Editing PC12 minicomputer (section)

{{More citations needed|date=July 2009}}
'''PC12''' by [[Artronix]] was a [[minicomputer]] built with [[7400-series integrated circuits|7400-series TTL]] technology and [[Ferrite (magnet)|ferrite]] core memory.  Computers were manufactured at the Artronix facility in suburban St. Louis, Missouri.

The instruction set architecture was adapted from the LINC, the only significant change was to
expand addressable memory to 4K, which required addition of an origin register.  It was an accumulator machine with 12-bit addresses to manipulate 12-bit data.  Later versions included "origin registers" that were used to extend the addressability of memory.  Arithmetic was [[ones' complement]].

For [[mass storage]] it had a [[LINC#LINCtape|LINCtape]] dual unit. It also used a [[Tektronix]] screen with tube memory and an [[Analog-to-digital converter|ADC]]/[[Digital-to-analog converter|DAC]] to capture and display images. There was an optional [[plotter]] to draw the results. To speed up the calculations it had a separate [[floating point unit]] that interfaced like any other [[peripheral]].

It ran an [[operating system]] LAP6-PC with support for [[assembly language]] and [[Fortran]] [[Computer programming|programming]] and usually came with end user software for Radiation Treatment Planning (RTP), for use by a [[radiation therapist]] or [[radiation oncologist]], and Hospital Patient Records. Software for implant [[dosimetry]] was available for the PC12.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sharma|first1=Subhash C.|last2=Bello|first2=Julia E.|last3=Abrath|first3=Fred G.|date=March 1979|title=Stereo and orthogonal options of the Artronix PC-12 implant dosimetry program|journal=Medical Physics|language=en|volume=6|issue=2|pages=157–158|doi=10.1118/1.594530|pmid=460066 |bibcode=1979MedPh...6..157S |issn=0094-2405}}</ref> With extended hardware it became a multiuser system running [[MUMPS]].
Latter additions included an 8" [[floppy disk]] and hard disk of larger capacity.
The PC12 initially controlled the [[Artronix]] brain scanner (computed axial tomography), but this was for prototyping.
The PC12 was also the core of an ultrasound system and a gamma camera system.

The PC12 was eventually superseded by the "Modulex" system built by [[Artronix]] around the 16-bit Lockheed SUE processor, roughly around 1976.  The PC12 continued in production, but was phased out over time.

Sites which used the Artronix PC12 included the Lutheran Hospital Cancer Center in [[Moline, Illinois]], where it was used to store the medical records of patients undergoing treatment for cancer.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Rathe|first1=John C.|last2=Elliott|first2=Paul F.|date=January 1979|title=A cancer registry for the community radiation center|journal=Cancer|language=en|volume=43|issue=1|pages=198–204|doi=10.1002/1097-0142(197901)43:1<198::aid-cncr2820430129>3.0.co;2-3|pmid=761162 |issn=1097-0142|doi-access=free}}</ref> A 1974 paper describes the use of a PC12 as a frontend to an [[IBM System/360|IBM 360]] mainframe in radiation therapy, in which the PC12 acted as the user interface while the mainframe is used to perform complex calculations.<ref>{{Cite journal|year=1974|title=Incorporation of a Minicomputer as an Intelligent Terminal a Planning System|journal=Radiology|volume=110|issue=1|pages=183–190|doi=10.1148/110.1.183|pmid=4808525|last1=Mohan|first1=Radhe|last2=Holt|first2=J. Garrett|last3=Laughlin|first3=John S.|last4=Krippner|first4=Kenneth}}</ref>