Fish-eye shot of the Red Room. Photo courtesy of UW Special Collections & Archives.
On November 16, 1922, IBM System/360 hardware designer Gene Amdahl was born.
Amdahl worked on the IBM 704, IBM 709, and IBM Stretch before becoming the chief architect for the IBM System/360 computers. After leaving IBM in 1970, he founded Amdahl Corporation, an IT company specializing in IBM mainframe-compatible computer systems. He is also known for formulating Amdahl's law, which is used in parallel computing.
IBM System/360
The IBM System/360 was a system of mainframe computers introduced by IBM in 1964. It was revolutionary in terms of compatibility as up until this point computer software was written for specific machines. That meant computers from separate lines were incompatible with each other, even if they were released by the same company. This made upgrades costly for consumers.
However, the IBM System/360 family of computers allowed consumers to expand and upgrade models according to their needs, while still supporting the programs they were running.
University of Waterloo
In 1967 the University of Waterloo installed the IBM System/360 Model 75 in the Mathematics and Computer (MC) building’s Red Room. The Model 75 initially held 512KB of RAM (later grew to 3MB) and a CPU that ran at 5.1 Mhz. Though that may not sound like much compared to what computers are capable of now, it was the most powerful computer in Canada at the time.
Our collection includes the IBM System/360 Model 75 Operator Panel, donated by the Institute for Compute Research, UW and currently on display in the Computer Museum office (DC 1316).
View it in our catalogue: 2016.7.62
IBM System/360 in the Red Room
Image of the computer room in the Mathematics and Computer Building seen from above with an IBM System 360/model 75 in view. Signs are visible on top of various units indicating their purpose. They read: Central Processing Unit; Channel Control Unit; and Control Unit. Someone is working at a computer in the far back corner of the room and students are seen working together in a classroom that looks down onto the computer room. University of Waterloo. Central Photographic., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
IBM System/360 Model 75 Control Panel
University of Waterloo Archives. IBM System/360 75. GA165-179_008.
Fish-eye shot of System/360 Model 75 control panel. Photo courtesy of UW Special Collections/Don Cowan.
About the Author
Amy studies Computational Mathematics at the University of Waterloo and is the Computer Museum’s Fall 2024 co-op student. In her free time, she enjoys painting, collaging, and other forms of visual art making.