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I'm the author of the website. Why is the title is tagged 2008? The website started in 2000 or maybe 2001, and has been actively maintained since then, includin

I'm the author of the website. Why is the title is tagged 2008? The website started in 2000 or maybe 2001, and has been actively maintained since then, including a big update to the emulator in 2020: http://www.wang2200.org/news.html http://www.wang2200.org/news.html I also have websites for two much more rare Wang machines, both predecessors of the 2200. https://wang3300.org https://wang3300.org The 3300 was intended to compete with PDP-8s, and has a nice front panel. It supported up to 16 users, and could run BASIC or FORTRAN. The emulator comes with an image of the BASIC interpreter; alas, I don't have a copy of their FORTRAN. The machine had a reputation for poor reliability. Supposedly when the 2200 became available, Wang offered all 3300 customers to swap their 3300 for a better 2200 system. As far as is known, one system ended up in the garage of a guy in Belgium. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago. It seems likely that computer got scrapped. https://wang1200.org https://wang1200.org This was a Wang calculator had its microcode rewritten to be a word processor. The machine had 256 bytes of RAM (originally core, later replaced with RAM chips)

smarks 4y ago
This is a really cool site! Thanks for maintaining it. My father worked for Wang through the 1970s so I'm familiar with all of these and also with several other Wang products. I see you have a lot of documentation hosted here too. Brings back a lot of memories. In a sibling comment I just posted a little story about one of my earliest programming jobs, on a Wang 2200 MVP. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32232557 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32232557
dcminter 4y ago
Did the 2200 keyboard have a solenoid built into it to made a tactile typewriter-like "clunk" when you pressed a key? I have a hazy memory that it did, but it's been so long since I sat in front of one that I'm not sure if it's a constructed memory based on some anecdote of my father's! Thank you for your site - I have a great fondness for those old systems I grew up around.
- tasty_freeze 4y ago
  The schematic for the "7048" keyboard logic shows a PNP transistor controlling an output labeled "Clicker". It doesn't show what it is connected to, but I'm 99% sure it is a solenoid because there is a flyback diode protecting that transistor.
  - dcminter 4y ago
    Amazing, thank you!

smarks 4y ago

This is a really cool site! Thanks for maintaining it. My father worked for Wang through the 1970s so I'm familiar with all of these and also with several other Wang products. I see you have a lot of documentation hosted here too. Brings back a lot of memories. In a sibling comment I just posted a little story about one of my earliest programming jobs, on a Wang 2200 MVP. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32232557 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32232557

dcminter 4y ago

Did the 2200 keyboard have a solenoid built into it to made a tactile typewriter-like "clunk" when you pressed a key? I have a hazy memory that it did, but it's been so long since I sat in front of one that I'm not sure if it's a constructed memory based on some anecdote of my father's! Thank you for your site - I have a great fondness for those old systems I grew up around.

tasty_freeze 4y ago
The schematic for the "7048" keyboard logic shows a PNP transistor controlling an output labeled "Clicker". It doesn't show what it is connected to, but I'm 99% sure it is a solenoid because there is a flyback diode protecting that transistor.
- dcminter 4y ago
  Amazing, thank you!