LINC computer designer dead

[monokakata]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/b...-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

If you're an old timer (like me) you might remember the LINC. I never used one, but I was aware of them.

I believe that the 12-bit processor mentioned was what became the PDP-8's processor.

 

[aaronvan]

I remember reading about the LINC.

 

[AlliePallie]

I used the DEC version, the LINC-8, for a long time. Nice machine. Both the PDP-8 and the LINC used an order code roughly similar to that on the IBM 704 machines but a bit different. One used 1's complement arithmetic, the other 2's complement arithmetic. The DEC version used both processors, intertwined, which made assembler programming rather interesting. So was printing everything out on the ASR-33 teletype. Still, the Dectape drives were very reliable and the CRT display was well ahead of most at the time (1960s).
It is also amazing that one could do a hell of a lot of interesting stuff with, on my machine, 8K of 1.4 MHz RAM and very, very careful assembler programming.

 

[I7guy]

I used the DEC version, the LINC-8, for a long time. Nice machine. Both the PDP-8 and the LINC used an order code roughly similar to that on the IBM 704 machines but a bit different. One used 1's complement arithmetic, the other 2's complement arithmetic. The DEC version used both processors, intertwined, which made assembler programming rather interesting. So was printing everything out on the ASR-33 teletype. Still, the Dectape drives were very reliable and the CRT display was well ahead of most at the time (1960s).
It is also amazing that one could do a hell of a lot of interesting stuff with, on my machine, 8K of 1.4 MHz RAM and very, very careful assembler programming.

Ah, memories of an era long gone.

 

[Sciuriware]

I started on an LAB-8/E (PDP-8 for laboratory).
I read a lot about the LINK but never saw one.
Btw.: there's also an ancient language LINC, by BURROUGHS.
;JOOP!

 

[ChrisA]

Ah, memories of an era long gone.

No, not gone. I'm using 8-bit processors and 4k to 8k of memory today. You can still do a lot of stuff, like for example control motion control of a robot motor. What's changed is the price and size of the 8-bit CPU. I'm using tiny chips the cost about $2 each. and are much smaller and cheaper than the electric motor they control.

One of the last times I did this was to use two temperature sensors and a tiny 8-bit computer to control the speed of an exhaust fan so as to keep the temperature inside an enclosure constant. The electronics inside (an atomic clock) needed to be kept at some stable temperature. The total controller was about 1/2 inch square and costs practically nothing but it is very much the same as we did decades ago.

 

[I7guy]

No, not gone. I'm using 8-bit processors and 4k to 8k of memory today. You can still do a lot of stuff, like for example control motion control of a robot motor. What's changed is the price and size of the 8-bit CPU. I'm using tiny chips the cost about $2 each. and are much smaller and cheaper than the electric motor they control.

One of the last times I did this was to use two temperature sensors and a tiny 8-bit computer to control the speed of an exhaust fan so as to keep the temperature inside an enclosure constant. The electronics inside (an atomic clock) needed to be kept at some stable temperature. The total controller was about 1/2 inch square and costs practically nothing but it is very much the same as we did decades ago.

Very cool stuff. Those components in 1974 cost thousands of dollars...lol.

 

[BittenApple]

RIP

Wesley A. Clark