Gerfingerpoken das Blinkenlights—An IBM Peripheral Tester from the 1960s

To reduce complexity and save money, in the 1960s IBM removed the maintenance switches and lights from their computer input/output peripherals and installed a universal connector to which the customer engineer could attach a universal tester with lights and switches monitoring and controlling the device. Custom overlays were provided for each device.

The connector alone probably cost more in 1960s money than a terabyte solid state drive today.

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