The IBM 1401, like many other computers, became one of the most popular options of its era thanks to its relatively low cost (rental was $2,500 per month in 1959). Its technology predates many modern standards, and even the simplest tasks can become complicated on it, such as printing a Christmas card. Responding to an online challenge, Ken Shirriff sat down at the 1401, punched cards, and let the 58-year-old computer do its work.
The Model T of Computing
The IBM 1401 is described as the "Model T" of computing. The blue giant had received more than five thousand orders in the first five weeks of availability, when they actually imagined that number spread over the commercial life of the model. Of course, it wasn't something within reach of ordinary users, but the $2,500 monthly rental enabled its presence in many companies that used it for all kinds of tasks, from accounting and payroll to inventory control. From a technical point of view, the 1401 was a transistor computer (part of the so-called "second generation"), but the transistors were not silicon but germanium. Its memory used magnetic core technology, with a maximum capacity of 16,000 characters.
58 years after its launch, the IBM 1401 was used to print a Christmas card. It might not seem like much, but Ken Shirriff (the same one who mined bitcoins with pencil and paper) had to write code, punch 77 cards (with the help of a special controller that allowed him to use a PC), correct errors (there was an alignment problem between the card reader and the punched holes), and struggle with obscure protocols. The 1401 predates ASCII and uses a 6-bit set called BCDIC with a limited number of available characters. The final print on the IBM 1403 presented the text "Ho Ho Ho", accompanied by a Christmas tree.
Now... why? Basically, Shirriff came across the Retro Battlestations subreddit contest, whose main rule was to create a Christmas card on a retro workstation and print a physical copy. Shirriff was one of the winners, but not with the IBM 1401, but with an even more surprising system: The Xerox Alto. The rest of the participants created their cards on Apple II Plus, Amiga 500, TRS-80 "CoCo", Macintosh SE, NeXT, iMac, and an old HP Vectra.
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