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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collection of SDS 930 material
X3872.2007
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Title: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collection of SDS 930 material
Identifier/Call Number: X3872.2007
Contributing Institution:
Computer History Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
17.68 Linear feet,
5 record cartons, 4 newspaper boxes, 4 periodical boxes, and 5 other boxes
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1961-1972
Date (inclusive): 1961-1994
Abstract: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collection of SDS 930 documentation and tapes consists of printed
materials, data stored on magnetic tapes, and software on paper tapes. The collection ranges in date from 1961 to 1994. About
half of the collection is made up of documentation related to the SDS 930 and other contemporary machines, including manuals,
design drawings, logic diagrams, program libraries, and wire lists. The rest of the collection consists of paper tapes, which
are mainly diagnostic programs, and magnetic tapes, which hold satellite cloud and weather pattern data.
creator:
United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Collection surveyed by Sydney Gulbronson Olson, 2018.
The collection is open for research.
The Computer History Museum (CHM) can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying
any claims of the copyright holder. Requests for copying and permission to publish, quote, or reproduce any portion of the
Computer History Museum's collection must be obtained jointly from both the copyright holder (if applicable) and the Computer
History Museum.
[Identification of item], [Date], National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collection of SDS 930 material, Lot X3872.2007,
Box [#], Computer History Museum.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2006.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce
that studies and reports information about oceans, climate, atmosphere, and related ecosystems. NOAA provides a variety of
services, such as climate predictions and projections, weather and water reports, nautical charts and navigational information,
fisheries management, and coastal restoration. NOAA also collects data on a range of environmental topics and publishes scientific
data sets for use by public, private, and academic sectors.
This collection specifically came from NOAA's Space Environment Center (SEC), now known as the Space Weather Prediction Center
(SWPC). This department monitors the sun and solar system to provide space weather forecasts, including issuing watches, warnings,
and alerts for hazardous space weather events. Because of the nature of the department's data collection and research, powerful
computers, such as the SDS 930, were a requirement.
The SDS 930 was a powerful scientific mainframe computer manufactured by Scientific Data Systems. It was first announced in
1963, with the first installations and configurations beginning in 1964. The SEC used the SDS 930 to collect and analyze data
from satellites about cloud and weather patterns.
Scope and Content of the Collection
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collection of SDS 930 documentation and tapes ranges in date from
1961 to 1994 and consists of printed materials, data stored on magnetic tapes, and software on paper tapes. About half of
the collection is made up of documentation related to the SDS 930 and its peripherals, published between 1961 and 1972. Types
of materials include reference and technical manuals, reference and design drawings, logic diagrams, program libraries, maintenance
training documentation, and wire lists. While the majority of the text materials are published by Scientific Data Systems
(SDS), there is a small amount of material published by other companies, including Tally, Rheem Electronics Corporation, Ex-Cell-O
Corporation, IBM, Control Data Corporation, Ampex Corporation, Teletype Corporation, and Xerox Data Systems.
The rest of the collection consists of paper tapes and magnetic tapes with handwritten labels, which range in date from the
mid-1960s to mid-1990s. There are 41 individually boxed magnetic tapes, 21 10.5-inch magnetic tape reels, 1 9-inch magnetic
tape reel, 10 7-inch magnetic tape reels, 3 paper tapes on reels, and 4 small boxes of rolled paper tapes. The paper tapes
are mainly diagnostic programs, while the magnetic tapes hold satellite cloud and weather pattern data.
Physical objects were separated from the main collection. To view catalog records for separated material, search the CHM catalog
at
http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/search/ .
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Scientific Data Systems.
SDS 930 (Computer)