tdonahue@prost.bbn.com (Tim Donahue) (04/14/90)
Can anyone shed some light on the origins of the CDC 1700? The family models included the 1704, 1714, 1774, and 1784 (System 17), and finally the Cyber 18. I believe Cyber 18s were used as RJE stations for SCOPE systems (in particular, the 6400 at Lehigh, where I learned to program...). I later worked on various 1700 family machines in process control systems at Exxon. By the way, the CDC Oil Movement Control systems at the Exxon refineries in Linden, NJ and Baytown, TX, delivered in 1971-1973, remain unrivalled... (No jokes about polluting the Arthur Kill, please; the leaking inter-refinery pipeline was controlled separately...). Cheers, Tim tdonahue@bbn.com
sandee@loligo (Daan Sandee (SCRI)) (04/14/90)
In article <54852@bbn.COM> tdonahue@prost.bbn.com (Tim Donahue) writes: >Can anyone shed some light on the origins of the CDC 1700? The family >models included the 1704, 1714, 1774, and 1784 (System 17), and finally >the Cyber 18. I believe Cyber 18s were used as RJE stations for SCOPE >systems ... More nostalgia ... The 1700 was CDC's first 8-bit byte /ASCII computer, released around 1970. It had 16K (later 32K) of 16-bit words, and was housed in a box as big as a mainframe (6'x8'x2'). It was intended for use as a process control computer in oil and chemical industry, power grids, etc., and was quite popular. The MP-17 was a militarized version which was later developed into the SC-17, or 1784, or System 17 (all more or less the same thing). This actually had integrated circuits instead of single elements. The next generation was the Cyber 18, still software compatible, of which various special purpose versions were development ; like the 734, which was a remote batch entry station, which could also emulate the IBM2780 and was thus sold as the CDC 27801 ; the 2550, the (in)famous communication front end for the Cyber series ; and the MCU (maintenance control unit) for the Cyber 205. All of these boxes (except the MP17) I have had to struggle with over the last seventeen years. Now if I really want to talk of bygone glory, how about a CDC3200 with MSOS4 (foreground/background, locally developed printer spooling, realtime add-ons, etc.)? Daan Sandee sandee@scri1.scri.fsu.edu Supercomputer Computations Research Institute Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052 (904) 644-7045