Talk:CDC 1604

Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS)
Excerpt ... thinkLets(cc): In the area of information processing, DARPA made great strides, initially through the development of time-sharing (all modern operating systems are descendants of the Multics system, which resulted from the work started by DARPA in this area), and later through the evolution of the ARPANET (a telecommunications network and precursor to the Internet), and research in the artificial intelligence (AI) fields of speech recognition and signal processing.

DARPA also funded the development of NLS and the Aspen Movie Map, which was probably the first hypermedia system and an important precursor of virtual reality.

From 1976-1981, DARPA's major thrusts were dominated by air, land, sea, and space technology, such as follow-on forces attack with standoff weapons and associated Command, Control, and Communications; tactical armor and anti-armor programs; infrared remote sensing for space-based surveillance; high-energy laser technology for space-based missile defense; antisubmarine warfare systems; advanced cruise missiles; advanced aircraft; and defense applications of advanced computing ...

Also see: RJBurkhart 11:27, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Charles Babbage Institute (CBI)
 * History of the internet

Count of 1604 CPUs (frames)
GDSS seems out of place to Talk: CDC 1604.

It would be good if someone could determine how many 1604s were made.

Where Administered by US Navy
NELIAC was used at NEL to support experimental anti-submarine systems and Command and Control Systems development, and later, at the Navy Command Systems and Support Activity (NAVCOSSACT) in Washington DC in support of the National Emergency Command Post Afloat (NECPA) project which was installed on many large ships starting in 1966. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.45.158.54 (talk) 03:39, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

The software was developed by the Naval Electronics Laboratory, San Diego. The product was turned over for acceptance and administration to the Naval Command and Systems Support Activity (NAVCOSSACT), Navy Yard, Washington, DC. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.45.158.54 (talk) 03:32, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

"Similar machines" subsection
Recommend remove this section.

1) The late 60s SciAm article on Eastern Bloc machines compared the BESM-6 closer to the 7600 which is 2+ generations past the 1604.

2) The BESM might have been compatible but it was later. PCs are similarly faster than the ENIAC. It's not clear whether compatibility cited here is relevant. CDC placed performance over compatibility.  This raises other questions (stealing code?).

3) More registers are no substitute for a cache. This appears to be non-technical one-upsmanship. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.122.34.11 (talk) 16:29, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

No, do not delete. The BESM-6 is an interesting piece of history. The Soviets stole a CDC 1604 from West Germany and used it at their nuclear research lab. That is why the BESM-6 was designed to be almost a copy of the 1604 architecture, because important coded were written for the 1604. DonPMitchell (talk) 21:10, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

When???
There is no mention in the article of when the CDC 1604 was developed or first sold. What year? DonPMitchell (talk) 21:10, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

Resources for delivery dates
One source that I have been using for delivery dayes is the Adams Associates ''COMPUTER CHARACTERISTICS QUARTERLY. Unfortunately, I've only found two issues online.

Another resource is the Datamation archive at bitsavers. Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 20:41, 30 August 2020 (UTC)

Mask register?
Both the text and the register table describe the Q register as a mask register; however, the cited 1604 reference describes it as an auxiliary arithmetic register. --Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 12:01, 30 July 2021 (UTC)


 * I have found another source (the Reference Manual) that clarifies this. The Q register was indeed named the Auxiliary Arithmetic register. It was used in certain masking operations, but no doubt its other uses (now sumarized in the article), particularly for multiplication and division, were more frequent. I've renamed and better described the register and added a citation. Cjs (talk) 11:49, 31 August 2021 (UTC)


 * The Q register in the 1604 plays essentially the same role as the Multiplier-Quotient (MQ) register in, e.g., DEC PDP-5, IBM 704.--Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 18:55, 31 August 2021 (UTC)

Programming languages
The article states JOVIAL was used as the main programming language of the CDC 1604, while octal was used to program shared services supported by the CDC 160A. I'm skeptical of both claims. What are the numbers for use of, e.g., assembler, FORTRAN, NELIAC, on the 1604? Was it really common practice to code 160A programs directly in octal rather than assembling them and copying the object code into 1604 source code?

If the statement is intended to refer solely to the installation at NAVCOSSACT, it needs rewording. Otherwise, it needs citations. --Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 06:31, 13 March 2022 (UTC)