Difference between revisions of "TX-2"
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The TX-2's [[magnetic tape]] [[mass storage]] system, created by Tom Stockebrand, used 1/2" tape, but was block addressable, unlike most magnetic tape systems, which could only write sequentially. He later moved to the [[LINC]] project, along with several other TX-2 alumni, where he helped create the descendant [[LINC tape]] system; he then moved to [[DEC]], where he helped create [[DECtape]], very similar to LINCtape. | The TX-2's [[magnetic tape]] [[mass storage]] system, created by Tom Stockebrand, used 1/2" tape, but was block addressable, unlike most magnetic tape systems, which could only write sequentially. He later moved to the [[LINC]] project, along with several other TX-2 alumni, where he helped create the descendant [[LINC tape]] system; he then moved to [[DEC]], where he helped create [[DECtape]], very similar to LINCtape. | ||
| − | The Lincoln Writer was used with the TX-2 as a [[printing terminal]]. Its [[keyboard]] had a right-pointing manicule called the "Meta Hand", and was used to indicate an "aside" such as entering a "meta" command. | + | The Lincoln Writer was used with the TX-2 as a [[printing terminal]]. Its [[keyboard]] had a right-pointing manicule called the [[Meta key|"Meta Hand"]], and was used to indicate an "aside" such as entering a "meta" command. |
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Latest revision as of 10:26, 19 November 2025
The TX-2 was an early transistor computer; it was a follow-on to the ground-breaking TX-0 at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Innovations around interrupts used on the TX-2 were an important predecessor to the PDP-1. Its most important contributions were in the software developed on it.
One important application developed on the TX-2 was the ground-breaking Sketchpad. Later on, an important data networking demonstration that preceded the ARPANET used the TX-2. Beginning in 1964 a time-sharing system called APEX was put together on the TX-2, under the guidance of Larry Roberts, using a small number of consoles with graphics capability.
The TX-2's magnetic tape mass storage system, created by Tom Stockebrand, used 1/2" tape, but was block addressable, unlike most magnetic tape systems, which could only write sequentially. He later moved to the LINC project, along with several other TX-2 alumni, where he helped create the descendant LINC tape system; he then moved to DEC, where he helped create DECtape, very similar to LINCtape.
The Lincoln Writer was used with the TX-2 as a printing terminal. Its keyboard had a right-pointing manicule called the "Meta Hand", and was used to indicate an "aside" such as entering a "meta" command.
Further reading
- C. Gordon Bell, Gerald Butler, Robert Gray, John E. Mcnamara, Donald Vonada, and Ronald Wilson, The PDP-1 and Other 18-Bit Computers, in C. Gordon Bell, J. Craig Mudge, John. E. McNamara, Computer Engineering: A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design, Digital Press, Bedford, 1978
- Severo M. Ornstein, Computing in the Middle Ages: A View From the Trenches 1955-1983 (AuthorHouse, 2002) - Some background about the end of the construction of the TX-2
External links
- Bitsavers TX-2 documents
- TX-2 Circuitry Handbook
- TX-2 Computer - a collection of images
- The LINC Was Early and Small - lengthy personal memoir by Wesley Clark; it also mentions the TX-2
- Who invented Timesharing
- TX-2 simulation project
