Talk:IBM mainframe

'Unicode figure space' comes out like 'unknown glyph' square

...even though I use Unicode (UTF-8) character encoding in my web browser! How come? If this can't be sorted out, I propose we return to the use of 'ordinary' spaces ( s). --Wernher 02:07, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Which 1st, 2nd generation machines are mainframes and ...?

Can't tell from this article. Should the "Smaller machines" listed be included in the IBM midrange computer article? Is a "smaller" 360 (article does mention such), the 360/20 for example, a mainframe? Should the two articles, mainframe and midrange, account for all machines other than personal computers? tooold 07:05, 12 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oops, get correct edit summary. tooold 07:07, 12 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Early history

This article fails to describe the Manchester contribution —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.78.145.81 (talk) 23:29, 8 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm assuming that this refers to the Ferranti Atlas rather than to very early Manchester machines. The paging on the 360//67 and S/370 was almost certainly inspired by other US vendors, e.g., GE, rather than directly from Atlas.

If the reference was to the B lines of the Manchester Mark 1, then Manchester affected far more than mainframes. Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 18:17, 15 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Fix the lead

Typical Wikiconfusion. How does the 709 trace its ancestry to the 360 series, being as it came out decades before it? Having a dogpile of editors doesn't lead to maximizing goodness of text. --Wtshymanski (talk) 13:15, 5 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The lead doesn't make such a claim. The lead claims that current IBM mainframes derive from the S/360, and the 709 is far from current. Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 18:17, 15 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Well, no, it doesn't, not in the two years since this change [1]. It's useful to look at the date stamp on comments. --Wtshymanski (talk) 19:07, 15 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hardware support for OS

"The System/360 was also the first computer in wide use to include dedicated hardware provisions for the use of operating systems." This doesn't sound right to me, even for some values of "in wide use." Comments?Peter Flass (talk) 13:12, 24 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure what dedicated hardware provisions means, but certainly the S/360 has no better claim than the earlier Burroughs B5000 and GE 625. Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 18:17, 15 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]