The LINC was early and small

ABSTRACT

The LINC represents one of the earliest attempts to put the stored program computer into the form of a general instrument for laboratory use. In a deliberate departure from the technology of Timesharing then just beginning nearly two decades of development, the LINC was designed for use by individual experimenters and thus anticipated features of the modern personal computer and personal workstation. Built at M.I.T. in 1962, its immediate forebears were the TX-0, ARC-1, and L-1 computers, in turn direct descendents of the M.I.T. Whirlwind and MTC computers. Of course the LINC in its day was neither personal computer nor personal workstation but simply the LINC. The LINC was an outgrowth of interactions between two M.I.T. groups of scientists and engineers: the Communications Biophysics Laboratory interested in the quantification of neuro-electric activity, and the Lincoln Laboratory Digital Computer Group engaged in the development of advanced computers. Twelve LINCs were placed initially in biomedical research laboratories across the country under a unique NIH/NASA-sponsored evaluation program. Ultimately more than 1200 LINC or LINC variants were manufactured commercially for worldwide use. The basic system design went on to influence the design of the DEC PDP-4 and PDP-5 computers, which in turn helped to pave the way to the PDP-8.

REFERENCES

• 1: Clark, W. A. and C. E. Molnar: A Description of the LINC. in Computers in Biomedical Research I. R. W. Stacy and B. D. Waxman (eds) Academic Press, New York, 1965; ch 2.
• 2: Kent C. Redmond , Thomas Malcolm Smith, Project Whirlwind; The History of a Pioneer Computer, Butterworth-Heinemann, Newton, MA, 1980
• 3: C. Gordon Bell , John E. McNamara , J. Craig. Mudge, Computer Engineering; A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design, Butterworth-Heinemann, Newton, MA, 1978
• 4: Farley, B. G. and W. A. Clark: Activity in networks of Neuron-like Elements. in Information Theory, Fourth London Symposium. C. Cherry (ed), Buttersworth, London, 1961: 242- 251.
• 5: Clark, W. A.: Design Considerations for an Experimental Computer. Linc. Lab. memo 6M- 3536, April 1955.
• 6: Clark, W.A.: The Multi-Sequence Concept. Linc. Lab. memo 6M-3144, November 1954.
• 7: Forgie, J. W.: The Lincoln TX-2 Input-Output System. Proc. 1957 WJCC: 156-160.
• 8: Thacker, C. P. et al.: ALTO: A Personal Computer, in Computer Systems: Principles and Examples. Siewiorek, Bell, and Newell, (eds), McGraw Hill, 1982; ch 33.
• 9: Mitchell, J. L. and K. H. Olsen: TX-O, A Transistor Computer with a 256 by 256 Memory. Proc. 1956 EJCC. 10: 93-101.
• 10: Clark, W.A.: The Lincoln TX-2 Computer Development. Proc. 1957 WJCC :143-145.
• 11: Clark, W. A., R. M. Brown, M. H. Goldstein, C. E. Molnar, D. F. O'Brien, and H.E. Zieman: The Average Response Computer (ARC): A Digital Device for Computing Averages and Amplitude and Time Histograms of Electrophysiological Responses. IRE Trans. Biomed. Electronics, 1961, BME-8:46-51.
• 12: Clark, W. A.: A Functional Description of the L-I Computer. Linc. Lab. Rept. 51G0012, ASTIA 236678, 1960.
• 13: Clark, W. A.: Digital Techniques in Neuroelectric Data Processing. in Computer Techniques in EEG Analysis, M. A. B. Brazier, ed. EEG J. supp. 20, Elsevier, 1961.
• 14: Best, R. L. and T. C. Stockebrand: A Computer- Integrated Rapid-Access Magnetic Tape System with Fixed Address. Proc. 1958 WJCC.
• 15: Clark, W. A.: The General Purpose Computer in the Life Sciences Laboratory. in Engineering and the Life Sciences. NAS-NRC Rept., Wash. D.C., April 1962; 33ff.
• 16: Rosenfeld, S.: LINC - The Genesis of a Technological Revolution. LINC 20th Anniversary Seminar. NIH Rept. November 30, 1983.
• 17: Cox, J. R.: A Description of the Programmed Console. BCL Monograph #37, Wash. Univ., September 1966
• 18: Convocation on the Mississippi: Final Report of the LINC Evaluation Program. Wash. Univ., 1965.
• 19: Mary Allen Wilkes, Conversational access to a 2048-word machine, Communications of the ACM, v.13 n.7, p.407-414, July 1970 [doi>10.1145/362686.362690]
• 20: Wilkes, M. A.: LAP6 Handbook. CRL Tech. Rept. #2, Wash. Univ., May 1967.
• 21: Wilkes, M. A. and W. A. Clark: Programming the LINC. Wash. Univ., January 1969.
• 22: Wilkes, M. A.: Bibliography of LINC-Related Publications. CSL Ref. Lib. LINC Doc. #14, Wash. Univ., January 1969.

INDEX TERMS

Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization

  J. Computer Applications
  J.3 LIFE AND MEDICAL SCIENCES
      Subjects: Biology and genetics

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.2 HISTORY OF COMPUTING
      Subjects: Hardware; Software

General Terms:
Human Factors