Retrocomputing Stack Exchange
Retrocomputing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [architecture]

For questions about computer architecture: the logical structure of a computer system, distinct from particular implementations.

The term "architecture" was used in the IBM Stretch project, and became more widely known with the System/360, which produced a line of machines with the same architecture (and thus compatibility for programs) but differing implementations.

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What was the rationale behind 36 bit computer architectures?

Was there some particular design theory or constraint that made a 36 bit word size attractive for early computers? As opposed to the various power-of-2 word sizes which seem to have won out?
Mark Harrison
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Why did ones' complement decline in popularity?

Many early computers use ones' complement to represent some kind of signed integer. Examples include the PDP-1, the CDC-6600, and many other popular computers. The C standard is obviously written with ones' complement machine in mind; for example,…
Omar and Lorraine
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Any ways to have an architecture with a different base than base16?

I was reading this Wikipedia entry and thought if any other Computer/or Architecture was ever made with a different base system than base16. And if not, any ways to do it? (maybe by making one from scratch or reprogramming a specific Cpu?) (might be…
Nordine Lotfi
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Vacuum Tube Computer Logic

In StackExchange ElectricalEngineering there is the question: Were Vacuum Tube Computers made of Logic Gates? https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/704329/were-vacuum-tube-computers-made-of-logic-gates Is StackExchange - Retrocomputing the…
PDP11
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