IBM System/360 - Peripherals

Peripherals

IBM developed a new family of peripheral equipment for the S/360, carrying over a few from its older 1400 series. Interfaces were standardized, allowing greater flexibility to mix and match processors, controllers and peripherals than in the earlier product lines.

In addition, the S/360 computers could use certain peripherals that were originally developed for earlier computers. These earlier peripherals used a different numbering system, such as the IBM 1403 chain printer. The 1403, an extremely reliable device which had already earned a reputation as a workhorse, was sold as the 1403-N1 when adapted for the System/360.

Also available were optical character recognition (OCR) readers 1287 and 1288.

Most small systems were sold with an IBM 1052-7 as the console typewriter. This was tightly integrated into the CPU — the keyboard would physically lock under program control. Certain high-end machines could optionally be purchased with a 2250 graphical display, costing upwards of US $100,000. The 360/85 used a 5450 display console that was not compatible with anything else in the line; the later 3066 console for the 370/165 and 370/168 used the same basic display design as the 360/85.