Editing GE-200 series

{{Short description|Small mainframe computer series (1960s)}}
[[file:GE_210_advertisement.jpg|right|thumb|GE 210 advertisement from 1960]]

The '''GE-200 series''' was a family of small [[Mainframe computer|mainframe]] [[computer]]s of the 1960s, built by [[General Electric]] (GE). GE marketing called the line ''Compatibles/200''<ref name=DN30Ref>{{Cite book | last=General Electric Computers | title=DATANET-30 Programming Reference Manual | year=1965 | page=I-5 | url=http://dtss.dartmouth.edu/scans/D-30%20Manuals/D-30manual.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://dtss.dartmouth.edu/scans/D-30%20Manuals/D-30manual.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live | access-date=2017-10-23}}</ref> (GE-205/215/225/235).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/brochures/g-i/|title=General Electric Company (GE) {{!}} Selling the Computer Revolution {{!}} Computer History Museum|date=1964|website=www.computerhistory.org|language=en|others="The GE-205 Information Processing System Proved Hardware and Software... Available Now!", p. 3|access-date=2018-03-03}}</ref> The GE-210 of 1960<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/pur1.32754081231411?urlappend=%3Bseq=43|title=Report to the President on the management of automatic data processing in the Federal Government.|date=1965|publisher=Washington, Executive Office of the President, Bureau of the Budget|pages=29–30|hdl=2027/pur1.32754081231411?urlappend=%3Bseq=43}}</ref> was not compatible with the rest of the 200 series.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/bitsavers_gehistoryG0s_6068459/GE_Computer_History_1950s#page/n46/mode/1up/search/ge-210|title=ge :: history :: GE Computer History 1950s|date=1964-04-16|pages=47}}</ref>

== 200 series models ==
The main machine in the line was the '''GE-225''' (1961).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nFCJgwaMSeMC&q=%22GE-225%22%201961&pg=PA26|title=Auditing with the Computer|last=Boutell|first=Wayne S.|date=1965|publisher=University of California Press|pages=26|language=en |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> It used a 20-bit [[Word (computer architecture)|word]], of which 13 [[bit]]s could be used for an [[address space|address]]. Along with the basic [[central processing unit]] (CPU) the system could also have had a [[floating-point unit]] (the "Auxiliary Arithmetic Unit"), or a [[fixed-point arithmetic|fixed-point]] decimal option with three six-bit decimal digits per word. It had eleven [[input/output|I/O]] [[channel controller]]s, and GE sold a variety of add-ons including disks, printers, and other devices. The machines were built using discrete transistors, with a typical machine containing about 10,000 transistors and 20,000 diodes. They used [[magnetic-core memory]], and a standard 8&nbsp;[[wikt:kiloword|kiloword]] system held 186,000 magnetic cores. They weighed about {{convert|2000|lb|ST kg}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL64-g.html#GE-225|title=GE 225|last=Weik|first=Martin H.|date=Jan 1964|website=ed-thelen.org|series=A Fourth Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems|quote=Central Processor and Control Console (with 4K or 8K memory, typewriter, and card reader)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=GE-2xx documents |url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/GE-2xx/ |website=www.bitsavers.org|at=[http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/GE-2xx/CPB-267_GE-235-SystemManual_1963.pdf CPB-267_GE-235-SystemManual_1963.pdf], p. 1 (95)}}</ref>

The '''GE-215''' (1963)<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite journal|title=Across the editor's desk: COMPUTING AND DATA PROCESSING NEWSLETTER - NEW PRODUCTS - Digital - SECOND IN FAMILY OF GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPUTER|journal=Computers and Automation|date=Mar 1963|volume=XII|issue=3|page=42|url=http://www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Computers_And_Automation/196303.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Computers_And_Automation/196303.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|access-date=2020-09-05}}</ref> was a scaled-down version of the GE-225, including only six I/O channels and only 4 kilowords or 8 kilowords of core.

The '''GE-205''' (1964).<ref name=":1" />

The '''GE-235''' (1964)<ref name=":0" /> was a re-implementation of the GE-225 with three times faster memory than the original.<ref>{{cite book |title=GE-235 Central Processor Reference Manual |date=March 1964 |publisher=General Electric |id=CPB-374 }}</ref> The GE-235 consisted of several major components and options:
* Central processor
* 400 card-per-minute (CPM) or 1000 CPM [[punched card reader|card reader]]
* 100 CPM card punch or 300 CPM card punch
* [[Perforated paper tape|Perforated tape]] subsystem
* [[Magnetic tape]] subsystem
* 12-pocket high-speed document handler
* On-line high-speed printer or off/on-line speed printer
* Disc storage unit
* Auxiliary [[Arithmetic Logic Unit]] (ALU)
* [[DATANET-30|DATANET]] data communications equipment

==Background==
The series was designed by a team led by [[Homer Oldfield|Homer R. “Barney” Oldfield]], and which included [[Arnold Spielberg]] (father of film director [[Steven Spielberg]]). GE chairman [[Ralph J. Cordiner]] had forbidden GE from entering the general purpose computer business, rejecting several proposals by Oldfield by simply writing "No" across them and sending them back. Oldfield, somewhat deceptively, claimed that the GE-200 series would be industrial control computers. By the time Cordiner found out otherwise, it was too late and the machine was in production; Cordiner fired Oldfield at the product rollout. Even though the machine was selling well, Cordiner ordered that GE leave the computer business within 18 months (it actually took several years).<ref>{{cite web |last1=GE Reports staff |title=It's BASIC: Arnold Spielberg and the Birth of Personal Computing |url=http://www.gereports.com/post/117791167040/its-basic-arnold-spielberg-and-the-birth-of |website=GE Reports |publisher=General Electric Company |access-date=2 May 2015 |date=30 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503110958/http://www.gereports.com/post/117791167040/its-basic-arnold-spielberg-and-the-birth-of |archive-date=3 May 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Arnold Spielberg, Father of Steven Spielberg, Dead at 103|url=https://www.etonline.com/arnold-spielberg-father-of-steven-spielberg-dead-at-103-152000|access-date=2020-09-08|publisher=[[Entertainment Tonight]]|language=en-US|quote=As a computer designer and engineer, Arnold worked on and helped design the groundbreaking GE-225 mainframe computer in 1960, which would go on to form the basis for the coding tools that would pave the way for personal computing.}}</ref>

==DTSS==
Through the early 1960s GE worked with [[Dartmouth College]] on the development of a [[time-sharing]] [[operating system]], which would later go on to become the [[Dartmouth Time-Sharing System]] (DTSS). The system was constructed by attaching a number of [[Teleprinter|teletypewriters]] to a smaller GE machine called the [[DATANET-30]] (DN-30), which was a small computer that had evolved from an earlier process-control machine.

DTSS actually ran on the DN-30. The DN-30 accepted commands one at a time from the terminals connected to it, and then ran their requested programs on the GE-235. The GE-235 had no idea it was not running in [[Batch processing|batch mode]], and the illusion of [[computer multitasking|multitasking]] was being maintained externally.

In 1965 GE started packaging the DN-30 and GE-235 systems together as the '''GE-265'''. The GE-265 achieved fame not only for being the first commercially successful time-sharing system, but it was also the machine on which the [[BASIC|BASIC programming language]] was created.

==See also==
*[[GE-400 series]]
*[[GE-600 series]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.smecc.org/g_e__200_series_computers.htm GE-200 Product Line]

[[Category:General Electric mainframe computers]]
[[Category:Transistorized computers]]
[[Category:Computer-related introductions in 1961]]
[[Category:20-bit computers]]