The IBM 650 (photo) was one of IBM’s early computers, and the world’s first mass-produced (photo) computer. It was announced in 1953, and over 2000 systems were produced between the first shipment in 1954 and its final manufacture in 1962. Support for the 650 and its component units was withdrawn in 1969.
The 650 is a two-address, bi-quinary coded decimal machine (both data and addresses were decimal), with memory on a rotating drum. The 650 was ...
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The IBM 650 (photo) was one of IBM’s early computers, and the world’s first mass-produced (photo) computer. It was announced in 1953, and over 2000 systems were produced between the first shipment in 1954 and its final manufacture in 1962. Support for the 650 and its component units was withdrawn in 1969.
The 650 is a two-address, bi-quinary coded decimal machine (both data and addresses were decimal), with memory on a rotating drum. The 650 was specifically designed for users of existing IBM unit record equipment (electro-mechanical punched card-processing machines) upgrading from so-called Calculating Punches, like the IBM 604 model, to computers proper.
The basic 650 system consisted of three components:
Optional components:
The rotating drum memory (photo) provided 2,000 signed 10-digit words of memory (5 character per word) at addresses 0000 to 1999. It was, by 21 Century standards, quite slow because a word could not be accessed until its location on the drum surface passed...
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