Medium Systems MCP!

[Kira Ash]

Hi everyone! I'm really interested in the Medium Systems family of decimal machines and the MCP it ran, but by the time I was an adult the V-series had been dead for decades and there doesn't seem to be much information about the family on the Internet. Bitsavers has an ISA manual, but does anyone know where I might find documentation (or even tape images, depending on whether those are considered abandonware) for the BMS MCP? I'm curious how much it resembles BLS MCP (which obviously runs on very different underlying hardware - descriptors, 48b octal FP scalars, etc.)

Thanks, and I hope you're all having a good day!

[Paul Kimpel]

There's quite a bit more documentation at
http://bitsavers.org/burroughs/, including documents for the MCP and
compilers, but it's spread over several sub-folders. You will want to
look under:

B2500_B3500/
B2800_3800_4800/
B3700_4700/
mediumSystems/
V-Series/

Scott Lurndal, who posts on this newsgroup from time to time, has
written an emulator for the V Series and managed to find a release tape
somewhere. I don't think he's made his emulator public, but may be
willing to make it available to interested parties on a case-by-case basis.

Paul

[Kira Ash]

Thanks for the pointer! I somehow managed to completely miss the "mediumSystems" directory in Bitsavers' Burroughs directory - it seems like there's some good MCP docs in there. Much of what Bitsavers has for the Medium Systems family seems to be hardware manuals - MCP docs are a little thinner on the ground, but there's definitely enough to go off to get a sense of the system.

It's a little shocking to me that Burroughs/Unisys had a (fairly successful, as best I can tell) family of decimal computers that lasted that long. It seems like most of the industry abandoned decimal systems by the late 60s.

[Scott Lurndal]

Kira Ash <hpeint...@gmail.com> writes:
>Hi everyone! I'm really interested in the Medium Systems family of decimal =
>machines and the MCP it ran, but by the time I was an adult the V-series ha=
>d been dead for decades and there doesn't seem to be much information about=
> the family on the Internet. Bitsavers has an ISA manual, but does anyone k=
>now where I might find documentation (or even tape images, depending on whe=
>ther those are considered abandonware) for the BMS MCP? I'm curious how muc=
>h it resembles BLS MCP (which obviously runs on very different underlying h=

>ardware - descriptors, 48b octal FP scalars, etc.)
>
>Thanks, and I hope you're all having a good day!

I have a full working simulator of the Medium systems, with a working
MCPVS3.3, the COBOL, BPL and WFL compilers, GEMCOS MCS and CANDE. The
simulation supports card readers, line printers, a variety of disk and
pack devices and B874, B974 and TELCOM DLP datacomm subsystems.

I have all the user documentation. Some of the earlier stuff is on bitsavers.

It's on my list to upload the simulator to a public git repo sometime this year.

[Scott Lurndal]

Kira Ash <hpeint...@gmail.com> writes:
>On Thursday, August 25, 2022 at 11:39:18 AM UTC-7, Paul Kimpel wrote:

>> -------- Original Message --------=20
>> Subject: Medium Systems MCP!=20
>> From: Kira Ash <hpeint...@gmail.com>=20
>> To:=20
>> Date: Thu Aug 25 2022 09:06:43 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)=20
>>=20
>> > Hi everyone! I'm really interested in the Medium Systems family of deci=
>mal machines and the MCP it ran, but by the time I was an adult the V-serie=
>s had been dead for decades and there doesn't seem to be much information a=
>bout the family on the Internet. Bitsavers has an ISA manual, but does anyo=
>ne know where I might find documentation (or even tape images, depending on=
> whether those are considered abandonware) for the BMS MCP? I'm curious how=
> much it resembles BLS MCP (which obviously runs on very different underlyi=
>ng hardware - descriptors, 48b octal FP scalars, etc.)=20
>> >=20

>> > Thanks, and I hope you're all having a good day!

>> There's quite a bit more documentation at=20
>> http://bitsavers.org/burroughs/, including documents for the MCP and=20
>> compilers, but it's spread over several sub-folders. You will want to=20
>> look under:=20
>>=20
>> B2500_B3500/=20
>> B2800_3800_4800/=20
>> B3700_4700/=20
>> mediumSystems/=20
>> V-Series/=20
>>=20
>> Scott Lurndal, who posts on this newsgroup from time to time, has=20
>> written an emulator for the V Series and managed to find a release tape=
>=20
>> somewhere. I don't think he's made his emulator public, but may be=20
>> willing to make it available to interested parties on a case-by-case basi=
>s.=20
>>=20
>> Paul
>
>Thanks for the pointer! I somehow managed to completely miss the "mediumSys=
>tems" directory in Bitsavers' Burroughs directory - it seems like there's s=
>ome good MCP docs in there. Much of what Bitsavers has for the Medium Syste=
>ms family seems to be hardware manuals - MCP docs are a little thinner on t=
>he ground, but there's definitely enough to go off to get a sense of the sy=
>stem.
>
>It's a little shocking to me that Burroughs/Unisys had a (fairly successful=
>, as best I can tell) family of decimal computers that lasted that long. It=

> seems like most of the industry abandoned decimal systems by the late 60s.

One of the last V380 systems in production was shut down in 2010; almost a fifty
year run. That particular system is at the Living History Museum (currently
in storage, I believe).