Cabinets 2 & 3: The IBM 360/67

Cabinets 2 & 3 are situated immediately opposite the main entrance to the Urban Science Building. These cabinets house artefacts relating to the IBM 360/67 that was purchased by the Lab in 1967.

From mid-2018 to June 2019, the cabinets hosted an exhibition of iconic microcomputers for the Great Exhibition of the North, the majority of which are now in Cabinet 4.

Cabinet 2: Virtual memory panel, machine room floorplan, core memory

3D printed floorplan

The 3D-printed floorplan was developed by Nick Packham, Norman Platt and Janis Meissner of the Empowering Hacks lab, based within Open Lab. It was based on the detailed floorplan drawing by Roger Broughton (who appears in the model!). The model features individual LED lights for the various components of the IBM 360 that is on display, driven by an Arduino system built into the model base.

Stuart Wheater made some adaptations to the Arduino circuitry and program which illuminates each of the IBM 360/67 components in turn and prints their name onto an LED display positioned towards the front of the model.

The STL source code for the 3D-printed components are available to download and adapt. We plan to release the Arduino description and source code under open source licenses in the very near future.

Cabinet 3:CPU panel

  • The CPU panel (with operational lights, on special occasions).
  • IBM System/360 Manual “Principles of Operation”.
  • A small piece of fused power cable (weight 7.1Kg), and its story: in 1985 it took out the whole of of the Computer Room, triggering an unparalleled emergency..

CPU panel lighting

Our CPU panel lights are operational, thanks to three different eras of circuitry, two of them retro-fitted by computing history enthusiasts.

In the 1980s Mike Wardley constructed circuitry to interface with the lamps and wiring of the original 360 panel, as well as re-soldering several joints.

In 2018, Clive Gerrard developed an Arduino-powered system to drive Mike’s lamp drivers. We are planning to publically release the Arduino source code in the very near future, under an open-source license.

The bulbs are an unusual type by modern standards, operating at 6V, and are probably impossible to replace. For this reason we do not operate the light show regularly, but only briefly and on special occasions.