Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

How Much was a CDC 1604 in the 60's?

Posted by Cliff on from the costs-of-computers-in-the-past dept.

An Oxymoran asks: "Greetings Slashdot. A colleague, that is sadly preparing an obituary for a late, great scientist, recently posed the following question: How much did a Control Data Corporation (CDC; Cray predecessor) 1604 cost in the late 60's? Apparently the 1604's controller computer, the 160, cost ~$100K. However, I have failed to turn up a price for the 1604. I would be highly appreciative of any estimates of 1604 prices from the 60's that the collective Slashdot genius can unearth. Thank you."

5 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Yes.... by Compuser · · Score: 2, Funny

    Judging by the other comments in this thread, the parent should be modded "Informative".

  2. I found an old TV transcript that should help... by Texas+Rose+on+Lava+L · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't pay ten million dollars or more for a computer from IBM when...

    The CDC 1604 can be yours for five easy payments of just $299,999! Just call the number on your screen!

    BUT WAIT!

    If you order the revolutionary new CDC 1604 within the next seven minutes, we'll knock one full payment off the purchase price! That's right, this revolutionary new computing technology can be yours for just four easy payments of just $299,999! Call now, operators are standing by!

    --

    Rank Presidents by th

  3. Re:I found an old TV transcript that should help.. by blankmange · · Score: 2, Funny
    but you forgot:

    and it WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

    Just look at these people who bought one - don't you want to be like them?
    --
    ...we are from the government - we are here to help...
  4. Re:that brings up another question by Bob+Cat+-+NYMPHS · · Score: 2, Funny

    It was around 1/1,000,000 as 'powerful', using various metrics.

    About 36 years since the late 60's, that's 24 'Moore's Law' periods (18 mos.), 2^24 == 16M, and you're running windows, so we divide by 16 to get one million.

    --
    The latest Slashdot meme.
  5. Pre-announcement for NetBSD for CDC1604 by thomasdz · · Score: 2, Funny

    This slashdot thread has reminded me of the good old days of hacking on the CDC 1604. So I took the current release of NetBSD for the VAX and hacked it up to run on the CDC 1604
    I then compiled Apache, loaded up some web pages that I copied off the Internet, and put up a site. You can see it at www.cnn.com

    Moderate this "-1 April" hahahahaha
    Thomas

    --
    Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.