Vintage IBM

The IBM 650 was a vacuum tube based computer of the 1950s to early 1960s vintage. They were decimal arithmetic based computers with a small rotating drum memory. These were largely business computers and most often used for accounting and the like but there existed a Fortran implementation for them. The 650 was really IBM’s first successful (as in made a lot of money) computer. My connection with them is rather tenuous. Virginia Tech had one prior to my becoming involved with computing there. When I was just beginning to learn about computing they had switched to an IBM 7040 and IBM 1401. (I believe there was an IBM 1620 prior to the IBM 7040.) The IBM 1401 was largely the successor to the IBM 650 in IBM’s product line. There were still manuals, programs, and miscellaneous equipment related to the IBM 650 at Virginia Tech when I started using and working with computers there. I am very surprised that someone still had an IBM 650 outside a museum given its age.

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