GE-400 series

The GE-400 series were time-sharing Information Systems computers by General Electric introduced in 1964 and shipped until 1968.

GE 400
DesignerGeneral Electric
Bits24-bit
Introduced1964
DesignCISC
TypeRegister-Memory
Memory-Memory
EncodingFixed
BranchingCondition indicators
Compare and branch
Registers
Accumulator
6 index registers (in memory)
General purposenone
Floating pointnone

System description

The GE-400 series (Compatibles/400) came in models: 415, 425, 435 (1964),[1] 455 and 465.[2] GE-400 systems had a word length of 24 bits which could contain binary data, four six-bit BCD characters, or four signed decimal digits. GE-400 systems could have up to 32,768 words (132K characters) of magnetic-core memory with a cycle time of 2.7 microseconds (435) or 5.1 microseconds (425). The systems supported up to eight channels for input/output.

The GE 412 (1962)[3] was an incompatible computer system with a 20-bit word length intended for process control applications.[4]

Unique features

GE-400 systems featured a "variable length, relocatable accumulator"[5] which could be set programmatically to a length of one to four words and relocated to overlay any four adjacent locations in memory (modulo four). "The accumulator can be moved to the data to be processed, rather than moving the data."

Successor systems

The 400 series was succeeded by the incompatible 36-bit GE-600 series.

See also

References
  1. Williams, R. H. (2014-05-23). British Commercial Computer Digest: Pergamon Computer Data Series. Elsevier. pp. 3/15–20. ISBN 9781483154527.
  2. "Compatibles/400 | 102686873 | Computer History Museum". www.computerhistory.org. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  3. The European Computer Users Handbook. Computer Consultants. 1968. p. 15.
  4. General Electric Company. GE 412 Programming Manual (PDF).
  5. General Electric Company (1963). GE 425/435 Reference Manual (PDF). pp. 1–12: 1–13.
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