised the production costs per unit and prevented the company from ever achieving profitability. Bennet and Spiegel were fired in 1970, and the company declared Chapter XI
bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
in 1971.


System 21 components

As announced the System 21 line consisted of the following: * System 21 Terminal. What would later be called an '' intelligent terminal'', the System 21 terminal included either the 2101 or 2111 microprocessors, a CRT display formatted as four lines of 20 characters with optional color, a keyboard, a control panel, and attachability of up to two peripherals: ** The terminal was equipped with one of two microprocessors. *** 2101 – 512 16-bit words of
read-only memory Read-only memory (ROM) is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be electronically modified after the manufacture of the memory device. Read-only memory is useful for storing sof ...
(ROM), 400 8-bit character read/write
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 magneti ...
. *** 2111 – 1024 16-bit words of read-only memory (ROM), 400 8-bit character read/write magnetic-core memory. ** ''Printing robot'' – fit over the keyboard of a standard IBM Selectric typewriter and generated typed output at 12 characters per second. ** ''Card Reader-punch'' – despite its name this was actually an attachment for an IBM 129 keypunch to provide
punched card A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a stiff paper-based medium used to store digital information via the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Developed over the 18th to 20th centuries, punched cards were widel ...
input and output. ** ''Communications adapter'' – provided serial
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 c ...
communications at 1200 bits per second. ** ''Tape channel attachments'' – provided for attachment of up to two ''"Viatape"'' cartridge recorders, capable of reading and writing 80 character records at 1200 bits per second. So-called ''Computer Compatible tape recorders'',
Magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic ...
units, could also be attached to the tape channel attachments to read and write mini-reels at either 9 track, 800 bpi or 7 track, 556/800 bpi. ** ''Foreign device attachment'' – provided parallel input/output in ASCII or Hollerith punch-card code. * System 21 computers. Two computers were announced with the System 21: the 2140 and the 2150. Both employed a MOS LSI CPU and magnetic core memory. The systems included 2 μs core memory with 16-bit words and a high speed data channel. Computers weighed about . ** The ''2140'' included 4 KW of memory and could support up to 8 local or remote System 21 terminals. ** The ''2150'' included 8 KW of memory and could support up to 24 local or remote System 21 terminals. ** Software. The Viatron Programming System (VPS) came standard with: *** DDL-I (Distributed Data Language I) *** Assembler *** Subroutine library containing input/output, mathematical, arithmetic and conversion routines *** Utility program library containing load, dump, and a library manager *** A FORTRAN IV compiler standard with the 2150.


CPU

The Viatron CPUs differed in memory size and interrupt levels – 2 on the 2140 and 4 on the 2150. They had the ability to operate on 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, or 48-bit data. Three index registers were provided. The CPUs included two independent arithmetic units with different capabilities. * Arithmetic unit I had three 16-bit registers called A, B, and C, and a 16-bit D register which functioned as a buffer. * Arithmetic unit II performed both arithmetic and addressing operations. It had four registers. P was the program counter, R and E were special-purpose, and Q, which was used for 32-bit operations (with A as the high-order word), or 48-bit operations (with A and B). Q also served as the ''multiplier-quotient'' register for multiplication and division. The system had two instruction formats: ''Standard'', 16-bit instructions, and ''Extended'', 32-bit instructions. Standard instructions had a 6-bit operation code, a two-bit index register identifier, and an 8-bit PC-relative address. Extended instructions had a 6-bit operation code, a two-bit index register identifier, an 8-bit operation code modifier, and a 16-bit memory address. Indirect addressing was allowed. There were 85 instructions, some of which had both standard and extended forms: * Arithmetic – add, subtract, multiply and divide * Logical – and, or, exclusive or * Load and Store * Shift and Rotate * Modify memory word and skip on test * Execute input/output * Branching – skip or branch on condition, branch unconditional, branch and store program counter (conditional and unconditional), add to index register and skip on test * Operate – increment/decrement register, ones complement register, negate (twos-complement) register, move register to register, move console switches to register, increment register and skip on test. All the above operate instructions used one or more of registers A, B, or C. There were also wait and a no-operation operate instructions.


Typeface

Viatron commissioned Harry N. Peble to design th
Viafont-X
a patented typeface (1971) readable by both humans and machines, for use in conjunction with the company's optical character recognition devices.


References


External links

* *{{cite web , title=Viatron System 21 Model 2111 Restoration , url=http://vintagecomputer.ca/viatron-system-21-model-2111-restoration/ , website=VintageComputer.ca , date=7 September 2017 Computer companies established in 1967 Computer companies disestablished in 1971 Defunct computer companies based in Massachusetts Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer systems companies Early microcomputers