Technician Operating Early Computer System with Punched Paper Tape, San Francisco State College, November 1971

Computer Console (bottom center)

• This is the operator control console, used to input commands and monitor system status.
• The console has toggle switches for manual data/program entry (likely hexadecimal or binary), and indicator lights for address, data, and status bits.
• The keyboard below is for typing commands

Main System: Control Data 6000 Series Console (likely CDC 6400/6600/7600)

• The console interface with rows of toggle switches and status lights is typical of CDC’s mid-to-late 1960s mainframes.
• The tape drives above are used for data storage, loading programs, or backup.

Teleprinter Terminal (Foreground, Right):

• That machine is a Teletype Model 33 ASR (Automatic Send-Receive).
• It includes a keyboard and paper tape punch/reader.
• Used to communicate with the mainframe via command-line input and to produce hardcopy output.

Wired Panel (Far right side, upper section):

• That densely packed, spaghetti-like module is most likely a wire-wrapped backplane, part of the computer’s logic/control unit or memory array.
• Wire-wrapping was a common method of connecting logic circuits before printed circuit boards (PCBs) took over.
• This area might house core memory or custom programmable control logic (possibly peripheral or CPU micro-instructions).

Credits: 

Some technical descriptions and historical interpretations were developed with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI language model by OpenAI.