Selenia Gp-16
The Selenia Gp-16 was a general purpose minicomputer designed by the Italian company Selenia of STET group. It was followed by an upgraded version called Gp-160.
History
The Gp-16 was minicomputer designed mainly for industrial customers, whose concept in design was similar to PDP-8. The design took place in Rome during the mid-sixties under the supervision of Saverio Rotella, when the production was carried in Fusaro (Napoli) in the second half of that decade.[1][2][3]
The most known uses were in control tower in airports, as done in Venice;[4] a modified upgraded version was used in Gruppi Speciali of CSELT, the second electromechanical phone switch in Europe.[5] The Gp16 was later adopted also by Olivetti.[6] However, it never reached a large diffusion because of a small market push from its producing company.[7]
Technical features
Hardware
- word length: 16 bit;
- RAM memory: 8 Kbyte, extensibile to 32 Kbyte (when the CSELT version extended it until 64 Kbyte);
- cycle time: 4 microseconds;
- ROM technology: magnetic-core memory;
- input/output peripherals: punched card reader, punched tape reader, teleprinter.
Software
- No true Operating system;
- Fortran Compiler;
- Arithmetical calculation Routine;
- Monitor processing system;
- Assembly language.
Notes
- ↑ Gaspare Galati, 100 years of radar, Springer, 2016, ISBN 978-3-319-00584-3.
- ↑ Il Mondo
- ↑ http://sites.ieee.org/italy/files/2014/09/ricordi-di-un-ingegnere.pdf Un Ingegnere racconta, Ing. Paolo M. De Gaetano Polverosi
- ↑ La Stampa, Alberto, l'ingegnere che salva le vecchie glorie dei computer, 23 marzo 2016
- ↑ Cantoni, Virginio, Gabriele Falciasecca, and Giuseppe Pelosi, eds., Storia delle telecomunicazioni, Vol. 1, Firenze university press, 2011.
- ↑ Olivettiani.it: Ricordi di Mauro (iii)
- ↑ Bozzo, Massimo. La grande storia del computer: dall'abaco all'intelligenza artificiale. Vol. 37. Edizioni Dedalo, 1996., p.381.
- ↑ Dagnino, P., et al. "Progetto Esquilino": An Experiment about an Optimal Gyro-Pilot." IFAC Proceedings Volumes 6.3 (1973): 121-129.
- ↑ Sidowski, Joseph B. "Printout." Behavior Research Methods 3.3 (1971): 167-172.
Bibliography
- Fondazione Adriano Olivetti, La cultura informatica in Italia: riflessioni e testimonianze sulle origini: 1950-1970, Bollati Boringhieri, 1993.