Computadoras En El Laboratorio

Forward
Rarely is there opportunity to trace in detail the steps and events leading to a development as significant to the scientific community as the emergence of the mini-personal computer. History, even as recent as twenty years ago, is usually clouded with uncertainty about facts, the distortion of memory, and the nuances of interpretation.
The following dramatic narrative recounts thedevelopment of the Laboratory Instrument Computer (LINC) from its conception in the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, through its evaluation in distinguished biomedical research laboratories, and along the way tells of its obvious influence on the growth of the Digital Equipment Corporation. The ubiquity of the "mini" and so called personal computer of today issubstantial evidence of the importance of this development.
As one who was involved in related areas of research and technical development and now has responsibility for the administration of large health related programs, I find the LINC success story both satisfying and highly instructive. Two aspects of this interesting story are worth noting. The development of LINC was sparked not by the compellingdefense or space program needs of the time, but by an intense interest in providing better mechanisms for conducting neurophysiological research. Further, the LINC saga provides a cogent example of what can be accomplished in partnership involving the government, academic institutions and industry.
Laboratory Instrument Computer (LINC)
"The Genesis of a Technological Revolution"
by Samuel A.Rosenfeld
Personal computers, now as ubiquitous as typewriters, are direct descendants of the LINC, an invention made some two decades ago, at the close of the paleocomputing era. In the early 1960's, digital computers were accorded the reverence of religious totems. Massive machines engendered a mystique that daunted even the most adventurous biomedical researchers. It was an age when computerswere untouchable, except through the ministrations of computer acolytes; a time when programs, once relinquished to the computer center, would be run and returned in about as long as it took a suit to be cleaned (special rush jobs -- 24-hour service); when computers resided in large glassed-in sanctuaries, with signs warning "Do Not Enter." In short, a time of hands off. Only the privileged priestlycaste -- designers, operators, system programmers -- could gain direct access to a digital computer, and they understood what the others were missing. Computer economics encouraged the status quo. An hour on the IBM 7090, a common large commercial machine, circa 1960 (some of today's micros are as powerful), cost $100 or more. The image of programmers pondering an elusive bug at such rates couldturn any cost-conscious administrator green.
The computer landscape was almost completely dominated by IBM megaliths. With about 85 percent of the computer market, they ignored what came to be called "minicomputers." With its investment in large computers such as the 7094, and the introduction of the 360 series machine, IBM had decided to push large "systems" which were wildly expensive for mostlaboratory applications. Perhaps most importantly, these systems were simply inappropriate for most laboratory uses. Small companies like Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) sold digital equipment for the lab, but they were building blocks not computers.
In this environment, two groups at MIT came up with different approaches to encourage direct access. The first, called "time-sharing," wasintended to create the illusion for a number of users that each was in control of a large machine -- in the first experiment, an IBM 7090. The basic idea was to slice a second into, say, 20 slivers, so that each of 20 users would be addressed in turn every second for 50 milliseconds. In such a system, a programmer would be charged for three minutes of computer time every hour. This approach allowed...