The LINC was early and small

Abstract

The LINC represents one of the earliest attempts to put the stored program computer into the form of a general instrument for laboratory use. In a deliberate departure from the technology of Timesharing then just beginning nearly two decades of development, the LINC was designed for use by individual experimenters and thus anticipated features of the modern personal computer and personal workstation. Built at M.I.T. in 1962, its immediate forebears were the TX-0, ARC-1, and L-1 computers, in turn direct descendents of the M.I.T. Whirlwind and MTC computers. Of course the LINC in its day was neither personal computer nor personal workstation but simply the LINC.The LINC was an outgrowth of interactions between two M.I.T. groups of scientists and engineers: the Communications Biophysics Laboratory interested in the quantification of neuro-electric activity, and the Lincoln Laboratory Digital Computer Group engaged in the development of advanced computers. Twelve LINCs were placed initially in biomedical research laboratories across the country under a unique NIH/NASA-sponsored evaluation program. Ultimately more than 1200 LINC or LINC variants were manufactured commercially for worldwide use. The basic system design went on to influence the design of the DEC PDP-4 and PDP-5 computers, which in turn helped to pave the way to the PDP-8.