This is a publicity photograph of a RECOMP Computer showing the modules and how easy it is to release them from the backplane. It was distributed to the press by North American Aviation in 1957.
This is a publicity photograph of a RECOMP Computer showing the modules and how easy it is to release them from the backplane. It was distributed to the press by North American Aviation in 1957.
I saw a youtube clip of one of these machines. I grabbed all the manuals off of bitsavers and began going through it. I did a cross reference against the card list I have been building for the D-17B. Thing I am doing now is zeroing in on the instruction set. It has lots more technical documentation about than the D-17B does. I did find today the document that contains all the details for building a D-17B MCUG style control panel. Including a parts list! It is neat!
For some reason I thought the RECOMPs were a commercialization of the D-17B, but the commercial machines were developed first:
Yeah in the youtube link here: https://youtu.be/Otdy_bfPseY He talks about this. I came at it a different way which was to go between the wire guide and the card guide for the D-17B and compare. The DNA is really apparent and the D-17B is a bit later. But certain things like the setup of the flip flop logic is shared. And actually it seems like at least one board ( but in different format ) is directly shared. We actually have enough documentation to do a ‘retro’ Recomp II pretty much directly I think. Part of what is going on here is I have been looking for a carded mini type computer to build. You could almost make an argument that going for the Recomp II first would then enable one to get to the D-17B quite easily. Both would need a card ( or external module ) that simulated the drum/disk. Not impossible. Bit of the way into that for the D-17B. Really isn’t as complicated as it sounds. Just about the worst memory board one can imagine designing but doable! That advert with the two guys carrying it. Been trying to find that since I saw it.