Fifty Years Ago .... from the pages of Computer Weekly

5th September 1974 computing, compiled by TNMOC volunteer archivist, Brian Aldous.

A selection of stories from Computer Weekly from 5th September 1974. The full archive of Computer Weekly can be seen at TNMOC, where there are special rolling displays of front pages from 25 and 40 years ago.

More users line up for ICL’s New Range: The long awaited ICL New Range, two models of which are now expected to be officially announced next month, is building up an impressive batch of customers, including university, commercial and government installations. The models, which are earmarked for unveiling in October, are the 2970 and 2980, better known as the P3 and P4. As the long-awaited announcement by ICL of its 2900 series, or New Range, due for the middle of October, becomes even more imminent, details of the first university and commercial orders are now beginning to leak out. In October, ICL will reveal full details of the two larger systems in the range, the 2970 and 2980. (CW 409 5/9/1974 p1)

Marketing company to sell Telepen: An alphanumeric bar-code reader, known as the Telepen, which was introduced last year by SB Electronic Systems, of London, is now being marketed by Teletronic Data systems, of Croydon, a company specifically set up for that purpose. A spokesman for Teletronic told Computer Weekly that SB Electronic had developed the Telepen system but had not the resources or expertise to market the equipment. However, SB Electronic will continue to manufacture Telepens. The Telepen’s novelty lies in the bar-code structure. Existing bar-coding methods have been limited to a packing density of about three alphanumeric characters per inch, but Telepen will read five characters per inch on normal quality paper. (CW 409 5/9/1974 p23)