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1964

Funding of DTSS and BASIC

General Electric 225

The National Science Foundation granted $500,000 to Dartmouth for the development of a time-sharing system and the computer language BASIC. The General Electric 225 computer, plus software, carried a price tag of $800,000. It became operational in February.

Computation Center, Time Sharing System Proposed (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1962)
Funding of DTSS and BASIC (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1964)
DTSS Upgraded (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1966)
The GE-635 Facts (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1966)
DTSS for GE-635 Operational (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1967)
GE Donated System (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1969)
DTSS Incorporated (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1972)
DTSS Sold to Met Life (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1978)
Computing History Recounted (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1978)
The Computer and the Campus: An Interview with John Kemeny (1991) (Dartmouth Computing History)
Dartmouth Time-Sharing System Phased Out (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1993)
Unplugged: The Great Dis-Connect (Dartmouth Computing History 2004)

Thayer and the Library

Thomas E. Kurtz, students

Thayer School and the Library proposed a research program in Library Engineering.

Birth of DTSS

Students

On May 1 at 4:00 a.m., the Dartmouth College Time-Sharing System (DTSS) was born as it successfully executed two identical programs from two teletypes simultaneously, giving the correct answer to each. The program was:

10 Print 2+2
20 End

Mean time between failures of DTSS averaged five minutes.

First DTSS Upgrade

General Electric 235 (GE-235): George Stibitz, Thomas E. Kurtz

In June 1964, the number of teletypes accessing DTSS was increased from three to eleven. The GE-235 replaced the GE-225 and increased speed three-fold.

Secondary School Network

Thomas E. Kurtz at a teletype

Seven secondary schools in New England installed teletypewriters as part of an informal experimental project to determine how a large-scale computer facility could best be used as a "broad aid to secondary school education generally." They included Philips Exeter Academy, St. Paul's School, Mount Hermon, Vermont Academy, Philips Andover Academy, Hanover High School, and Mascoma Valley Regional High School. This experiment was a precursor to the Dartmouth Educational Network, that, at its peak, served thirty colleges and twenty secondary schools in New England, twelve colleges in Canada over dedicated teletype terminals, and scores of educational and research organizations from coast-to-coast over national commercial networks.

Trustees Recommend Library Automation

Mike Busch, Thomas E. Kurtz

The Subcommittee on Library Resources from the Trustees' Planning Committee issued an interim report recommending the "Library should move into automation" and "a competent expert in computer information storage and retrieval" be hired.

Dartmouth College Library
Library Automation Job Created (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1966)
Automation Director Hired (Dartmouth Computing Timeline 1969)

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03/06/08