Ancestors

Toot

Written by nt on 2024-08-14 at 12:53

My latest model! This is an IBM Series\1 with a 5251 terminal. This is a 1:12 scale model! Any of you worked with or on one if these back in the days? What was it used for where you worked?

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Descendants

Written by The Secretbatcave on 2024-08-14 at 13:24

@6502B most excellent work!

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Written by Richard Matthias on 2024-08-14 at 13:34

@6502B wow, that's super cool! Love it!

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Written by Ding Dang Trevor Flowers on 2024-08-14 at 13:35

@6502B That's gorgeous work. So much detail for 1:12! Thank you for sharing.

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Written by tuban_muzuru on 2024-08-14 at 14:16

@trevorflowers @6502B

... Isn't that wonderful?

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Written by 4everpushingaboulder on 2024-08-14 at 13:52

@6502B #mastercard wrote their remote authorization network software to run on a IBM Series 1. They called it a MIP (MasterCard interface Processor) and they were deployed at member banks globally.

I worked on a project in 1999-2000 to replace them all at end of life.

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Written by nt on 2024-08-14 at 15:34

@boulder so it ran until 2000? thats amazing

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Written by 4everpushingaboulder on 2024-08-14 at 16:53

@6502B We started replacing them with Intel 486 and then Pentium processors. The last few stragglers took until 99-00. As I recall they had issues porting the code due to the page file size limits on the Series/1.

This discussion is bringing back some old trauma…Y2K prep, migration from bisync and token ring to TCP/IP :pensive_party_blob:

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Written by yakkoj 🦊 on 2024-08-14 at 14:11

@6502B there were military versions of this system. In USAF, a hardened version of this ran a messaging system for the Minuteman II. I worked on that system in my first enlistment.

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Written by nt on 2024-08-14 at 15:35

@yakkoj thats really cool, I imagine a lot of your work you can't talk about considering the context?

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Written by tuban_muzuru on 2024-08-14 at 14:15

@6502B

Series/1 was a really good line controller for complex assembly lines. Think of it as a PLC on steroids.

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Written by jgeorge on 2024-08-14 at 14:39

@6502B I have working 5251 terminals in our workshop right now, connected to an IBM System/34. i love your work!

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Written by nt on 2024-08-14 at 15:36

@jgeorge nice!

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Written by 𝓓 𝓑 𝓒𝓸𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓻 on 2024-08-14 at 15:16

@6502B

We had 2 rooms each containing 30 of these dual-floppy beauties. Took an age to boot them all up from a DOS disk and then load the PAFEC CAD software ready for students to use.

These were not networked at the time (1995ish) 👀

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Written by Victor von Void on 2024-08-14 at 15:17

@6502B Awesome!!! 👍

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Written by lyam23 on 2024-08-14 at 15:32

@6502B cool model! Do you document your builds on video? I'd subscribe in a heartbeat if you did.

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Written by nt on 2024-08-14 at 15:39

@lyam23 I have a few older build on youtube https://www.youtube.com/@Miniatua

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Written by kcǃ on 2024-08-14 at 15:46

@6502B 🤩

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Written by GezThePez on 2024-08-14 at 16:13

@6502B a thing of beauty

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Written by Timo Grün on 2024-08-14 at 16:26

@6502B

This is stunningly good. I hope you get orders from film makers.

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Written by J. Brian Coyle on 2024-08-14 at 16:37

@6502B

(Waves hand) I worked on the Series/1 - first as an operator for a mortgage company followed by a programmer (EDL & COBOL). From there I went to Kmart Corporate where I was responsible for the Series/1s that controlled the conveyor systems in the distribution centers around the US.

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Written by Mota on 2024-08-14 at 16:52

@6502B NEAT

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Written by Mark Levison on 2024-08-14 at 17:09

@6502B PDP 11/03 or bust

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Written by nt on 2024-08-14 at 17:14

@mlevison PDP11 was definitely more popular at the time I think

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Written by Weasel on 2024-08-14 at 17:45

@6502B

In the mid-1980's we ported the LOCUS operating system (a clustered UNIX based on 4.1 BSD) from the VAX to the Series 1 and the IBM 370, then later the PS/2. IBM sold the latter as AIX/370 and AIX/PS2; I don't think the Series 1 port ever saw the light of day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_Computing_Corporation#AIX_for_IBM_PS/2_and_System/370

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Written by Tom Lyon ✅ on 2024-08-14 at 21:48

@weaselx86 @6502B Of course there was the Cleveland State port of UNIX, which gave us the "NUXI" term. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/358476.358504

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Written by TrickTim '25 on 2024-08-14 at 18:27

@6502B

Good lord- the casters!!

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Written by lolonurse on 2024-08-14 at 19:42

@6502B

I don't know what kinds of computers the ones I had to deal with were. The first ones were terminals at the nurses' stations, and all we could do on them was request medications from the pharmacy. (Around 1984) Then, around 1992-ish, I was a case manager, had to enter interviews w/patients. I was in NY, mainframe was in FL. Any errors, entire system flashed red, said FATAL ERROR - this is NOT something that makes a nurse comfortable! I hate computers!!!

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Written by nt on 2024-08-14 at 20:08

@lolonurse these kind of system were not as friendly as computers are now for non computer people I imagine

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Written by lolonurse on 2024-08-14 at 20:47

@6502B

Absolutely! They were not end-user friendly at all!

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Written by Stone Bear :HeartGenderqueer: on 2024-08-14 at 19:47

@6502B We didn't have that, we had something I think a little newer... a System 3/15 with a 3741 data station and five removable disk packs... two of which we rotated out for backup purposes. And by "we" I meant the county bank for whom I was an intern for a school year... oh, and we also had a chain printer, and a big cheque sorter. It's where I learnt just how efficient a radix sort can be....

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Written by nt on 2024-08-14 at 20:09

@stonebear chain printers printed so fast!

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Written by Andreas Fink on 2024-08-14 at 21:02

@6502B @aka_pugs i think I touched one at a customer site. It was doing payroll calculation, stock management, invoicing etc. Had a very loud hammer printer and IIRC a 9inc floppy disk. Around 1983

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Written by myrmepropagandist on 2024-08-14 at 21:07

@6502B

Do you have anything in 1:144 suitable for my ants?

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Written by nt on 2024-08-14 at 21:32

@futurebird smaller ive done is 1:16 ;)

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Written by myrmepropagandist on 2024-08-14 at 22:09

@6502B

It's so hard to meet their needs. Although... perhaps I should consider why ants would want computers and wielding equipment more rather than just looking for something suitable?

Nah. I'm certain it's fine.

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Written by John Maxwell on 2024-08-14 at 22:54

@futurebird @6502B To which I can only reply https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1989/10/20

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Written by Barry Goldman on 2024-08-15 at 02:47

@futurebird @6502B there was a think way back in the golden age of twitter of REALLY MINIATURE lab ware... ants would love that

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Written by Gorgeous na Shock! on 2024-08-15 at 03:14

@futurebird @6502B What would ants want with a computer? (Asked rhetorically in my best "What would God want with a starship?" voice.)

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Written by astroPug on 2024-08-14 at 21:20

@6502B

This is just, pardon me, so cute! And so well done!

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Written by Christopher Zarrella on 2024-08-14 at 21:26

@6502B Bisync communications at first. Then Async (Zmodem protocol) was added. Early 90s.

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Written by Xavier Ashe :donor: on 2024-08-14 at 21:30

@6502B When I was a kid in the 80s, the coolest person at my dad's office was the IT manager. While everyone was boring, he had a ponytail! And he had all these fun toys, including old terminals like the 5251. I do remember helping him create custom cables (maybe RSC-232 cables?) for the terminals. That was waaay much more fun than stacking and ordering the punch cards.

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Written by nt on 2024-08-14 at 21:33

@Xavier fun memories

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Written by mike on 2024-08-14 at 21:35

@6502B That's amazing work! Love it.

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Written by PalmAndNeedle on 2024-08-14 at 22:44

@6502B coooooool :blobcataww:

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Written by Janice in GA on 2024-08-15 at 01:50

@6502B @IAmDannyBoling I serviced a crapton of 5251 terminals back in the day, when I was an IBM CE. Mostly keyboards, I guess. Each key had a replaceable switch, so it was easy. I was trained on S/1 too, but never worked in that many. Sears and Walmart ran stores on them bk in the early 90s.

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Written by 2¢ on 2024-08-15 at 11:02

@6502B I used BPPF for development in assembly lang. Production ran under a custom OS we developed in-house. Later used EDX and RPS. Financial services and clinical med lab clients. Debugging done with the membrane panel with the 16 bit lamps and the hex digits. Fond memories.

I scanned the Princ of Op book before tossing it several years ago. Want a copy?

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Written by nt on 2024-08-15 at 14:33

@Qbitzerre Since I'm done with this project I don't really need it, but you should definitely upload these documents to internet archives to preserve them if they aren't already on there!

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Written by 2¢ on 2024-08-15 at 11:03

@6502B do you have any 8" floppies?

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Written by nt on 2024-08-15 at 14:34

@Qbitzerre A real one? no, I have 5.25 floppies, I have a collection of personal computers from the 80s, but nothing from the 70s

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Written by 2¢ on 2024-08-15 at 14:53

@6502B based on your moniker, I'd assumed you have an Apple II.

The manual has no colorful renderings like your detailed models anyway. It's basically documentation of the instruction set.

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Written by nt on 2024-08-15 at 19:00

@Qbitzerre Actually I am more of an Atari collector :)

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Written by Greg Maletic on 2024-08-16 at 08:09

@6502B I didn’t work with this terminal — somehow, I’m not sure I could even identify what I worked with; how is that possible — but I love that you’re documenting this era.

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Written by Alien software, human hardware on 2024-08-19 at 21:30

@6502B holy shit. How?

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Written by Trash Panda on 2024-08-22 at 13:46

@6502B@mastodon.social Where do you get this stuff?

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Written by nt on 2024-08-23 at 03:50

@raccoon I make it myself

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Written by EndlessMason on 2024-08-23 at 09:16

This is perfect, only missing the lady in the lab coat

@6502B

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Written by Paul. on 2024-08-23 at 11:35

@6502B Wow. That's incredible. My first job used 5251s, on an S/34 and later S/36. I was a system operator / programmer then, working at a freight forwarding company. We ran EVERYTHING on that machine, and installing a new terminal was quite the adventure, with the COAX cable.

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Written by Paul. on 2024-08-23 at 14:15

@6502B Fun fact of the 5251 keyboard (which weighed more than the average modern laptop): we used to screw the buzzer loose and wrap that in paper and sellotape, to quiet that noise down a bit. 😅 The system console kept buzzing, so that was definitely needed to stay sane.

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Written by G.l.e.n.n N.o.l.a.n on 2024-08-25 at 00:33

@6502B

Stupendous.