Talk:IBM 704

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External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on IBM 704. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/19971211154551/http://www.lsi.usp.br/~rbianchi/clarke/ACC.Biography.html to http://www.lsi.usp.br/~rbianchi/clarke/ACC.Biography.html

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Another use of the IBM 704

I'm not experienced enough to add a whole citation, but I'll leave this here in the hopes someone cares to run with it: Page 85 as scanned, 106 including covers and errata, of "A Study of Interstate Highway 94 from Pillsbury to Aldine Streets, St. Paul, Minnesota" says that an IBM 704 was used to calculate models for the freeway. It alludes to System 4, which was the design of the whole Twin Cities freeway system as designed in the late 1950's. https://cdm16022.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/mdt/id/13164/rec/1 WPL_XB70 (talk) 18:25, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

If you can find an RS, it might be appropriate to mention the traffic study at Wayne State University, which used the 704 at the GM Tech Center for work too compute intensive for the 650. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 18:07, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

Removal of "Daisy Bell" material

I know this error is repeated throughout the secondary source literature, but all of the primary source material on the subject indicates that "Daisy Bell" was designed and tested and recorded on an IBM 7090 in 1961. I've removed the section accordingly. Viriditas (talk) 23:56, 4 February 2026 (UTC)

This remains unresolved, as many sources (LOC, academic researchers) suggest the 704 was used in a way to create the voice and the 7090 was used to create the music. However, I could not confirm any of this in the original news coverage from 1961 (which only mentions the 7090) and the primary source research, which again, only mentions the 7090. There's several possibilities that might explain this: 1) the original documents are hard to find or are not available online; they may be found only in Bell Labs historical archives; 2) the idea that the 704 was used refers to early computer music work in the 1950s, which in all likelihood did use the 704 before the 7090 was released circa 1959 or 1960, but became conflated with later computer models for one reason or another; or 3) it's an error. I'm personally leaning towards explanation 1 because too many people have mentioned the 704 for me to ignore it. According to this idea, John Larry Kelly Jr. used the 704 to create synthesized speech. Still trying to confirm this at this time. Viriditas (talk) 21:56, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

Awkward phrasing of type A instruction restriction

"The implementation requires that the second two bits of the instruction code be non-zero, giving a total of six possible type A instructions"

When I first read it, it sounded like it was saying that two of the bits had to be 1, and that would mean there were only 2 instructions possible.

The manual at https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/704/24-6661-2_704_Manual_1955.pdf phrases it as "Positions 1 and 2 of Type A instructions are not both zero.", which to me is clearer, and fits with the six possible type A instructions. Sgeo^TC 06:49, 11 May 2026 (UTC)