Talk:Wang 2200

2200 WS

A model between this (pictured) and the VS existed, the 2200 Work Station. It had no built-in tape drive. I worked with one (and that's my reference) --Xyzt1234 (talk) 12:53, 24 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Factual errors

I'm not an active Wikipedia editor, so I'm reluctant to just dive in and make changes. But I do know a lot about the Wang 2200, and there are a few errors that jumped out at me when I scanned this Wikipedia article.

The sidebar on the right claims the operating system is "Wang MOS(OS), BASIC". I've never heard that term. The 2200 had BASIC in ROM and there was no operating system.

The memory is described as being 4kB to 32kB (correct) of RAM, and BASIC in 16kB of ROM (wrong). The 2200T had 20k words of microcode, each word 20b wide, so effectively 50kB of ROM. An earlier model, the 2200B, had 16k words of microcode, so effectively 40kB of ROM.

The Storage is listed as "cassette tape storage unit". In fact, many/most 2200's didn't use cassette storage. The base CPU didn't have any storage, and the user bought whatever option or combination of options made sense for them: cassette, floppy disk, or hard disk.

It also seems weird that the Soviet clone, the Iskra 226, receives as much attention as the actual Wang 2200, which only has cursory information. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Goiter (talk • contribs) 22:45, 31 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

It's not uncommon to describe a 'BASIC in ROM' machine as having that as its OS: it handles the IO system, for example.

I came here to wonder about the use of 'microcode', but if it's 20 bits wide, then that sounds more like real microcode rather than the IBM 'alias of firmware' sense.Lovingboth (talk) 11:07, 28 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]