On Sun, Nov 8, 2020 at 11:36 PM Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@lemis.com> wrote:

The golfball console for the /360 was much earlier than that, like the /360 itself.

Hmmm, I think what I said is correct. The S/360 system was released in 1964. My friend Russ Roebling (360/50 chief designer ) once told me the console came from the office products (typewriter) division. I wish I could remember the story he told me, but IIRC it was something WRT to politics inside of IBM and ensuring the console device and the 360's launch between the divisions. [Just like every large firm I have worked, I'm not really surprised to hear that divisional fiefdoms were rampant at IBM in those days, too].

I'm fairly sure that the Selectric (I) was early1960s (I think 61/62). I just don't remember the model number of the S/360's console (every device at IBM had numeric names), your memory is likely that the number was 7xy. But as I said, I'm fair sure that the guts of the console were based on the Selectric's design.