Talk:LINC

Image of the LINC - is it fair use?

It's been proposed to delete the image of the LINC used in this article, Image:1962-linc.png, on grounds that it is not fair use and/or does not have a proper fair use rationale. Anyone know whether that would be appropriate, or have a free alternative? Martin 16:26, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

• Although I don't know for sure that this image is in the public domain, it is the standard image used in many places that mention the LINC. Deleting it seems to me unnecessarily aggressive in pursuit of copyright protection. It ought to be sufficient to propose removing images only after complaint by the copyright owners. In this case, the image is so old that it is unlikely that the copyright owner still exists (if a corporate entity) or is aware that they hold the copyright. It is not Wikipedia's place to locate copyright holders. It is Wikipedia's place only to warn contributors not to post copyrighted content. David 22:08, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

• The photo should be restored because it is public domain. The work was funded by a grant from the NIH Coincidentally, the photo was taken when the LINC was being demonstrated for the NIH. The photo is available many places including the archived version of this article at https://web.archive.org/web/20050505112551/https://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/LINC. Mopep222 (talk) 00:32, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

Soroban Keyboard Solenoid

The Soroban keyboard did not have "keys with locking solenoids for each key"; instead there was one solenoid, and all the keys had slots that worked with code bars to encode the characters and slots that caught the locking bar, which locked all the keys in one mechanical movement. As our LINC aged, it was not infrequently necessary to open it up and lubricate slides, and in one case, remove a raisin which was gumming up movement of the locking bar. 65.112.5.1 (talk) 18:38, 17 June 2008 (UTC)Ishmael

Thank you for the correction, and the funny note about the dried fruit ("bug") in your keyboard. I have revised this section correspondingly. In our lab, our Soroban worked fine for years, but then one of our members (Mark S. Bilk) constructed a homebrew but effective KSR-35 hardware interface, and we happily discarded the Soroban. David spector (talk) 16:57, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Public Domain

The article claims that the design is public domain, but I can't find it anywhere. Can anyone add a link to any of this material? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.69.126.85 (talk) 15:22, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

• Although I can't provide a reference, the design was done at Lincoln Laboratories, as mentioned in the article. All work done there, except for work that was classified, was in the public domain. You can't find it anywhere because no one cares about the LINC anymore. It was great in its day because it allowed lab workers to write their own simple programs at a time when most computers filled whole rooms, were harder to program, and did not interface with lab equipment. If you really want to find the engineering drawings, try a computer museum or Lincoln Labs. The Web doesn't have everything known, unfortunately. David spector (talk) 17:02, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

• The LINC development and the evaluation program were supported by: (1) National Institutes of Health under Grant FR-218-01-03; and (2) the Bio-Sciences Office of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health contract PH43--63-540. There are other NIH grants which applied at other times, in particular when the work moved from MIT to Washington University. Mopep222 (talk) 00:51, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

Cleanup

There are several references to "images below" that don't exist. I'm concerned that this page's content was copied from a copyrighted work (i.e., textbook) that is not in the public domain without being cited. This dovetails with the concern about the image stated below. Karlkatzke (talk) 12:12, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

• As a humble but major contributor to this article, and a former programmer of the LINC in several neurophysiology laboratories in the 1960s, I can assure you that it did not come from a textbook. In fact, there is no description of the LINC to this level of detail in any textbook, to the best of my knowledge. I feel certain that no copyrighted works were used.

• Furthermore, all the facts reported in this article are well known to those who owned or used this wonderful early computer. If your concerns remain, the burden is now on you to show copyright violation.

• Furthermore, the images do exist. For example, the LINCtape units referred to in the text are clearly visible in at least two of the photographs.

• Finally, I respectfully request that you leave this article alone until you have something useful to contribute to it. Your action is an example of the worst aspect of Wikipedia: self-important, over-zealous editors. The article itself is an example of the best: knowledge that can be obtained elsewhere only with difficulty. Although you behaved badly in this case, I write this with respect, because it is the vigilance of people like you that also keeps Wikipedia clean and accurate. I only ask that you take greater caution and consideration in your future editing. David spector (talk) 16:42, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Image again

Someone is complaining about File:Wesley A. Clark and LINC, 1962.png again. Martin (talk) 15:03, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you for noticing this. There is actually no reason to suppose that this photograph is copyrighted. It is much more likely that the photograph was taken as part of the LINC development effort at Lincoln Labs, which was Government work and therefore not likely to be subject to copyright protection. David Spector (user/talk) 14:39, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

User Talk:Fastily has deleted the photograph without responding to this statement. I have made a statement on his or her Talk page requesting that the deletion be reverted. I probably need to do something to get an admin decision, otherwise this photo will always be vulnerable to deletion at any editor's whim. Can anyone help with this? I'm out of my depth here. David Spector (user/talk) 03:01, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

See my comments above under "Image of the LINC ... " and under "Public Domain". I don't know of any LINC-related photos that were copyrighted because the developers provided their own public domain photos for all to use. It is possible that some DEC advertising included photos they had taken and that the material had a copyright. Mopep222 (talk) 01:06, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

External links modified

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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20021015103944/http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/ijs/epl/LINC.html to http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/ijs/epl/LINC.html

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Works, but the page is still present, just at a different URL; I updated the link. Guy Harris (talk) 19:38, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

LINC was designed at MIT Lincoln Lab

The article states, "The LINC and other "MIT Group" machines were designed at MIT..."

As a former programmer of LINC operating set computers, I never heard the term "MIT Group" so if there is no reference for it I would like to see it deleted (MIT Group of Institutions is unrelated to MIT). The LINC was not designed at MIT. It was designed at MIT Lincoln Lab, a defense research and development organization originally created by MIT and located to the West of Cambridge, Massachusetts (the site of MIT), and its design was inspired by the TX-0 and TX-1 computers, which were also designed there. Digital Equipment Corporation was founded by former MIT Lincoln Lab employees Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. If there is no response, I will do the edit myself eventually. David Spector (talk) 12:28, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

Text display

The article claims that "the LINC hardware allowed a 12-bit word to be ... displayed ... as a 4-wide by 6-high matrix of pixels"

I think this is wrong. 4 * 6 pixels need 4 * 6 = 24 bits, if all combinations are possible (and I don't see any obvious doubling in the "M"). Should this read "the LINC hardware allowed a pair of 12-bit word to be ..."? Ligneus (talk) 19:12, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

The instruction to display a bit pattern displayed a matrix of 12 dot positions, each dot controlled by one bit. Two such instructions (or two words of data) were used to display any one of the 64 characters in the LINC character set, which contained the upper case letters, decimal digits, and a few special characters, such as Origin (a rectangle with a horizontal line through the middle used to set the LAP4 or LAP6 assembler to a specific octal location), lower case u (representing the disk unit bit), and lower case i (representing the indexing bit of indexed instructions). David Spector (talk) 20:49, 3 September 2022 (UTC)