First Generation Mainframes
This volume describes the IBM computer systems that influenced architecture in the 1950s and 1960s. These modular systems featured a common architecture for peripherals, the first operating systems, and groundbreaking software like the FORTRAN programming language.
Mainframe Computer Systems
This volume describes General Electric’s venture into mainframe computers. GE pioneered commercial timesharing, and its hardware was used to develop the BASIC language and the influential Multics system. Unable to compete with IBM, GE sold its computer division to Honeywell.