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Glenn’s Computer Museum

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Systron-Donner Series 80

The Systron-Donner Series 80, first shipped in 1964, is the Cadillac of general-purpose analog computers. It is transistor based instead of tube based as most of its contemporary analog computers, it offers a ± 100V computing range providing 3-4 digit accuracy, and it offers a rich set of analog functions. A Series 80 weighs about 700 pounds. It has a removable program panel; on the left is a picture of it with and without the program installed.

Our Series 80 is fully functional; the pictures show it executing (perhaps simulating a new Centaur processor function invention). It is fully loaded with all of the optional features: 8 function generator cards, 220 10-turn potentiometers, digital voltmeter, and 42 computing modules. The original price for this configuration in 1965 was over $60,000 (a price list is shown on the right). Also shown is a picture from Boeing of a SD 80 in a Boeing 707 being used to analyze data for the SST program.