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Fast, expert computer repair and network service for Ft Lauderdale, Pompano, West Palm
For immediate service call (954) 946-8539

KroyTech LLC	Phone: (954) 946-8539
Kroy Ellis	Email: [email protected]
4550 NW 18th Ave #205
Pompano Beach, FL 33064

IBM System 3 / Model 10 IBM System 3/10 in 1975. Left to right: Printer, CPU (Central Processing Unit), system console, MFCU (Multi-Function Card Unit) 96 column card processor and disk drive cabinet (bottom right corner). Thanks to Jim Watt for the System 3 photo! Jim's comment: "I took the picture before leaving. Its the only picture I had of the beast I spent hours with and rather liked. I had it running with a 1200bps modem, state of the art!" More photos and details: IBM, Wikipedia, BCM Museum IBM System 3/10 Specifications Size: Too big for your desk. It takes up about 10' x 10', including work area and 1 keypunch machine. CPU (Central Processing Unit): Processor speed is approximately equivalent to 5 KHz, or .005 MHz. (The first IBM PC in 1981 had a CPU frequency of 4 MHz! The newest desktop processors are multiple cores with multiple CPUS each running at over 4000 MHz, or 4 GHz) The CPU cabinet is about 5'8". (No, it won't fit under your desk.) RAM memory: 16 k magnetic copper core random access memory (RAM) (or 1/16th of a megabyte). No microchips inside, but lots of wires and transistors. You may prefer a desktop, laptop or PDA that comes with 6 to 16 gigabytes of RAM (6 to 16,000 MB). Floppy Drives: None Hard Drives: Four 2.5 megabyte (MB) hard drive platters (2 removable) or 1/40th of a gigabyte (GB) each. (You can get many terabytes (1,000 GB) of drive capacity now.) The hard drive cabinet weighs over 150 lbs and is about the height of a two drawer file cabinet and half again wider. Monitor: IBM Selectric typewriter console and continuous feed paper (System 3 character output only, no windows). A bit slow at 15 characters per second (no graphics). You may prefer a color monitor whose display output is virtually instantaneous. Don't even think of hooking it to this machine though. The system does feature a two character digital display and 4-dial answer switch and start button on the CPU panel for system and program halts. CD/DVD Drive: None. Data and program input is through keypunch cards via a 96 column punch card reader. You'll also need a key punch machine (about the size of a desk) to encode the punch cards. Modem: An external 1200 bps (bits per second) modem is optional. Manual dial only. You may get frustrated if you're used to a faster 6 Mbps (6,000,000 bps) DSL or cable modem (about 5000 times faster). Sound: IBM typewriter console makes a loud clackety sound when it types. No sound card or speakers. Printer: 200 lines per minute. Not bad, but a bit heavy at about 300 lbs and the size of a typical desk. Upper and lower case text only, no graphics. A decent inkjet or laser printer can do 10 to 20 pages (600 to 1200 lines) per minute which is still slow by current high speed printer standards. Software included: RPG program compiler and Operation Control Language (OCL). Number of concurrent users supported: 1 Original Price: About $60,000 If interested, call the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Thanks to Richard Watts (no conection to Jim Watt above, but we do seem to have a propensity here for the electrical! :-) ), a retired IBM customer engineer, for contributing more information on the System 3 specs and correcting the CPU "speed" and console speed. A lot slower than I thought, but far more efficient with it's limited resources than today's computers. Says Rich: Hi, I just wanted to comment on your IBM System 3 Model 10 photo. It brought back quite a few memories. I was a young Customer Engineer with IBM during that era, retired in 1998. I have no idea how many System 3s I installed and worked on over the years. A couple of comments about your writeup:. CPU: You approximated the CPU speed at 1mhz. If I had to guess, I would guess it was nowhere near that, but it’s a meaningless comparison anyway because the processor of the System 3 used a completely different machine language so the instructions being executed cannot be compared to modern PC instructions. But if I was forced to guess I’d say 5khz. Console Typewriter: Selectric I/O typewriters, when they worked perfectly, could only print at about 15 characters per second When I first started working on the System 3 mod 10, I had a couple of customers who owned CARD-ONLY systems. These machines were 8k of memory and NO DISK. The Operating System was a deck of cards about an inch high that was booted [called "IPLed" -- "initial program load"] to bring the machine up. The only input was keypunched 96 column cards and the only output was print or punched cards. So source programs were keypunched and the RPG compiler was deck of cards, the program was compiled and an Object program was punched. To run the program the object deck and the punched data was read in by the card reader and output was punched or printed or both. Those were the days, huh? Richard Watts IBM Miami Retired

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