Front panel of the SDS Sigma 5 computer at the Computer History Museum
The SDS Sigma series is a series of third generation computers[1][2][3] that were introduced by Scientific Data Systems of the United States in 1966.[4]
The first machines in the series are the 16-bit Sigma 2 and the 32-bit Sigma 7; the Sigma 7 was the first 32-bit computer released by SDS. At the time, the only competition for the Sigma 7 was the IBM 360.
Memory size increments for all SDS/XDS/Xerox computers are stated in kwords, not kbytes. For example, the Sigma 5 base memory is 16K 32-bit words (64K bytes). Maximum memory is limited by the length of the instruction address field of 17 bits, or 128K words (512K bytes). Although this is a trivial amount of memory in today's technology, Sigma systems performed their tasks exceptionally well, and few were deployed with, or needed, the maximum 128K word memory size.
The CII 10070 computer was a rebadged Sigma 7 and served as a basis for the upgraded, yet still compatible, Iris 50 and Iris 80 computers. The Xerox 500 series computers, introduced starting in 1973, were also compatible upgrades to the Sigma systems using newer technology.
In 1975, Xerox sold its computer business to Honeywell, Inc. which continued support for the Sigma line for a time.
An XDS Sigma 9 at the Living Computer Museum, Seattle, Washington, US, 2014
The Sigma 9 may hold the record for the longest lifetime of a machine selling near the original retail price[citation needed]. Sigma 9 computers were still in service in 1993. In 2011, the Living Computer Museum in Seattle, Washington acquired a Sigma 9 from a service bureau (Applied Esoterics/George Plue Estate) and has made it operational.[5] That Sigma 9 CPU was at the University of Southern Mississippi until Nov. 1985 when Andrews University purchased it and took it to Michigan. In February 1990, Andrews University via Keith Calkins sold and delivered it to Applied Esoterics in Flagstaff, Arizona. Keith Calkins made the Sigma 9 functional for the museum in 2012/13 and brought up the CP-V operating system in Dec. 2014. The various other system components came from other user sites, such as Marquette, Samford and Xerox/Dallas.
^Nelson, Richard R.; New York University Graduate School of Business Administration Center for Science and Technology Policy (1982). Government and technical progress: a cross-industry analysis. Pergamon Press. p. 208. ISBN 9780080288376. In 1965-67, SDS introduced its third-generational Sigma Series (...).
^Krickx, Guido Armand Marie Jules (1988). Historical evidence on the evolution of vertical exchange mechanisms: examples from the computer systems industry. UCLA. pp. 167, 416.
^"IC DIGITAL LOGIC MODULES. T Series. Description and Specifications" (PDF) (Revision 5 ed.). September 1969. THE SDS APPROACH TO MODULES, p. -1 (3). Retrieved 2019-03-19.
^
"Computers that will not die – The SDS Sigma 7".
^"Computer Room Exhibits". The Living Computer Museum. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
The SDSSigmaseries is a series of third generation computers that were introduced by Scientific Data Systems of the United States in 1966. The first...
includes the SDS 910, SDS 920, SDS 925, SDS 930, SDS 940, and the SDS 945. The SDS 9300 is an extension of the 9xx architecture. The 1965 SDS 92 is an incompatible...
such as Fujitsu-Siemens' BS2000/OSD, OS-IV, MSP, and MSP-EX, the SDSSigmaseries, Unisys VS/9, Unisys MCP and ICL VME. EBCDIC was devised in 1963 and...
Sigma 7 may refer to: the callsign of the spacecraft used in the 1962 Mercury-Atlas 8 mission the SDSSigma 7 computer, made by Scientific Data Systems...
for Scientific Data Systems's (SDS) Sigmaseries mainframe computers, originally released in 1967. Xerox purchased SDS in 1969 and began rebranding it...
(Remote Spooling Communications Subsystem) Symbionts and Cooperatives in SDSSigmaseries computers In the past it was used to, e.g., copy a deck of cards unrelated...
Tape System In December 1966 SDS shipped the entirely new Sigmaseries, starting with the 16-bit Sigma 2 and the 32-bit Sigma 7, both using common hardware...
the SDS 9 Series and SDSSigmaseries of computers are meta-assemblers. Sperry Univac also provided a Meta-Assembler for the UNIVAC 1100/2200 series. inline...
project served as an early electronic bulletin board system. SDSSigmaseriesSDS 9 Series Laws, United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary...
the first series of computers manufactured in the late 1960s under Plan Calcul. The 10070 is a rebadged Scientific Data Systems (SDS) Sigma 7. In addition...
Data Systems (SDS) Free SDSSigmaseries BTM, UTS, CP-V Xerox Assembly Program (AP) Xerox Data Systems Free SDSSigmaseries, Xerox 500 series CP-V CP-R Meta...
(EX), the GE-600/Honeywell 6000 (XEC, XED), the SDS-9xx (EXU), the SDS 92 (EXU), and the SDSSigmaseries (EXU). Fewer 1970s designs include execute instructions:...
The Xerox Operating System (XOS) was an operating system for the XDS Sigmaseries of computers "optimized for direct replacement of IBM DOS/360 installations"...
about 200 SDS-930/940/945 computers still installed. SDS 9xx computers Keith G. Calkins (June 1984). "The COMPUTER That Will Not Die: The SDSSIGMA 7". 5th...
floating-point arithmetic in the SDSSigma 7 computer in 1966 Hexadecimal floating-point arithmetic in the SDSSigma 5 computer in 1967 Hexadecimal floating-point...
January 1974. p. 32. Calkins, Keith. "The COMPUTER That Will Not Die: The SDSSIGMA 7". Retrieved Sep 23, 2014. Xerox Corporation (1974). The Xerox 550 Computer...
begin manufacturing. Because SDS manufacturing was overloaded with the 9 series production and the startup of the SigmaSeries production, it could not incorporate...
8020 16-bit series 32-bit series TX-0 Baby, or SSEM Altair 8800 both Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 versions Nord-100 LGP-30 LGP-21 Sage II SDS 940 SWTPC 6800...
Kline connected from UCLA's SDSSigma 7 Host computer (in Boelter Hall room 3420) to the Stanford Research Institute's SDS 940 Host computer. Kline typed...
Mayfield's Star Trek text game, which originated as a BASIC program on an SDSSigma 7 mainframe system in 1971 and ported to many different systems. Ahl published...
(2/66) Honeywell 200/1200 (1/66) Honeywell 200/4200 (12/66) IBM 1800 SDS 940 SDSSigma 2 UNIVAC 494 UNIVAC 1005 I, II, III (2/66) CER-22 D4a built in 1963...
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