[Tfug] IBM 5100

[sitkaa at email.arizona.edu]

What is curious is the IBM 5100, specifically, the postulation that it has the
innate ability to translate older computer languages, an ability that was
supposedly deleted from subsequent computer systems.

To quote the titor (www.johntitor.com):
"... I was "sent" to get an IBM computer system called the 5100. It was 
one the
first portable computers made and it has the ability to read the older IBM
programming languages in addition to APL and Basic. We need they system to
"debug" various legacy computer programs in 2036. UNIX has a problem in 2038.
On my worldline, it is known that the 5100 series is capable of reading 
all the
IBM code written before the widespread use of APL and Basic..."

Leave aside the time travel part of the story for abit. Who knows if that is
true or just a hoax. Indeed, who really cares.

What is more interesting is the computer itself. If this IBM 5100 does 
translate
older code, as has been subsequently discussed in various places on the net,
should we not consider integrating such capability into new, 64 bit computers?
If the 5100's espoused capability is real, wouldn't it help in migrating to 64
bit capabilities.

What does everyone think of this supposed ability of the IBM 5100?




For some more info on the 5100, this quote is taken from a Rochester Magazine
article about the issue. (found at
http://www.postbulletin.com/magazine/2004/08/index.shtml)

"According to Bob Dubke, the second engineer on IBM's 5100 team in Rochester
(who now co-owns a locally-based company called eXport Ventures Corp. and also
works for Edina Realty), that secret function was his contribution to the
design of the computer. The function, which IBM suppressed because of worries
about how their competition might use it, was an interface between the 
assembly
code surrounding the computer's ROM exterior, and the 360 emulator hidden
beneath it. (IBM declined to comment for this story.) The 5100's emulator gave
programmers access to the functions of the monstrous, and much less portable
machines, that IBM had produced during the 1960s. An imprint of a hook on the
outside of the 5100 symbolized the ability of Dubke's interface to drop into
what Titor called "legacy code," and scoop out any necessary operating
instructions."



Another quote comes from the titor website.

"The 5100 did not have a true operating system. Any similarity to one was
provided by the "keyboard" code. It also provided for some basic debug things
and of course it had its share of "hooks" to do other things. There were two
emulators provided, a System 34 emulator for the Basic language, and a System
360 emulator for executing the APL interactive language.

One hook that was never documented for external IBM users was one for
launching programs, written in the System 360 machine language, from APL. I
personally used this hook for manipulating large arrays because it was faster
and reduced memory requirements. APL has a habit of creating multiple 
copies of
a variable while manipulating it.

I believe you may be thinking about the 360 emulator.

Sincerely,

Bob Dubke

eXport Ventures Corporation

Rochester, MN 55901"