
Iconic consoles of the IBM System/360 mainframes, 55 years old today - matt_d
http://www.righto.com/2019/04/iconic-consoles-of-ibm-system360.html
======
spectramax
60's and 70's IBM was a tour de force. They're one of the first companies to
realize that Design is an integral part of business and Design is not
decoration. This was a top-down push, IBM was blessed by Eliot Noyes [1] the
executive who had an architecture degree from Harvard Graduate School of
Design. IBM proved to the world that everything from corporate logo (designed
by Paul Rand) to their product design, stationary, building design, ...
everything needs to feel uniform and part of the same company.

IBM System 360 was a pinnacle of design, brainchild of Eliot Noyes along with
many other products from IBM.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Noyes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Noyes)

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reaperducer
Fun seeing that Model 20. The first commercial web site I ever built was in
1995. When I'd go up front to check the office fax machine or get some printer
paper, I'd see the accounting department's S/360 sitting there, and wonder if
I'd ever get to work on a "real" computer like that one.

Of course, by '95 the Model 20 was an ancient piece of junk, but it looked
like serious business compared to what I was doing goofing off with this
"world wide web" thing.

~~~
rbanffy
Five nines on a single CPU is hardly junk ;-)

But in 95, I'd guess it should be a 370.

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tyingq
Somewhat related, and mentioned here before, the project to recreate a
functional scaled down front panel of the PDP-11 was really impressive.

Image:
[https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce503a_7fce2e8386554dd1b8...](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce503a_7fce2e8386554dd1b8e37d87dfb6866e~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_916,h_892,al_c,q_90/ce503a_7fce2e8386554dd1b8e37d87dfb6866e~mv2.webp)

Project:
[https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11](https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11)

~~~
dmix
Mobile chrome has an annoying behaviour where it downloads all .webp image
files via direct link instead of opening them as images in the browser. Seems
to be an odd choice considering chrome’s otherwise support for them.

~~~
colejohnson66
I removed everything after the .jpg and it fixed it.
[https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce503a_7fce2e8386554dd1b8...](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce503a_7fce2e8386554dd1b8e37d87dfb6866e~mv2.jpg)

~~~
dmix
Thanks, I just wanted to complain

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protomyth
If you have the chance, take a look at the assembly for the 360/370\. It
actually made a lot more sense than the 8086. When I was in college, the
Assembly class was on a 370 and I did love the documentation including the
banana book (
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/dabcanboulet/131534936](https://www.flickr.com/photos/dabcanboulet/131534936)
).

~~~
CountHackulus
As of about 10 years ago they still made those reference cards. And you're
right about it making more sense than the 8086 if others are interested what
you want to look for is the Principle of Operations document. I could only
find the one for z9[1] but z13 is the latest mainframe out and there should be
some somewhere.

Another interesting thing is that while you can technically run a version of
Linux on these mainframe, most of them run z/OS with Unix System Services. So
it acts somewhat familiar but you're sometimes forced to boot up a 3270
terminal emulator to connect and do some non-unix things.

[1]
[https://www.ibm.com/support/libraryserver/download/dz9zr006....](https://www.ibm.com/support/libraryserver/download/dz9zr006.pdf)

~~~
fjeremic
The latest one is for z14 [1] and is a very well organized document for
compiler writers. I reference it daily while working on the Eclipse OpenJ9
project. Indeed from day to day we mainly work on Linux (Ubuntu 18.04) on our
z14 mainframes.

[1]
[https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg2b9de5f05a...](https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg2b9de5f05a9d57819852571c500428f9a)

~~~
CountHackulus
Oh interesting, that's definitely changed since I was writing compilers for Z.
Neat!

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closeparen
It’s shocking to see serviceability and debugability as such a central part of
the design and facade. These days most companies seem institutionally
incapable of comprehending that failure is even possible. Customer support
only exists to tell you how you’re using it wrong. Compare front and center
observability of internal state vs. today’s hermetically sealed “just works”
platforms and it’s clear that a monumental shift has taken place. I’m grateful
that modern CPUs still support breakpoints.

~~~
adzicg
It’s not “these days”, that problem has been with humans since the start of
civilisation. Douglas Adams has a fantastic quote about it:

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that
cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong
goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.

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zaroth
In just 55 years, this is like looking at alien technology compared to what we
use today. Humans are notorious for looking at the incredible advancements of
technology in the previous few decades and then saying, "and now we're done".

The idea that what we have _today_ could seem as ancient and antiquated as
what we had 55 years ago seems now; it is truly hard to fathom.

~~~
empyrean
Maybe it won't? I think it's unrealistic to assume that computer technology
will continue to see the kind of exponential growth it has seen in the last 50
or so years. Of course, I don't have hard evidence to back up my claim but I
feel like most processes exhibit diminishing returns after a while.

~~~
tluyben2
Go on Youtube and watch 'The Computer Chronicles', especially the very old
episodes. You can see that many people thought the same thing 30-40-odd year
ago. Many experts and CEO's and visionaries on the show say things like 'that
will never be feasible' for this and that reason. Smart people on the
forefront of computer tech at that time.

I do feel the same way as you do though, but I am from the 70s and I am very
careful in saying things like that (like you are by the way).

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analog31
It's interesting that the people are wearing short sleeves, because it was
usually freezing in the computer room. Also deafening. The amount of air
conditioning needed to cool the computers also resulted in keeping it fairly
cold in the room.

~~~
tyingq
Had me curious, so I found the installation manuals. Apparently they recommend
75F, so perhaps not too cold:
[http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/360/fe/GC22-6820-12_System_...](http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/360/fe/GC22-6820-12_System_360_Installation_Manual_Physical_Planning.pdf)

Though I've certainly been in some cold raised floor environments.

~~~
analog31
Thinking about it more, one possibility is that they kept rolling in more and
more efficient machines, but never updated the HVAC system. Also, if the floor
isn't well sealed, i.e., missing tiles, the room will be colder than
necessary.

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kensai
I wonder if someone can build a web-based "simulated" version of one of those
360 mainframe consoles so we can play around with the switches and lights and
get the feeling of it.

I wish I could!

~~~
kens
I'm actually working on a web-based Model 50 right now. Bitsavers has most of
the necessary documentation, but if anyone has the ALDs (automated logic
diagrams) let me know.

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ngcc_hk
I was surprise to see the meter. I thought they use punch card to measure
usage (and have a major antitrust case on this).

For the comment, it never was that cold except when I have to install the
machine OS, when other part has not been installed yet and tile is open.
Noisy. Very noisy though.

 __*

Wish there were more history though. That is too long ago.

First use of IBM is already 4381. By the time I Am the system administrator of
one, it was using LPAR and ESCON I believe. Can’t remember the series. So
enjoy then the assembler can have more than 24 bits. ESA I believe. But the
mainframe people attitude is hard to get around to (even though I should be).
I bought a pocket PC to calc (hp dos) and was attacked by everything like i
being evil to the heaven.

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drakenot
What kind of "business reports" did these things process? I'm curious what
application for your typical business was high value enough to be worth all
this complexity and cost.

~~~
kens
Businesses used punch cards for accounting, payroll, inventory, taxes,
billing, and lots of similar applications. Way before computers, back to the
early 1900s, businesses used electromechanical accounting machine to process
punch card data. By 1944, there were over 10,000 of these accounting machines
in use. Low-end computers often were a replacement for these accounting
machines. The language RPG (Report Program Generator) was often used to
generate business reports.

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gtycomb
There are lessons to learn from it. The dials, knobs, sliders, the whole shape
of the thing -- the gravitas, speaks oodles of cash and it looks well worth it
to a CIO. These days we have web pages. A web page with right look and feel
can mint money too.

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JdeBP
Duplicate discussion at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19598389](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19598389)
.

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purplezooey
I hope that lady with the metal bracelets was careful that they didn't slide
forward and short out something.

~~~
pjc50
It would have been a serious design failure to have shortable parts on the
operator front panel.

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wyclif
Wow, that IBM System/360 Model 85 is sexy af.

