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RPiBM

Revitalizing Legacy: Implementing IBM 1620 SMS Cards and Backplane Connectors in Raspberry Pi-Based Systems

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This project marries the nostalgic charm of IBM's vintage SMS Card System with Mordern Small Compute Forms, crafting, making and messing about to hopefully end up with something that is
an interesting and Functional Digital Interface for today’s selfproclaimed tech-savvy tinkerers like myself, who ponders "can every byte tell a story !".

IBM's Standard Modular System (SMS) was a groundbreaking innovation in computer architecture introduced by IBM during the late 1950s. The SMS used modules, which were essentially separate units that could be easily inserted and removed from an IBM mainframe to add new functions or upgrade existing ones without having to disassemble the entire machine – this modularity was a significant departure from previous systems where adding capabilities meant taking apart most of the computer’s hardware.

IBM 1620

RTC at the English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons


The Standard Modular System (SMS)

 is a system of standard transistorized circuit boards and mounting racks developed by IBM in the late 1950s

By ArnoldReinhold - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47097339

all above are stock images... 

below now are some of the original photos of when the cards that are going to be used in this project where rescued !

thee old 1620 was mostly unrecognizable as any thing really, it had been living in the back room of a big old house that had been fire destroyed a few years previous... i had heard thru an aquaintence that there was some old computer some where in ruins... so a sunday it was we went a main frame hunting

we even managed to get its magnetic core ! which is no longer around :(

it was a baffling experience to be fair... never had i seen this kind of tech hands on... its amazing what the human hand can make :) 

such an amazing thing, i wish i still had some of it... ah well, on wards and upwards.

in thee end

i was very happy to become the custodian of this nice pile of cards

 as they say down under,,,

winner winner, chicken dinner :)

  • 1 × raspberry pi mainCompute
  • 1 × arduino leonardo secondaryCompte
  • 1 × hard disk drive deepStorage
  • 1 × battery psu/ups power 2 to the pi

  • SMS Card mods

    HYBERTEC01/24/2025 at 23:46 0 comments

    vero board implanted into centered out sms card... jointed via epoxysms card with vero type board implant

    Hmmm.. vero board sms card, arduino leonardo on sms card, raspberry pi on sms card, hdd on sms card and a psu/ups on sms card Tart !

    new ideas !

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Ken Yap wrote 01/25/2025 at 21:38 point

Please add a link to the Wiki page on Standard Modular System. I was sure that SMS didn't stand for Short Messaging System, but you can spare other readers looking for the expansion of the acronym SMS.

  Are you sure? yes | no

HYBERTEC wrote 01/26/2025 at 14:23 point

good point... thanks

  Are you sure? yes | no

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