Hewlett-Packard 2018 HP Archives . Volume 2.4 August 1995 August 1995 Volume 2.4 The Analytical Engine JOURNAL OF THE COMPUTER HISTORY ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA Editorial: ALMOST HOME Editorial: HANGING TOGETHER The biggest thing on the CHAC's collective mind, Since the last ENGINE appeared, we've discovered for the last several months, has been whether we two historical organizations whose purposes re­ actually will rescue the SDS 930; and it now seems semble our own; the Palo Alto-based Santa Clara reasonable that we will, if we can raise enough Valley Historical Association, and the Computer money. We have the name of someone who spe­ Technical Archive in Sunnyvale. (See pp. 24.) cializes in moving vintage electronic equipment. These organizations and others, like the Sunnyvale We have enough donated storage space to pack it Historical Society, the Perham Foundation, the into. All we need now is the money to ship it. Hewlett-Packard Archives, and the Intel Museum, are working hard to preserVe history while it's For the last year the ENGINE has done a remark­ accessible and memorable. able job of supporting itself; and paying most of our recurring bills, out of subscription revenue. This is the best news we could offer. Building a But there's no way that subs can cover a large, museum, cataloging artifacts, creating a conceptual extraordinary expense like the cost of moving a and philosophical architecture to organize the his­ mainframe. Once again we ask for donations from tory of computing - these are massive tasks. concemed individuals, groups and corporations. (More so than we realized when we founded the CHAC, but big ideas are like big dogs; sometimes The SDS 930 at Table Mountain Observatory is you pull them, and sometimes they pull you.) No almost certainly the last intact, bootable, fully single organization can realistically address them documented SDS computer in the world. The Fed­ all. But small organizations with related purposes, eral agency that owns it has worked miracles to springing up and persisting whatever the obstacles, keep it whole; but time is short, and pressure to are a sure sign of the grassroots support that will be scrap this hardware is mounting. We must rescue it broad and deep enough to do the work as it all, or none, and soon, if ever. deserves to be done. This is the last chance. Give to save the great930 Contradictions and struggles are the restlessness of from being tipped and crushed; give to brighten a great beginning. Too much history lies dormant the spark of our most central purpose. Bring a and disorganized in filing cabinets, warehouses, mainframe home to the applause it deserves. garages. It's easy to be overwhelmed by the size of the task ahead. It can be hard to conceive of the subscribe to save the mainframes • sub­ power that will accomplish it. But the power of scribe to honor the pioneers • subscribe to devoted, intelligent people, united by a great idea, build the museum • subscribe for news and deserves all our faith. reviews· subscribe to celebrate your work • subscribe to prevent ignorance·· sub­ Sustain the history ofcomputing. For your support scribe to forestall destruction • subscribe to of the CHAC and the ENGINE, we thank you. read the story • subscribe to join a great We encourage you, in the same moment, to enterprise • subscribe as a thoughtful gift • contact our affiliated organizations, find out more subscribe to make a difference • subscribe about them, and offer your assistance. Your part in for a better ENGINE • subscribe today • !!! this rescue is yours to choose. Page 2 The Analytical Engine August 1995 HP's EARLY COMPUTERS KC: Lithium·impregnated core, this was? Part Two: JS: Yes. We put lithium in because memory could often be a thermometer, behaving differently THE EDUCATION OF A at different temperatures, and lithium stabilized COMPUTER MAKER that; which let us advertise, because HP would only advertise what was more than true, that the An Interview with Joe Schoendorf computer would run in zero to 55°C, the same Uoseph Schoendorf is a venture partner at Accel spec as for a voltmeter or any other HP instru­ Partners in San Francisco. From 1966 until the ment. This was unheard of at the time for mini­ mid-eighties he served HP in many capacities, computers, which were then very unstable. To give including as OEM marketing manager of the you the context, the PDP-8 was out at that point Data Systems Division and as a director of the but the Data General [Nova] had not yet appeared. Systems Marketing Center. His tenure at the company coincided exactly with HP's entry REAL-TIME GOES TO SEA into the minicomputer market, and his recol­ Our first computers were sold for instrumentation lections of that exciting struggle are vivid.] applications, as we had intended. Our very first KC: Today I wanted to talk about the machines customer was Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti­ built between the 2116A and the 3000, which I/ind tute, who had been using HP instruments and very interesting, both in themselves andfor what they acquiring data to mag tape on shipboard, with the represented. The 2116A was a special-purpose data recorded for batch processing later. The po­ computer also called the Instrumentation Computer, tential problem was that, coming back from a trip, and when people bought them for other things, it was they had to hope the recording worked, because if somewhat to the surprise ofthe company. After the it hadn't, they had just spent 30 days out to sea for 2000 and 2100 came the 3000, which was a computer nothing - which was quite expensive for them. everybody had to have, so popular that people are After they installed the 2116A they could acquire writing software for it to this day. I'm looking for the the data, perform their computations in real-time, story ofhow HP got from one to the other. and not only have immediate answers, but be sure they had valid data while they were still out there. JS: I'm going to add one layer to what you've Most of our 2116 orders were for instrumentation said. I joined HP in June 1966 at what was then the applications. Shortly after that the 2115 came out, Dymec Division, which was the systems division. which amounted to a half-sized 2116 with more It can be difficult to talk about the exact year of memory - even then customers were constantly in introduction of an HP product because they think search of more memory - and then the 2114, in terms of a fiscal year, but it happened in No­ which I'm virtually certain predated the 2100 by a vember 1966. We actually had a whole series of couple of years, and which set the stage for the models from the 2116, probably three or four 2100 by moving Hewlett-Packard into the OEM years before the 2100; we had the 2116A, B, C, business for the first time. then the 2115 and then the 2114, which in its own right was an extraordinarily popular machine and OEM business I would call the center of the put us into lots of different businesses besides in­ market at that time. Early minicomputer market strumentation. The 2116A was a pure-play instru­ volume was driven by OEMs who bought com­ mentation computer, and we sold it like an in­ puters and did things with them, packaged it in strument. We used to go around and tell people other [dedicated] systems. Fishback & Moore, very proudly that it met HP Class B environ­ F&M Systems in Dallas, was a big engineering con­ mental specifications, which means it ran from struction firm that made a specialty of repackaging zero to 55°C and anything up to 95% humidity; computers and reselling them. I'm trying to think and its memory was lithium-impregnated, so it of some of our early customers for it .... Measurex, wasn't sensitive to heat the way other contempo­ a major Cupertino-based process control company, rary minicomputers were. It really was a rugged used the 2115 and 14, I believe, as their prime thing, designed and built to run wherever your OEM machine for paper plant management. Dave instruments would run. Boston was the CEO. August 1995 The Analytical Engine Page 3 THE 21xx BREAKS GROUND KC: A meg ofsemiconductor memory, in the context ofthe early 70s, was a heck ofa lot ofmemory. When the 2100A came out, it was sort of the second-generation product, if you considered the J5: A heck of a lot of memory and a heck of a 2116, 15, 14 to be differentiated by packaging and lot more money! But, as we've learned again and price. With each design we were able to make the again in this industry, it soon became a limitation, computer smaller, make it faster, and stay on the which is what led to the 32-bit machines. semiconductor curve. As I recall, our claim to fame KC: Right. Now, the base configuration ofthe with the 2100 was that we broke the $10,000 machine was 64K? barrier for the 16-bit minicomputer; the competi­ tion, by which I mean primarily the PDP-S, was a J5: I believe so, but of course, the base con- 12-bit machine. figuration was driven by price - we were trying to make our computers attractive in a way that was KC· Gotya. relatively new to us. Ed Hayes was the OEM mar­ J5: It was a major difference.