Burroughs - Revision history

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‎See also: +ILLIAC IV

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‎Further reading: +The Burroughs Corporation and Its Innovative Architecture

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‎External links: +Wherever There’s Business There’s Burroughs

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‎Burroughs B5000 and successors: MCP was the first operating system ever written in a high-level language

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‎External links: +Evolution of Burroughs Stack Architecture

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An OK start

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'''Burroughs''' began as an early manufacturer of computers; some of their initial machines were responsible for notable advances in the field of computers.
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Like their competitors [[International Business Machines]] and [[Remington Rand]], it was originally a business machine manufacturer, dating back to the pre-electronic era. It was founded by William S. Burroughs in 1885, as American Arithmometer Corporation, to produce mechanical [[digital]] calculating machines. Again like its competitors, it expanded into [[tabulating machine]]s, for us in processing data in business applications (although unlike IBM and Remington Rand, Burroughs did not get into [[punched card]]s).

After WWII, looking to get into new business areas, Burroughs started a research facility to investigate electronic computers. That Burroughs Research Center was initially set up just after 1949 in Philadelphia (ironically, in the building that had once held the [[Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation]]), and later moved to Paoli.

Burroughs' first computer was the Unitized Digital Electronic Computer, of which two were produced, starting in February, 1951. In May, 1956 it acquired [[Electrodata]] (a one-time division of Consolidated Enginering Corporation), in Pasadena, California, to expand its product line. The [[Burroughs 220]], still a [[vacuum tube]] machine, came out in 1957; a first [[transistor]] computer, the AN/GSQ-33, also appeared in 1957, but it was a military machine, not for open sale.

==Burroughs B5000 and successors==

Burroughs made a very large impact with its [[Burroughs B5000]], an influential early [[mainframe]] computer, in 1961. As Burroughs' first internally-developed machine, they sought to try and catch up to their (by then) well-established competitors (such as IBM) by including a number of advanced aspects from the forefront of computer science.

One important novelty was its support of [[segmentation]], which was used to provide [[virtual memory]]. It was also heavily [[stack]]-oriented at the [[instruction]] level; that was connected to its support of [[ALGOL]] ([[COBOL]] was also provided). In another influential novelty, its [[operating system]], the [[Master Control Program]], was written in ALGOL, in part since it was intended that the machine need not support being programmed in [[assembly language]].

It was followed by the [[Burroughs B5500]] and [[Burroughs B5700]]; re-designs led to the [[Burroughs B6500]] and [[Burroughs B6700]] family.

==Finale==

Burroughs bought [[Sperry Rand]] in 1986, and merged the two into [[Unisys]].

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==Further reading==

* George T. Gray, Ronald Q. Smith, ''Unisys Computers: An Introductory History'', 2008 - a good amount of Burroughs content
* James W. Cortada, ''Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created, 1865-1956'', Princeton University, Princeton, 1993
* Elliott I. Organick, [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/burroughs/LargeSystems/B5000_5500_5700/Organick_Computer_System_Organization_The_B5700_B6700_Series_1973.pdf Computer System Organization: The B5700/B6700 Series], Academic, New York, 1973

==External links==

* [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/unisys/ unisys] - documentation at [[Bitsavers]]
** [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/burroughs/Brochures/1043270_The_Products_of_Burroughs_1966.pdf The Products of Burroughs (1966)]
** [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/burroughs/Brochures/10392229_Burroughs_in_California_ca_1968.pdf Burroughs in California]
* [https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/3/resources/222 Burroughs Corporation records]
** [https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/search?facets%5Bcollection_name_s%5D%5B%5D=Burroughs+Corporation+Records&facets%5Btypes%5D%5B%5D=Still+Image&q=burroughs Burroughs Corporation Digital Photographs and Videos]
* [https://wiki.cc.gatech.edu/folklore/index.php/Main_Page Unisys History Newsletter] - mostly Burroughs and Sperry Rand (UNIVAC) content - archived [https://web.archive.org/web/20131203081145/https://wiki.cc.gatech.edu/folklore/index.php/Main_Page here]

[[Category: Manufacturers]]

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 * George T. Gray, Ronald Q. Smith, ''Unisys Computers: An Introductory History'', 2008 - a good amount of Burroughs content
 * James W. Cortada, ''Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created, 1865-1956'', Princeton University, Princeton, 1993
 * Elliott I. Organick, [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/burroughs/LargeSystems/B5000_5500_5700/Organick_Computer_System_Organization_The_B5700_B6700_Series_1973.pdf Computer System Organization: The B5700/B6700 Series], Academic, New York, 1973

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 ** [https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/search?facets%5Bcollection_name_s%5D%5B%5D=Burroughs+Corporation+Records&facets%5Btypes%5D%5B%5D=Still+Image&q=burroughs Burroughs Corporation Digital Photographs and Videos]
 * [https://wiki.cc.gatech.edu/folklore/index.php/Main_Page Unisys History Newsletter] - mostly Burroughs and Sperry Rand (UNIVAC) content - archived [https://web.archive.org/web/20131203081145/https://wiki.cc.gatech.edu/folklore/index.php/Main_Page here]
 * [https://www.hoa.org/jack/burroughs-b5900/ The Burroughs B5900 and E-Mode: A bridge to 21st Century Computing]
 ** [https://www.hoa.org/blog/jack-allweiss/evolution-of-burroughs-stack-architecture-mainframe-computers/ Evolution of Burroughs Stack Architecture – Mainframe Computers]
 [[Category: Manufacturers]]

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 Burroughs made a very large impact with its [[Burroughs B5000]], an influential early [[mainframe]] computer, in 1961. As Burroughs' first internally-developed machine, they sought to try and catch up to their (by then) well-established competitors (such as IBM) by including a number of advanced aspects from the forefront of computer science.
-One important novelty was its support of [[segmentation]], which was used to provide [[virtual memory]]. It was also heavily [[stack]]-oriented at the [[instruction]] level; that was connected to its support of [[ALGOL]] ([[COBOL]] was also provided). In another influential novelty, its [[operating system]], the [[Master Control Program]], was written in ALGOL, in part since it was intended that the machine need not support being programmed in [[assembly language]].
+One important novelty was its support of [[segmentation]], which was used to provide [[virtual memory]]. It was also heavily [[stack]]-oriented at the [[instruction]] level; that was connected to its support of [[ALGOL]] ([[COBOL]] was also provided). In another influential novelty, its [[operating system]], the [[Master Control Program]], was written in ALGOL, in part since it was intended that the machine need not support being programmed in [[assembly language]]; it was apparently the first operating system ever written in a [[high-level language]].
 It was followed by the [[Burroughs B5500]] and [[Burroughs B5700]]; re-designs led to the [[Burroughs B6500]] and [[Burroughs B6700]] family.