The IBM 2540 is a

punched-card A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to ...

computer

peripheral A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...

manufactured by IBM Corporation for use of

System/360 The IBM System/360 (S/360) is a family of mainframe computer systems that was announced by IBM on April 7, 1964, and delivered between 1965 and 1978. It was the first family of computers designed to cover both commercial and scientific applica ...

and later computer systems. The 2540 was designed by IBM's Data Processing Division in

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Acco ...

, and was introduced in 1965. The 2540 can read punched-cards at 1000 cards per minute (CPM) and punch at 300 CPM. The 2540 is based on the design of the older, slightly slower, 1402.

Description

The 2540 attaches to a System/360 multiplexer or selector channel through an

IBM 2821 Control Unit The IBM 2821 Control Unit attaches card readers and card punches, and line printers to the IBM System/360 and IBM System/370 families of computers. The devices attached may be a combination of: * The IBM 2540 card reader and card punch; * The IBM ...

. A standard 2540 processes standard IBM 80 column

punched card A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to di ...

s. The card reader (2540R) and card punch (2540P) devices are separately addressable and function independently. The 2540 normally reads and punches

EBCDIC Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC; ) is an eight-bit character encoding used mainly on IBM mainframe and IBM midrange computer operating systems. It descended from the code used with punched cards and the corresponding six- ...

dat