18-bit computing

In computer architecture, 18-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 18 bits (2.25 octets) wide. Also, 18-bit CPU and ALU architectures are those that are based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size.

Computer architecture bit widths
Bit
Application
Binary floating-point precision
  • 16
  • 32
  • 40
  • 64
  • 80
  • 128
  • 256
Decimal floating-point precision

18 binary digits have 262144 (1000000 octal, 40000 hexadecimal) distinct combinations.

18 bits was a common word size for smaller computers in the 1960s, when large computers often used 36 bit words and 6-bit character sets, sometimes implemented as extensions of BCD, were the norm. There were also 18-bit teletypes experimented with in the 1940s.

Example computer architectures

Possibly the most well-known 18-bit computer architectures are the PDP-1, PDP-4, PDP-7, PDP-9 and PDP-15 minicomputers produced by Digital Equipment Corporation from 1960 to 1975. Digital's PDP-10 used 36-bit words but had 18-bit addresses.

The UNIVAC produced several 18-bit computers, including the UNIVAC 418 and several military systems.

The IBM 7700 Data Acquisition System was announced by IBM on December 2, 1963.

The BCL Molecular 18 was a group of systems designed and manufactured in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s.

The NASA Standard Spacecraft Computer NSSC-1 was developed as a standard component for the MultiMission Modular Spacecraft at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in 1974.

The flying-spot store digital memory in the first experimental electronic switching systems used nine plates of optical memory that were read and written two bits at a time, producing a word size of 18 bits.

Character encoding

18-bit machines use a variety of character encodings.

The DEC Radix-50, called Radix 508 format, packs three characters plus two bits in each 18-bit word.[1]

The Teletype packs three characters in each 18-bit word; each character a 5-bit Baudot code and an upper-case bit.[2]

The DEC SIXBIT format packs three characters in each 18-bit word,[2] each 6-bit character obtained by stripping the high bits from the 7-bit ASCII code, which folds lowercase to uppercase letters.

gollark: Are you just meant to have a basement operation doing highly advanced chemical synthesis or something for, say, new drug testing?
gollark: Also, many modern discoveries are basically impossible without stuff like "laboratories" and "full-time scientists" and supply chains providing the stuff they need.
gollark: As you go over that you probably have to keep adopting more and more norms and then guidelines and then rules and then laws to keep stuff coordinated.
gollark: Consider a silicon fab, which is used to make computer chips we need. That requires billions of $ in capital and thousands of people and probably millions more in supply chains.
gollark: Also, what do you mean "so what"? Technological progress directly affects standards of living.

References
  1. "Linking Loader". PDP-9 Utility Programs--Advanced Software System--Programmer's Reference Manual (PDF). Maynard, Massachusetts: Digital Equipment Corporation. 1968. p. A1-1. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 25, 2019.
  2. PDP-7 Symbolic Assembler Programming Manual (PDF). Maynard, Massachusetts: Digital Equipment Corporation. 1965. pp. 6, 38–39. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 23, 2017. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
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