CSIRO Computing History, Appendix 5: References

By September 6th, 2019

These pages attempt to give some of the history of CSIRO’s use of computing in its research, focussing mainly on the large shared systems and services.

This page/post is continuing to be constructed.

Last updated: 04 Oct 2024
Robert C. Bell

Appendix 4 — Computing History Home — Appendix 6

Appendix 5: References

References

Austin, B.J., Holden, T.S. and Hudson, R.H. (1967)
DAD, the C.S.I.R.O. Operating System
CACM vol 10, no. 9. Sep.
Willis, J. B. and Deane, J. F., 2006 “Trevor Pearcey and the First Australian Computer: A Lost Opportunity?”. Historical Records of Australian Science, Vol 17, no. 2, pp 209-255.
CSIRO DCR Newsletter no. 42
Gilbert, C.D. (1975)
The Evolution of Csironet
?
McCann, Doug & Thorne, Peter (2000)
Trevor Pearcey and the development of CSIRAC – An Australian first-generation computer

Ainsworth, Barbara

IEEE annals of the history of computing, 2023-10, Vol.45 (4), p.1-13

The last of the first
(Available on-line at https://cis.unimelb.edu.au/about/csirac/the-last-of-the-first-csirac-ebook.pdf ).

Pearcey, T (1988)
A History of Australian Computing.
CSIRO Library 004.0994 Pea

Bennett, J.M. et. al. (ed) (1994)
Computing in Australia – The Development of a Profession
Hale & Iremonger in association with the Australian Computer Society Inc.

Webb, E.K. (ed) (1997)
Windows on Meteorology
CSIRO Australia

Garratt, J.R. et al (1998)
Winds of Change
CSIRO Australia

Philipson, G. (2017)
A Vision Splendid: The History of Australian Computing

Click to access A-Vision-Splendid_The-History-of-Australian-Computing.pdf

CoResearch was a bi-monthly CSIRO staff newspaper that ran from 1958 to 2003 – https://csiropedia.csiro.au/organisational-history/coresearch/

20 November 2019:

I’ve put Terry’s (and my) documents relating to CSIRONET up on Dropbox at https://www.dropbox.com/s/yotalcyboss7x66/The%20Terry%20Holden%20Archive.zip?dl=0

it’s quite a big archive, 677MB of compressed searchable PDF documents. Feel free to distribute them to anyone who is interested.

Cheers

Peter Heweston

This contains items such as newsletters, manuals, technical notes and items such as “DAD Technical Design Papers.pdf” from Terry Holden and Peter. Here is a list, with the page count for each.

170 3600 Computer System Reference Manual.pdf
132 Applications Software Directory 1984-01-12.pdf
 78 Australian Standard - Programming Language Pascal.pdf
 37 CSIRONET Annual Report 1984-1985.pdf
 36 CSIRONET News 158 - Apr 1981.pdf
 36 CSIRONET News 159 - Jun 1981.pdf
 28 CSIRONET News 160 - Aug 1981.pdf
 28 CSIRONET News 161 - Oct 1981.pdf
 28 CSIRONET News 162 - Dec 1981.pdf
 25 CSIRONET News 163 - Feb 1982.pdf
 28 CSIRONET News 164 - Apr 1982.pdf
 28 CSIRONET News 166 - Aug 1982.pdf
 28 CSIRONET News 167 - Oct 1982.pdf
 28 CSIRONET News 168 - Dec 1982.pdf
 28 CSIRONET News 170 - Apr 1983.pdf
 29 CSIRONET News 172 - Aug 1983.pdf
 32 CSIRONET News 173 - Oct 1983.pdf
 36 CSIRONET News 174 - Dec 1983.pdf
 34 CSIRONET News 182 - Apr 1985.pdf
 32 CSIRONET News 183 - Jun 1985.pdf
 32 CSIRONET News 185 - Oct 1985.pdf
 12 CSIRONET News 191 - Dec 1986.pdf
 29 CSIRONET Research and Development 1984-1985.pdf
  8 CSIRONET in Brief - Apr 1986.pdf
 78 Computing Note 34 - Using NOS on the CSIRONET Cyber 845.pdf
 25 Computing Note 47 - DOCMAC - A Set of M6 Macros for Producing Standard Documentation 1983-12.pdf
 78 Control Data - Update Version 1pdf.pdf
 10 Control Data 3200 Brochure.pdf
 11 Control Data 3600 Brochure.pdf
  9 Crosstalk Version 3.6 Users Manual Addendum 1985.pdf
157 Cyber 205 User Guide.pdf
 56 DAD Meeting minutes Feb 65 - Jan 69.pdf
 19 DAD System Programmers Manual - Edition 2 Revisions - 1968.pdf
233 DAD System Programmers Manual for CSIRO 3600 - 1966.pdf
257 DAD System Programmers Manual for the CSIRO 3600.pdf
268 DAD System Reference Manual - 1969.pdf
138 DAD Technical Design Papers.pdf
 50 DADSLUMP - The Updating Program for DAD.pdf
 28 DCR Newsletter 140 - Apr 1978.pdf
 24 DCR Newsletter 141 - Jun 1978.pdf
 26 DCR Newsletter 146 - Apr 1979.pdf
 25 DCR Newsletter 149 - Oct 1979.pdf
 35 DCR Newsletter 150 - Dec 1979.pdf
 30 DCR Newsletter 151 - Jan 1980.pdf
 40 DCR Newsletter 152 - Apr 1980.pdf
 18 DCR Publications and Software Guide April 1971.pdf
181 DOC Minutes 102-139.pdf
 39 Engineering Specification - 3234 Mass Storage System.pdf
 32 Engineering Specification - 861 862 Drum Memory Sub-system.pdf
  2 Engineering Specification - Basic Characteristics of 861 862 Drum Systems.pdf
 10 Engineering Specification - Modified 210 Display Sub-system.pdf
 36 Engineering Specification - Preliminary Specification of Vista Digital Display.pdf
204 FACOM OSIV Pascal Reference Manual.pdf
 16 Facit 4020 Spare Parts List.pdf
 14 Facit 4020 Tape Reader Technical Description.pdf
  8 Facit 4021 and 4022 Instructions for Use.pdf
 34 Fernbach Report on CSIRO Computing Services - Jun 1976.pdf
153 Fortran 200 Version 1.pdf
236 Fortran Extended Version 4 Reference Manual.pdf
  2 Index to CSIRONET News 1983.pdf
 27 Memorandum 1 - The Central Laboratory - Oct 1963.pdf
 20 Memorandum 2 - The Subsidiary Systems - Dec 1963.pdf
 25 Memorandum 3 - Character and Code Sets - Jun 1964.pdf
 15 Memorandum 4 - Revised Equipment Configurations - Jul 1964.pdf
311 NOS Version 2 Guide to System Usage.pdf
 67 Network Management Group Minutes April 73 to April 74.pdf
 26 Notes on Programming the 3447-405 and 3649-405 Card Reader.pdf
  4 Opening of the Computing Research Laboratory - Sep 17, 1964.pdf
  6 Procedure for Submission of Jobs.pdf
 18 Procedures for Operation the Network.pdf
 26 Report and Statement of Executive Decisions - Dec 1983.pdf
 66 Review of the CSIRO Division of Computing Research - Feb 1984.pdf
 61 Review of the CSIRO Division of Computing Research - Jul 1983.pdf
119 SCOPE 2.1 Diagnostic Handbook.pdf
 74 Services Note 1 - CSIRONET Charging.pdf
 14 Statistics Table sand Summaries.pdf
 48 TED - DCR Text Editing Program.pdf
 23 Technical Memorandum 68-4 - A Fortran IO Package for Online Consoles.pdf
  2 Technical Note 00 - Index.pdf
  2 Technical Note 01 - Planned Subroutines for the CDC 3200.pdf
  3 Technical Note 02 - Specification of Fortran II-4K for the CDCD 3200.pdf
  6 Technical Note 03 - Character Set Translation.pdf
  2 Technical Note 03 - Representation of Line Printer Characters on Other Media.pdf
  6 Technical Note 04 - Conversion or IBM 1620 Fortran II to 3600.pdf
  6 Technical Note 05 - Use of the 3600 Calcomp Plotters.pdf
  2 Technical Note 06 - Use of Paper Tape on the 3600 Addendum.pdf
 11 Technical Note 06 - Use of Paper Tape on the 3600.pdf
  6 Technical Note 09 - Input of Double Precision Constants on the CDC 3200.pdf
  4 Technical Note 10 - Direct Tape Control Routines.pdf
  7 Technical Note 11 - Specirfication of Program CENTROID.pdf
  5 Technical Note 12 - Specification of Program QUALNEAR.pdf
  5 Technical Note 13 - Specification of Program NUMENEAR.pdf
 11 Technical Note 15 - Writing Compatible 3200 3600 Fortran.pdf
  7 Technical Note 16 - Compatible Paper Tape Facilities in the CSIRO Network.pdf
 17 Technical Note 17 - Paper Tape Facilities on the 3200.pdf
  8 Technical Note 18 - PAPADATA Routine for Full Speed Paper Tape Reading.pdf
 31 Technical Note 19 - Using the Vista DD250 Visual Display Unit.pdf
 25 Technical Note 20 - Use of Paper Tape on the 3600 Computer.pdf
 12 Technical Note 34 - A Camera Facility for the Vista Display.pdf
 27 Technical Note 35 - Graph Plotting on Calcomp Plotters.pdf
 24 Technical Note 36 - CFT - Converting 3600 Fortran Text to Standard Form.pdf
 19 Technical Note 37 - BINLIB - Editing Binary Decks on the 3200.pdf
 15 Technical Note 38 - TELEX Facility for Acessing the 3600.pdf
 19 Technical Note 39 - FOCAL Interactive Interpreter.pdf
 42 Technical Note 40 - INFOL2 Reference Manual.pdf
 15 Technical Note 41 - Data File Conversion for the Cyber 76.pdf
305 Teletype Model 33 Technical Manual.pdf
 70 Terry Holden's Technical Correspondence.pdf
136 VS APL for CMS.pdf
  4 Welcome to the MAPPER Universe.pdf

The above items have all been scanned and are now available in the CSIRO Records system to CSIRO staff (search for HEWESTON). (The manual “Fortran 200 Version 1.pdf” is revision D – I have a paper copy of Revision F.)

Some other Technical Notes are available in Rob Bell’s archive box C5.

CDC 7600

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDC_7600

Annual report

CSIRO (Australia). Division of Computing Research.

1968-84

on-line

https://discovery.csiro.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=CSIRO1179819780001981&context=L&vid=CSIRO&lang=en_US&search_scope=All&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=default&query=any,contains,CSIRO%20Division%20of%20Computing%20Research%20Annual%20Report&offset=0

Csironet Annual Reports

https://discovery.csiro.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=CSIRO1179817490001981&context=L&vid=CSIRO&lang=en_US&search_scope=All&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=default&query=any,contains,Csironet%20Annual%20Report&offset=0

Here’s a list of annual reports and page counts (in the pdf scans, which include the covers).

Year Pages
1964-65 37
1965-66 58
1966-67 55
1967-68 69
1968-69 81
1969-70 33
1970-71 35
1971-72 47
1972-73 33
1973-74 48
1974-75 64
1975-76 78
1976-77 89
1977-78 80
1978-79 82
1979-80 88
1980-81 93
1981-82 108
1982-83 109
1983-84 78
1984-85 38
1985-86 24

Trevor Pearcey CSIRO PH file at NAA part 1 and part 2

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=11589409

National Library – Trove

A search for CSIRO Division of Computing Research led to

Pictures, photos, objects

This contains pictures from the 1950s to 1980s of CSIRAC, DCR, and the logic diagrams for CSIRO Mk 1. It also includes correspondence from the University of Melbourne concerning CSIRAC from 1956-1963 – these letters show the wide variety of interests in using CSIRAC – e.g. the United Permanent Building Society asking for repayment calculations.

CSIRO Computing Research Section/DCR/Csironet Annual reports, 1964-65 and subsequent ones:

https://ap01-a.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61CSIRO_INST/1279818560001981

CSIRO Division of Computing Research
Annual reports: 1967-68 to 1983-84
https://ap01-a.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61CSIRO_INST/1279819770001981

CSIRO Computing Research Section, Division of Computing Research and CSIRONET Newsletters

Below is a list of tagged items on interest in these newsletters, in addition to the ones already highlighted in chapter 2. (These tags are attached to Rob. Bell’s paper copies, to allow easy access to items of particular interest. However, most paper copies have been discarded, as they are all scanned and available from CSIRO libraries. I have kept ones containing my writings in box B10-1.) CSIRO libraries provided scans of newsletters 1-5, 7, 8, and 10, while Rob Bell has scanned 6, 9, 11-37, 42, 47, 54, 61, 67, 69, 78, 92, and part of 154. Some of these are accessible from these web pages.

Newsletters up to 37 are available in these history pages.

Serial_Number Date Tag
13. 1-6-1966 DAD outline
15. 1-8-1966 Pictorial information
17. 1-10-1966 DAD Accounting
17. 1-10-1966 DAD storage costs $7.50/Mbyte
21. 1-3-1967 Saving documents
25. 1-7-1967 Long jobs – scheduling
27. 1-9-1967 Disc files
27. 1-9-1967 Saving documents on drum – FLUSH
28. 1-10-1967 CRS -> DCR
28. 1-10-1967 Document saving, flush
30. 1-12-1967 Documents in DAD
30. 1-12-1967 DAD – CACM
30. 1-12-1967 Charges
30. 1-12-1967 3200 disc access
32. 1-3-1968 DISCDOCS
34. 1-5-1968 PDP-8 and network
34. 1-5-1968 Disc control statements
34. 1-5-1968 Disc cleaned at weekends
34. 1-5-1968 FRED – editing program
35. 1-6-1968 DRLIST
36. 1-7-1968 Pearcey – talk
36. 1-7-1968 Charge increase
37. 1-8-1968 Pearcey – leave
37. 1-8-1968 Disc saving
38. 1-9-1968 Remote teletypes
39. 1-10-1968 FRED enhancements
40. 1-11-1968 Random Access
40. 1-11-1968 John O’Callaghan
40. 1-11-1968 COSY (COmpressed SYmbol – source code maintenance)
41. 1-12-1968 Brian Austin departure
41. 1-12-1968 Robin Stanton commencement
42. 1-2-1969 Picture Language Conference
42. 1-2-1969 3600 disc expunge
43. 1-3-1969 Scheduling
45. 1-5-1969 Librarian seeking mathematicians
46. 1-6-1969 Secondary Schools Conference
46. 1-6-1969 Link – Clayton-Highett
47. 1-7-1969 DAD – lecture
47. 1-7-1969 Flushing
48. 1-8-1969 Small computers
48. 1-8-1969 Pearcey – paper
48. 1-8-1969 Migration of files: drum to disc
49. 1-9-1969 Tape holdings
49. 1-9-1969 HP minis
53. 1-1970 Charging for overheads
53. 1-1970 Charging – pictures
53. 1-1970 Destroying documents
54. 2-1970 Disc storage charges
54. 2-1970 DFLOCATE command no longer updates activity date (clobber of “touch” command)
54. 2-1970 Disc access improvements
54. 2-1970 Disc storage charges
54. 2-1970 $202/Mbyte/month
54. 2-1970 Access to CDC 6600
61. 9-1970 Pearcey return
61. 9-1970 Flush – disc
61. 9-1970 Miss Australia entrant
62. 10-1970 Non-CSIRO usage
62. 10-1970 Network – expansion to interstate
64. 12-1970 Disc – charging change
65. 1-1971 Network hardware ordered
66. 2-1971 Pearcey departure for CDA
67. 3-1971 Weekend time, scheduling, turnaround
67. 3-1971 Flushing action – graph
67. 3-1971 HSM – file profiles
67. 3-1971 Network diagram
69. 5-1971 Disc documents copied to tape before flushing – HSM
70. 6-1971 Ewens to install DAD on CDC system in US
70. 6-1971 Computing charges
78. 2-1972 Unified document storage – HSM
78. 2-1972 Archive and automatic retrieval
79. 3-1972 FRED intro
79. 3-1973 Network project
80. 4-1972 Network in place
80. 4-1972 Network dubbed CSIRONET
80. 4-1972 Unified document system in use
Sheet 4-1972 Random Access Storage
82. 6-1972 Unified Document system expansion
83. 7-1972 Talk on document management
84. 8-1972 Scheduling – graduated priority
85. 10-1972 TED – a great new way to edit
86. 11-1972 Life – Conway cell game
87. 12-1972 Cyber 76
87. 12-1972 CSIRONET diagram
87. 12-1972 DFSSAVE – flush to tape
89 2-1973 Recent hardware problems (moving)
91. 4-1973 3600 relocation – 5-day outage
92. 5-1973 Document retention and archive
92. 5-1973 Document charging – by size x retention_period
92. 5-1973 Documents – automatic retrieval = HSM
93. 6-1973 Documents – no automatic retrieval for console access
93. 6-1973 “Bank-book” charging
95. 8-1973 SCOPE 2 permanent files
96. 9-1973 Cyber 76 and CSIRONET report
97. 10/11-1973 ARCHMOD – suppress automatic retrieval
97. 10/11-1973 DAD wind-down – disc removal
98. 12-1973 A letter from the Chief …
98. 12-1973 CYBARITES
101. 3-1974 PF purging
104. 6-1974 DCR orders two Cyber 172s
105. 7-1974 Mass storage
105. 7-1974 Charge $100/Mbyte/month
105. 7-1974 Purging
107. 9-1974 Cyber 76 files
107. 9-1974 Archiving – no, flush – yes
107. 9-1974 10th anniversary – pictures
109. 11-1974 48 kbit/s line
109. 11-1974 Art
110. 12-1974 PF rules
111. 1/2-1975 COM Unit is Ordered
113. 4-1975 PF management – small files and the use of UPDATE
113. 4-1975 DCR has mangled my files
114. 5-1975 FLUSH
114. 5-1975 Building extension
115. 6-1975 Building extension
116. 7-1975 COM arrives
116. 7-1975 PF IDs
116. 7-1975 System disc increased – big files held for about one day
120. 11-1975 Cyber FS to be supplemented by an archive/retrieve procedure currently under development.
120. 11-1975 3600 phase-out
120. 11-1975 DR retrieval delays
121. 12-1975 DAD DR only for temporary storage
122. 1/2-1976 CSIRONET map
123. 3-1976 Job priorities, CPU slicing
124. 4-1976 Interactive charge based on number of concurrent users
124. 4-1976 3600 decommissioning, DR archiving
124. 4-1976 DRBACKUP – TED box program
124. 4-1976 Charging policy lecture
124. 4-1976 Minister Jim Webster visit
125. 5-1976 PF Common Set – no backup
126. 6-1976 DRBACKUP
127. 7-1976 DR charge increase by 80%
128. 8-1976 CSIRONET T-shirt
129. 9-1976 Microfiche save printing time/costs: total printing about 140,000 pages per day (56 boxes!)
130. 10/11-1976 ED – editor on Cyber 76
131. 12-1976 3600 phase-out
132. 1/2-1977 ED
133. 3-1977 Divisional reorganisation
135. 5-1977 ED replaces TED – TED removed on 16 May 1977
136. 6/7-1977 New Chief – Peter Claringbold
138. 12-1977 Automated archive service under investigation
140. 4-1978 FLUSH interrogation
140. 4-1978 Card punching and archival storage
142. 8-1978 First column “Crossfire” by Sagittarius (Peter Heweston)
143. 10-1978 Letter, R. Bell, charge increase
144 12-1978 The Evolution of CSIRONET by C. D. Gilbert
145. 2-1979 FACOM project. First Ed programming contest.
146. 4-1979 Letter to Sagittarius, R. Bell, Some ED Thoughts, and response
147. 6-1979 Hardware Aspects of CSIRONET, including CSIRONET Terminal growth
147. 6-1979 ED contests – R Bell 3rd
148. 8-1979 R Bell visit
148. 8-1979 R Dakin commencement and Calcomp ATL
149. 10-1979 Columnist Peter Heweston joins DCR
150. 12-1979 Disc storage usage
150. 12-1979 Stings and Things by Scorpio (pseudonym for R. Bell) – first column
151. 1-1980 ATL
152. 4-1980 New computer hall
152. 4-1980 Cost of Computing
152. 4-1980 Unused hours
153. 6-1980 Cyber 76 and new Cyber 700 and SCOPE 2
154. 8-1980 ATL install
154. 8-1980 ATL photos
155. 10-1980 CSIRONET NEWS replaces DCR NEWSLETTER
155. 10-1980 VLSI Design Section
158. 4-1981 Record number of Cyber-76 Users – 160 interactive users and 57 batch peripherals
159. 6-1981 Terabit File Store Facilities
161. 10-1981 Computing perspectives, including resources allocation and charging
161. 10-1981 Kaye Challis departure
162. 12-1981 Calculating Artefacts – Peter Heweston
163. 2-1982 ATL relocation
163. 2-1982 Chief on a hot tin roof
164. 4-1982 TFS for DCR staff
166. 8-1982 Stings and Things – FSes – tree-structured, HSM and long filenames
169. 2-1983 Cyber 205 announcement and specifications
171. 6-1983 TFS on M-180
171. 6-1983 Globalisation of Csironet
172. 8-1983 Letter – daily computer use and Csironet – Art Raiche
172. 8-1983 Last ‘Stings and Things’ by Scorpio – R. Bell – 23 in total.
172. 8-1983 20 years of DCR – Elliott 803
173. 10-1983 First Cassandra column – Charles Johnson
175. 2-1984 TFS production
175. 2-1984 TFS charges 0.16c/Mbyte/month c.f. disk $5.98/Mbyte/month
176. 4-1984 Csironet to be more commercially independent: review outcomes
177. 6-1984 Cyber 205 news
177. 6-1984 Cyber 205 arrival – pictures
178. 8-1984 Cyber 205 experiences – R. Bell
179. 10-1984 Cyber 205 launch – Barry Jones and Keith Boardman
179. 10-1984 Henry Hudson: in memorium
180. 12-1984 Csironet User Groups
181. 2-1985 CSIRONET Comes of Age – autonomous
181. 2-1985 CSIRONET Mail System
181. 2-1985 CSIRONET The case of the slow 205
181. 2-1985 CSIRONET User Groups
181. 2-1985 Cyber 205: Global Weather Prediction: Bryant J McAvaney
181. 2-1985 TATTACH procedure – Rob. Bell
182. 4-1985 Cyber 76 decommissioning
182. 4-1985 DSIR takes steps towards supercomputing
183. 6-1985 Marketing Milestones – Telecom contract
183. 6-1985 CSIRONET Board of Management
183. 6-1985 Cyber 205 file storage and backup
183. 6-1985 The Phantom Circuit – Peter Heweston – new column
183. 6-1985 Senior Adviser – John O’Callaghan
184. 8-1985 UNIX on CSIRONET workstations
184. 8-1985 CSIRONET Motion Picture
184. 8-1985 DIT Chief – Dr G E Thomas
185. 10-1985 Last chance to leave the Cyber 76
185. 10-1985 The Phantom Circuit: “move to UNIX – last OS move we all make”
186. 12-1985 Farewell to the Cyber 76
187. 3-1986 *MAIL comes of age – charges
187. 3-1986 Operating System Upgrade for Cyber 205 – Dave Micklethwaite – allows > 1 job per user!
187. 3-1986 A User’s Experience of the Cyber 205 – Bob Gingold
188. 5-1986 CSIRONET Management Restructuring – Peter CLaringbold retires
189. 7-1986 *MAIL – Making Life Easier – R. Bell
189. 7-1986 Archive your files on the TFS: charges -> (10c/file+40c/Mbyte)/month.
189. 7-1986 Big Changes for CSIRONET News – no technical material
190. 9-1986 Management of Cyber 205 changed
190. 9-1986 Picture: Peter Price, Roger Brown et al
190. 9-1986 Cyber 205 system upgrade – array bounds checking, strip-mining of loops
190. 9-1986 Ovens River bridge designed
190. 9-1986 Network 15th birthday
190. 9-1986 Charles Johnson consultant
191. 12-1986 JIS chooses CSIRONET
192. 3-1987 Network Automation formed
192. 3-1987 ULTRANODE
192. 3-1987 Supercomputing with CSIRONET – Cyber 205 purchased, util -> 80%
193. Winter-1987 Preparing for commercialisation
193. Winter-1987 Csironet advertisement – Sussan case-study
194. Spring-1987 CSIRONET Commercialisation Announced – publicly unlisted company owned jointly by Idaps Australia Limited and CSIRO; final issue?

Newsletters

C.S.I.R.O Scientific Computing Network

C.S.I.R.O. Scientific Computing Network, Newsletter No. 1, 3/7/64 – T. S. Holden
C.S.I.R.O. Scientific Computing Network – Newsletter No. 2 – 27/10/64

C.S.I.R.O Computing Research Section

Chapter 3

DCR

C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 28 – 1.10.1967
C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 29 – 1.11.1967

C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 30 – 1.12.1967

C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 31 – 1.2.1968

C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 32 – 1.3.1968
C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 33 – 1.4.1968

C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 34 – 1.5.1968

C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 35 – 1.6.1968

C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 36 – 1.7.1968

C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 37 – 1.8.1968

C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 50 – 1.10.1969

C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 92 – May 1973

C.S.I.R.O. Division of Computing Research – Newsletter No. 128 – Aug 1976

CSIRO Libraries have scanned to DCR/Csironet Newsletters, which can be found at the following locations. At the time of writing, access to some series was restricted because they contain personal information.

Newsletter CSIRO. Computing Research Section. CSIRO. Scientific Computing Network https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/12s7o4e/CSIRO11106350000001981 no. 1 (1964) – no. 2 (1964)
Newsletter CSIRO. Computing Research Section. https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/12s7o4e/CSIRO11106349960001981 no. 3 (1965) – no. 27 (1967)
Newsletter CSIRO. Division of Computing Research. https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/12s7o4e/CSIRO11106329830001981 no. 28 (1967) – no. 113
DCR newsletter. CSIRO. Division of Computing Research. https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/12s7o4e/CSIRO11106509990001981 no. 114 – no. 154
CSIRONET news. CSIRO. Division of Computing Research. CSIRONET. https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/12s7o4e/CSIRO11106450000001981 no. 155 (1980) – no. 194 (1987)

We are missing issues No. 121,122,123,138 and I have requested them for interlibrary loan so I can fill the gaps.

CYBARITES was a weekly on-line information bulletin, started by DCR around the time of the arrival of the Cyber 76 in 1973. (I have printed copies in archives, and maybe on microfiche, but not, it seems on digital media.) The Computing Group team at DAR at Aspendale maintained an index and contents list and programs to assist in their preparation. Here is a sample of the output, being an index from issue 501 onwards.

I have scanned the DCR Staff news from issue 7 (4 Sep 1978) to issue 372 (5 Nov 1985) and am uploading copies to the CSIRO Records system C2021/4904.

Rob Bell’s Csironet Collection

Files from the close of CSIRO’s usage of Csironet were collected, written to magnetic tape, and transferred to a local machine at Aspendale, and to the series of cheraxes, and are currently kept on the CSIRO IMT Scientific Computing Data Store at ~bel107/Csironet. The files have been archived by the tardir utility. Current members of the Scientific Computing can access the files, including a listing of contents. Many of the files come from Ed libraries, and audits of the Ed libraries, showing the vital comments are available.

CSIRO

JSF

CSF

CSF Bulletins (called CSFbulls) ran from 1992 to 1997. They were available on-line on cherax via the command csfbull.

HPCCC

HPC Bulletins (called HPCbulls) ran from 1997 to 2019. They were available on Bureau and CSIRO hosts on-line via the hpcbull command, and later on web pages, e.g. at https://confluence.csiro.au/display/SC/HPC+Bulletins for CSIRO staff.

The master copies of CSFbulls and HPCbulls are at SC /datastore/asc/public/news . An archive is at

/datastore/bel107/Computer.History/news .

HPSC

HPSC Happenings – HPSC Newsletter from 2004 to 2006.

ASC

Scientific Computing Circular

Issues 1-13 (March 2014 to November 2016) at here (but visible only within CSIRO).

CSIRO DMS

DMS Newsletter

csiro dms Newsletter no. 70, November 1980:

The UNIX timesharing system in DMS
report of a visit by Dr G. N. Lance.

In early 2020, I gave a talk at the on-line C3DIS conference entitled CSIRO Computing Swings out of the Sixties.

Here is the outline:

CSIRO Computing History: Recap of the sixties
• Themes:

The start of on-line data (slide 9-)
The start of the on-line network (slide 22-)
The Cyber 76 (slide 46-)
Printing and microfiche (slide 53-)
The growth of the service (slide 56-)
The policy framework (slide 58-)
The lessons (slide 59-)
Trends (slide 60-)
The end (slide 62)
Seymour Cray computer architectures, DAD Document Region and HSM (slides 63-79, not presented)

Below are links to the material – much is in the extended pages.

Sixties, part 1, slides 1-10

Sixties, part 2, slides 11-21

Sixties, part 3, slides 22-45

Sixties, part 4, slides 46-52

Sixties, part 5, slides 53-62

Sixties, part 6, slides 63-79

Bitsavers

The Bitsavers archive contains scanned copies of manuals. For example, for CDC 3000 series machines . Here is a top level listing:

Index of /pdf/cdc/3×00

Name	Last modified	Size

Parent Directory		–
24bit/	2018-05-07 14:15	–
48bit/	2018-05-08 22:10	–
periphIntf/	2018-05-09 10:41	–
pictures/	2018-05-07 13:00	–

The 24bit directory includes the 3200, the 48bit directory includes the 3600.

I have culled my CDC manual collection in boxes C5 to C9 to discard NOS2 and related manuals available on bitsaver.

I have paper copies of the DCR/Csironet Staff News – in archive box C1-2.

University of Western Australia history is here.

It includes a photograph captioned with “Dr D. W. Goodall and Mrs Pam Giroud, both of the mathematical and statistics division of the CSIRO, attached to the University, operate the £80,000 digital computer. They are studying the association between different plant species in the mulga vegetation.” (Weekend News, 16 November 1963).

“50 Years of Computing in the Bureau of Meteorology” contains material about the HPCCC, including photos of staff.

Material used for this history is stored on Rob. Bell’s MacBook (kipper-cl) under /Users/bel107/Documents/csiro/Computer.History and mirrored to SC ruby/datastore at /datastore/bel107/Computer.History

Bourke, W (2021). “Pioneering of numerical weather prediction in Australia: Dick Jenssen, Uwe Radok and CSIRAC”. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria (Vol. 133 No. 2) https://www.publish.csiro.au/rs/pdf/rs21010

Maine, R. (1968). Aust. Met. Mag. Vol 16, no. 3 pp 75-99.

“A real time experiment in operational meteorological data processing”

At http://www.bom.gov.au/jshess/docs/1968/maine.pdf

Back to contents

CSIRO Computing History, Appendix 4: Opportunities

Coming up next:

CSIRO Computing History, Appendix 6: Resources