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History Of IBM CKD Controllers
Beginning with its 1964 System/360 announcement, IBM's mainframes initially accessed count key data (CKD) subsystems via a channel connected to separate Storage Control Units (SCUs) with attached Direct Access Storage Devices (DASD), typically a hard disk drive. This practice continued in IBM's larger mainframes thru IBM Z; however low end systems generally used lower cost integrated attachments where the function of the SCU was combined with that of the channel, typically called an Integrated File Adapter. The System/360 selector channel was followed by the System/370 block multiplexor channel which could operate as a selector channel to allow attachment of legacy subsystems. The SCU evolved into a Director and Controller, the latter typically labelled an "A-unit" (or A-Box") with the controller and at least one DASD physically in an A-unit. An Integrated Storage Control (ISC) is a Director within the cabinet of an IBM System. A Director could attach from one to four A-un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Count Key Data
Count key data (CKD) is a direct-access storage device (DASD) data recording format introduced in 1964, by IBM with its IBM System/360 and still being emulated on IBM mainframes. It is a self-defining format with each data record represented by a Count Area that identifies the record and provides the number of bytes in an optional Key Area and an optional Data Area. This is in contrast to devices using fixed sector size or a separate format track. Count key data (CKD) also refers to the set of channel commands (collectively Channel Command Words, CCWs) that are generated by an IBM mainframe for execution by a DASD subsystem employing the CKD recording format. The initial set of CKD CCWs, introduced in 1964, was substantially enhanced and improved into the 1990s. CKD track format The reason for CKD track format is to allow data field lengths to vary, each recorded block of data on a DASD track, called a record has an associated count field which identifies the record and indicat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
IBM 1130
The IBM 1130 Computing System, introduced in 1965, was IBM's least expensive computer at that time. A binary 16-bit machine, it was marketed to price-sensitive, computing-intensive technical markets, like education and engineering, succeeding the decimal IBM 1620 in that market segment. Typical installations included a 1 megabyte disk drive that stored the operating system, compilers and object programs, with program source generated and maintained on punched cards. Fortran was the most common programming language used, but several others, including APL, were available. The 1130 was also used as an intelligent front-end for attaching an IBM 2250 Graphics Display Unit, or as remote job entry (RJE) workstation, connected to a System/360 mainframe. Description The total production run of the 1130 has been estimated at 10,000. The 1130 holds a place in computing history because it (and its non-IBM clones) gave many people their first direct interaction with a computer. Its pric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Channel I/O
In computing, channel I/O is a high-performance input/output (I/O) architecture that is implemented in various forms on a number of computer architectures, especially on mainframe computers. In the past, channels were generally implemented with custom devices, variously named channel, I/O processor, I/O controller, I/O synchronizer, or '' DMA controller''. Overview Many I/O tasks can be complex and require logic to be applied to the data to convert formats and other similar duties. In these situations, the simplest solution is to ask the CPU to handle the logic, but because I/O devices are relatively slow, a CPU could waste time waiting for the data from the device. This situation is called 'I/O bound'. Channel architecture avoids this problem by processing some or all of the I/O task without the aid of the CPU by offloading the work to dedicated logic. Channels are logically self-contained, with sufficient logic and working storage to handle I/O tasks. Some are powerful or fle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Microcode
In processor design, microcode serves as an intermediary layer situated between the central processing unit (CPU) hardware and the programmer-visible instruction set architecture of a computer. It consists of a set of hardware-level instructions that implement the higher-level machine code instructions or control internal finite-state machine sequencing in many digital processing components. While microcode is utilized in Intel and AMD general-purpose CPUs in contemporary desktops and laptops, it functions only as a fallback path for scenarios that the faster hardwired control unit is unable to manage. Housed in special high-speed memory, microcode translates machine instructions, state machine data, or other input into sequences of detailed circuit-level operations. It separates the machine instructions from the underlying electronics, thereby enabling greater flexibility in designing and altering instructions. Moreover, it facilitates the construction of complex multi-step inst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Direct Access Storage Device
A direct-access storage device (DASD) (pronounced ) is a secondary storage device in which "each physical record has a discrete location and a unique address". The term was coined by IBM to describe devices that allowed random access to data, the main examples being drum memory and hard disk drives. Later, optical disc drives and flash memory units are also classified as DASD. The term DASD contrasts with sequential access storage device such as a magnetic tape drive, and unit record equipment such as a punched card device. A record on a DASD can be accessed without having to read through intervening records from the current location, whereas reading anything other than the "next" record on tape or deck of cards requires skipping over intervening records, and requires a proportionally long time to access a distant point in a medium. Access methods for DASD include sequential, partitioned, indexed, and direct. The DASD storage class includes both fixed and removable me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
IBM 2301
In addition to the drums used as main memory by IBM in, e.g., IBM 305, IBM 650, IBM offered drum devices as secondary storage for the 700/7000 series and System/360 series of computers. IBM 731 The IBM 731 is a discontinued storage unit used on the IBM 701. It has a storage capacity of 2,048 36-bit words (9,216 8-bit bytes). IBM 732 The IBM 732 is a discontinued storage unit used on the IBM 702. It has a storage capacity of 60,000 6-bit characters (45,000 8-bit bytes). IBM 733 The IBM 733 is a discontinued storage unit used on the IBM 704 and IBM 709. It has a storage capacity of 8192 36-bit words (36,864 8-bit bytes). IBM 734 The IBM 734 is a discontinued storage unit used on the IBM 705 It has a storage capacity of 60,000 6-bit characters (45,000 8-bit bytes). IBM 7320 The IBM 7320 is a discontinued storage unit manufactured by IBM announced on December 10, 1962 for the IBM 7090 and 7094 computer systems, was retained for the earliest System/360 systems as a count key d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Director Type Storage Controls
Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Director'' (Avant album) (2006) * ''Director'' (Yonatan Gat album) Occupations and positions Arts and design * Animation director * Artistic director * Creative director * Design director * Film director * Music director * Music video director * Television director * Theatre director Positions in other fields * Director (business), a senior-level management position * Director (colonial), head of chartered company's colonial administration for a territory * Director (education), head of a university or other educational body * Company director, a member of (for example) a board of directors * Cruise director * Executive director, senior operating officer or manager of an organization or corporation, usually at a nonprofit * Finance direc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Hard Disk Drive Interface
Hard disk drives are accessed over one of a number of bus types, including parallel ATA (PATA, also called IDE or EIDE; described before the introduction of SATA as ATA), Serial ATA (SATA), SCSI, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), and Fibre Channel. Bridge circuitry is sometimes used to connect hard disk drives to buses with which they cannot communicate natively, such as IEEE 1394, USB, SCSI, NVMe and Thunderbolt. Disk interface families Disk drive interfaces have evolved from simple interfaces requiring complex controllers to attach to a computer into high level interfaces that present a consistent interface to a computer system regardless of the internal technology of the hard disk drive. The following table lists some common HDD interfaces in chronological order: Early interfaces The earliest hard disk drive (HDD) interfaces were ''bit serial data interfaces'' that connected an HDD to a controller with two cables, one for control and one for data. An additional cable was use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
IBM System/360 Architecture
The IBM System/360 architecture is the model independent architecture for the entire S/360 line of mainframe computers, including but not limited to the instruction set architecture. The elements of the architecture are documented in the ''IBM System/360 Principles of Operation'' and the ''IBM System/360 I/O Interface Channel to Control Unit Original Equipment Manufacturers' Information'' manuals. Features The System/360 architecture provides the following features: * 16 32-bit general-purpose registers * 4 64-bit floating-point registers * 64-bit processor status register (PSW), which includes a 24-bit instruction address * 24-bit (16 MB) byte-addressable memory space * Big-endian byte/word order * A ''standard instruction set'', including fixed-point binary arithmetic and logical instructions, present on all System/360 models (except the Model 20, see below). ** A ''commercial instruction set'', adding decimal arithmetic instructions, is optional on some models, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
