IBM 1400 series
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The IBM 1400 series was a family of second generation (transistorized) mid-range business computers that IBM sold in the early 1960s as a replacement for unit record equipment.
1400-series machines stored information in magnetic cores as variable length character strings terminated by a special flag. Arithmetic was performed character-by-character. Input and output was on punch card, magnetic tape and high speed line printers. Disk storage was also available.
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[edit] History
The 1401 was the first member of the IBM 1400 series. The IBM 1410 was a similar design, but with a larger address space. The last member was the IBM 1460, logically but not physically identical to a fully optioned 1401 with 16,000 bytes of memory.
Members of the 1400 series included:
- IBM 1240 - 1963 banking system.
- IBM 1401 - 1959
- IBM 1410 - 1960
- IBM 1420 - 1962 high-speed bank transit system.
- IBM 1440 - 1962
- IBM 1450 - ?
- IBM 1460 - 1963
- IBM 7010 - 1962
[edit] Programming Languages
Programming languages for the 1400 series included Symbolic Programming System (SPS, an assembly language), Autocoder (assembly language), COBOL, FORTRAN, Report Program Generator (RPG) and FARGO.
[edit] Retirement
The 1400 series was replaced by System/360 and low end machines like IBM System 3 and subsequently the System/32, System/34, System/36, System/38 and AS/400.
The 1400's were officially withdrawn in the early 1970s, however some 1400-series peripherals were still sold with third generation systems.
An IBM 1401 computer is being restored to full operationals status by the Computer History Museum.
[edit] References
- IBM Archives: Pre-360 IBM Mainframe Family tree & chronology.
- IBM (April, 1969). Catalog of Programs for IBM 1240-1401-1420-1440-1450 and 1460. C20-1601-9.
- IBM (October, 1967). IBM 1401 and 1460 Bibliography. A24-1495-4. A source for 1401, 1460 components.
- IBM (n.d.). IBM 1410/7010 Bibliography. A22-6826-4. A source for 1410/7010 components.
[edit] External Links
- Many IBM 1400 series manuals are online (pdf files) at http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/14xx/.
