UNIVAC 1050

The UNIVAC 1050 was a variable wordlength (1 to 16 characters) decimal and binary computer.

Instructions were fixed length (30 bits – 5 characters), consisting of a 5 bit "op code", a 3 bit index register specifier, one reserved bit, a 15 bit address, and a 6 bit "detail field" whose function varies with each instruction.

The memory was up to 32K of 6-bit characters.

Like the IBM 1401, the 1050 was commonly used as an off-line peripheral controller in many installations of both large "Scientific Computer"s and large "Business Computer"s. In these installations the big computer (e.g., a UNIVAC III) did all of its input-output on magnetic tapes and the 1050 was used to format input data from other peripherals (e.g., punched card readers) on the tapes and transfer output data from the tapes to other peripherals (e.g., punched card punches or the lineprinter).

A version used by the U.S. Air Force, the U1050-II real-time system, had some extra peripherals. The most significant of these was the FASTRAND 1 Drum Storage Unit. This physically large device had 2 contra-rotating drums mounted horizontally, one above the other in a pressurised cabinet. Read-write heads were mounted on a horizontally moving beam between the drums, driven by a voice coil servo external to the pressurised cabinet. This high speed access subsystem allowed the real-time operation. Another feature was the communications subsystem with modem links to remote sites. A Uniservo VI-C tape drive provided an audit trail for the transactions. Other Peripherals were the card reader and punch, and printer. The operator's console had the 'stop and go' buttons(!) and a Teletype Model 33 teleprinter for communication and control.

UNIVAC 490

The UNIVAC 490 was a 30-bit word core memory machine with 16K or 32K words; 4.8 microsecond cycle time made by UNIVAC. It was a commercial derivative of a computer Univac Federal Systems developed for the United States Navy. That system was the heart of the Naval Tactical Data System which pioneered the use of shipboard computers for air defense. The military version went by a variety of names: UNIVAC 1232,AN/USQ-20, MIL-1206 and CP642. Seymour Cray designed this system before he left UNIVAC to join the early Control Data Corporation.

Overview

Apparently at least 47 of these machines were made (serial numbers run from 101 to 147). Six were installed at NASA and played important roles in Gemini and the Apollo missions. In the Hollywood film Apollo 13, when the screens come to life after the onboard computer has been reactivated, those screens would have been responding to a Univac 490. The U490 had complete control of most or all of the data readout screens in Houston Mission Control. The USAF had two installed, as did Lockheed. Airlines using the 490 Real-Time system included Eastern and Northwest Orient - principally airline reservations systems at Eastern Air Lines (1963) and British European Airways (BEACON - 1964). Other commercial installations of the 490 Real-Time included two at Westinghouse, and one each at Alcoa, US Steel, Bethlehem Steel and General Motors.

UNIVAC 418

The UNIVAC 418 was a transistorized, 18-bit word core memory machine made by Sperry Univac. The name came from its 4-microsecond memory cycle time and 18-bit word. The assembly language for this class of computers was TRIM III and ART418.

Over the three different models, more than 392 systems were manufactured. It evolved from the Control Unit Tester (CUT), a device used in the factory to test peripherals for larger systems.

Architecture

The instruction word had three formats:

Numbers were represented in ones' complement, single and double precision. The TRIM assembly source code used octal numbers as opposed to more common hexadecimal because the 18-bit words are evenly divisible by 3, but not by 4.

The machine had the following addressable registers: