On Mon 11 Dec 2017 at 08:34:41 (-0800), James H. H. Lampert wrote: > On 12/11/17, 7:04 AM, Joe wrote: > >The rigid platters of IBM cartridges and packs (the things you see in > >computer rooms in films) did have brown oxide coatings. The surface of > >each 12 inch platter side stored a magnificent 2.5MB, or at least the > >version I used did. It was used in a system with an embedded DG Nova, > >and a competitive product of the time used the modern 8 inch floppy > >discs... > > The student timeshare systems my high school used (running the > McGill University MUSIC operating system) while I was a student > there (an IBM 370/135 at the District Office) and shortly after I > graduated (an on-site IBM 4341) used Merlin drives.
Or, even older, the IBM 1130 came with cartridges (like pizza boxes) that held about 1 MB. The platter surface looked much like ¼” reel-to-reel tape. One drive was built-in, and we had a 2310 floor-standing unit holding two more, all removable. (Photo 4 in the reference has two of the latter.) The other peripherals we had were paper tape reader/punch, a Calcomp 30” drum plotter and ½” tape of some sort. Of the two systems we had, one was built inside a container on air-mounts and travelled on the deck of ocean-going research vessels. Cheers, David.
