CDC 1700
Encyclopedia
The CDC 1700 was a 16-bit word minicomputer
, manufactured by the Control Data Corporation
with deliveries beginning in May, 1966. The 1700 used ones' complement arithmetic and an ASCII
-based character set, and supported memory write protection on an individual word basis. It had one general-purpose register
and two indexing registers (one of which was implemented as a dedicated memory location). The instruction set
was fairly simple and supported seven storage addressing mode
s, including multilevel (chained) indirect addressing.
Available peripherals included teletypewriters
, paper tape
readers/punches, punched card
readers/punches, line printer
s, magnetic tape
drives, magnetic drums
, fixed and removable magnetic disk
drives, display terminals
, communications controllers, Digigraphic display units, timers, etc. These interfaced to the processor using unbuffered interrupt
-driven "A/Q" channels or buffered Direct Storage Access
channels.
Over the years there were several versions. The original 1700 was constructed using air-cooled CDC 6600
-like cordwood logic modules and core memory, although later models used different technology. The final models, called Cyber-18
, added four general-purpose registers and a number of instructions to support a time-sharing
operating system.
The main operating systems for the 1700 were the Utility System, which usually took the form of several punched paper tapes
(resident monitor
plus utilities), a similar Operating System for larger configurations, and the Mass Storage Operating System (MSOS) for disk-based systems. A Fortran
compiler was available. Pascal
was also available, via a cross compiler
on a CDC 6000 series
host.
The 1700 series found use as communications concentrators, Digigraphics workstation
s, remote batch job
entry stations, and industrial process control
lers. One application, running the AUTRAN program, controlled water and wastewater treatment
plants for many years. It was also used by Ticketron
as the central servers for their Wagering systems and Ticketing services. Ticketron wrote all their software, and only used the CDC Operating Systems on their development systems.
Minicomputer
A minicomputer is a class of multi-user computers that lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems and the smallest single-user systems...
, manufactured by the Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation was a supercomputer firm. For most of the 1960s, it built the fastest computers in the world by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s after Seymour Cray left the company to found Cray Research, Inc....
with deliveries beginning in May, 1966. The 1700 used ones' complement arithmetic and an ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
-based character set, and supported memory write protection on an individual word basis. It had one general-purpose register
Processor register
In computer architecture, a processor register is a small amount of storage available as part of a CPU or other digital processor. Such registers are addressed by mechanisms other than main memory and can be accessed more quickly...
and two indexing registers (one of which was implemented as a dedicated memory location). The instruction set
Instruction set
An instruction set, or instruction set architecture , is the part of the computer architecture related to programming, including the native data types, instructions, registers, addressing modes, memory architecture, interrupt and exception handling, and external I/O...
was fairly simple and supported seven storage addressing mode
Addressing mode
Addressing modes are an aspect of the instruction set architecture in most central processing unit designs. The various addressing modes that are defined in a given instruction set architecture define how machine language instructions in that architecture identify the operand of each instruction...
s, including multilevel (chained) indirect addressing.
Available peripherals included teletypewriters
Teleprinter
A teleprinter is a electromechanical typewriter that can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point and point to multipoint over a variety of communication channels that range from a simple electrical connection, such as a pair of wires, to the use of radio and microwave as the...
, paper tape
Punched tape
Punched tape or paper tape is an obsolete form of data storage, consisting of a long strip of paper in which holes are punched to store data...
readers/punches, punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
readers/punches, line printer
Line printer
The line printer is a form of high speed impact printer in which one line of type is printed at a time. They are mostly associated with the early days of computing, but the technology is still in use...
s, magnetic tape
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
drives, magnetic drums
Drum memory
Drum memory is a magnetic data storage device and was an early form of computer memory widely used in the 1950s and into the 1960s, invented by Gustav Tauschek in 1932 in Austria....
, fixed and removable magnetic disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
drives, display terminals
Computer terminal
A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system...
, communications controllers, Digigraphic display units, timers, etc. These interfaced to the processor using unbuffered interrupt
Interrupt
In computing, an interrupt is an asynchronous signal indicating the need for attention or a synchronous event in software indicating the need for a change in execution....
-driven "A/Q" channels or buffered Direct Storage Access
Direct memory access
Direct memory access is a feature of modern computers that allows certain hardware subsystems within the computer to access system memory independently of the central processing unit ....
channels.
Over the years there were several versions. The original 1700 was constructed using air-cooled CDC 6600
CDC 6600
The CDC 6600 was a mainframe computer from Control Data Corporation, first delivered in 1964. It is generally considered to be the first successful supercomputer, outperforming its fastest predecessor, IBM 7030 Stretch, by about three times...
-like cordwood logic modules and core memory, although later models used different technology. The final models, called Cyber-18
CDC Cyber
The CDC Cyber range of mainframe-class supercomputers were the primary products of Control Data Corporation during the 1970s and 1980s. In their day, they were the computer architecture of choice for scientific and mathematically intensive computing...
, added four general-purpose registers and a number of instructions to support a time-sharing
Time-sharing
Time-sharing is the sharing of a computing resource among many users by means of multiprogramming and multi-tasking. Its introduction in the 1960s, and emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s, represents a major technological shift in the history of computing.By allowing a large...
operating system.
| System name | Processor | Minimum RAM | Maximum RAM | Cycle time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1700 | 1704 | 4 KW | 32 KW | 1.1 μs |
| 1714 | 1714 | 12 KW | 64 KW | 1.1 μs |
| SC1700 | 1774 | 4 KW | 32 KW | 1.5 μs |
| System 17 | 1784 | 4 KW | 64 KW | 0.9 or 0.6 μs |
| CYBER 18 | MP17 | 16 KW | 128 KW | 0.75 μs |
The main operating systems for the 1700 were the Utility System, which usually took the form of several punched paper tapes
Punched tape
Punched tape or paper tape is an obsolete form of data storage, consisting of a long strip of paper in which holes are punched to store data...
(resident monitor
Resident monitor
A resident monitor was a piece of system software in many early computers from the 1950s to 1970s. It can be considered a primitive precursor to the operating system....
plus utilities), a similar Operating System for larger configurations, and the Mass Storage Operating System (MSOS) for disk-based systems. A Fortran
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
compiler was available. Pascal
Pascal (programming language)
Pascal is an influential imperative and procedural programming language, designed in 1968/9 and published in 1970 by Niklaus Wirth as a small and efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring.A derivative known as Object Pascal...
was also available, via a cross compiler
Cross compiler
A cross compiler is a compiler capable of creating executable code for a platform other than the one on which the compiler is run. Cross compiler tools are used to generate executables for embedded system or multiple platforms. It is used to compile for a platform upon which it is not feasible to...
on a CDC 6000 series
CDC 6000 series
The CDC 6000 series was a family of mainframe computers manufactured by Control Data Corporation in the 1960s. It consisted of CDC 6400, CDC 6500, CDC 6600 and CDC 6700 computers, which all were extremely rapid and efficient for their time...
host.
The 1700 series found use as communications concentrators, Digigraphics workstation
Workstation
A workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
s, remote batch job
Batch processing
Batch processing is execution of a series of programs on a computer without manual intervention.Batch jobs are set up so they can be run to completion without manual intervention, so all input data is preselected through scripts or command-line parameters...
entry stations, and industrial process control
Process control
Process control is a statistics and engineering discipline that deals with architectures, mechanisms and algorithms for maintaining the output of a specific process within a desired range...
lers. One application, running the AUTRAN program, controlled water and wastewater treatment
Water treatment
Water treatment describes those processes used to make water more acceptable for a desired end-use. These can include use as drinking water, industrial processes, medical and many other uses. The goal of all water treatment process is to remove existing contaminants in the water, or reduce the...
plants for many years. It was also used by Ticketron
Ticketron
Ticketron was a computerized event ticketing technology that was in operation from the 1960s until it was purchased by Ticketmaster in 1991.Ticketron was the name of a service created by Ticket Reservations Systems, Inc. The company changed its name to Ticketron in July, 1969...
as the central servers for their Wagering systems and Ticketing services. Ticketron wrote all their software, and only used the CDC Operating Systems on their development systems.