larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (06/09/90)
I recently acquired two complete Honeywell DPS-6/36 computer
systems at an extremely low price, primarily because I could utilize
the CPU rack cabinets and peripherals for other purposes. Before I
destroy the CPU's, however, I would be interested in knowing what type
of commercial application software is available for these machines.
Since these machines are in unusually good condition, were maintained
directly by Honeywell and were in service as of a few days ago, I
thought I would at least explore that possibility. I suspect, however,
that it would be impracticable to utilize these systems for any new
application such as inventory control or MRP.
I am curious as to the nature of the OS, since these are multi-user
systems with two and four terminals apiece.
I would also like to obtain a programmer's manual on the Honeywell
VIP-7301 terminals. I have a user's guide for the terminals which does
list some escape codes and the option switch settings, but it does not
contain the desired level of detail. While the terminals are obviously
not ANSI, they are of interest for some test applications since they
contain both an RS-232 and RS-422 interface, with the latter being of
particular utility.
In addition, I would like to obtain some hardware manuals on the
CPU since the rack-mounted power supply may have some other utility.
If anyone has the above documentation available, I would pay a
reasonable cost for its shipping and reproduction.
Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. "Have you hugged your cat today?"
{boulder||decvax||rutgers||watmath}!acsu.buffalo.edu!kitty!larry
VOICE: 716/688-1231 || FAX: 716/741-9635 {utzoo||uunet}!/ \aerion!larrygilham@csl.sri.com (Fred Gilham) (06/12/90)
I used these machines (DPS-6) at a previous job (with Underwriters Laboratories in Santa Clara, CA). DPS-6 machines use the GCOS operating system, a descendent of Multics, which contains built-in database functionality; for example, you can create multiple (alternate) indexes on the same file; you get operating-system-level record locking, etc. They also have built-in forms and other screen-formatting capabilities when used with Honeywell terminals. It is a very powerful system. It is not virtual memory, but it does support swapping if you set it up for that. It does support protected address spaces. You can get various application software such as the INFO 4th generation language. A company called Independent Computer Systems (I think they are in Phoenix) also sells canned applications. I would think inventory control would be a perfect application for these systems (I don't know what MRP is). You might want to contact Underwriters Laboratories in Mellville on Long Island. They used DPS-6 computers and may still do so. They are not on the internet. -- Fred Gilham gilham@csl.sri.com Are Saturday morning cartoons proof that adults hate kids? Answer: Yes. (From "Life in Hell")