Editing IBM System/38 (section)

==History==
The System/38 was introduced on October 24, 1978 and delivered in 1980. Developed under the code-name "Pacific", it was made commercially available in August 1979. The system was designed by a number of engineers including [[Frank Soltis]] and [[Glenn Henry (IT entrepreneur)|Glenn Henry]] and offered a number of innovative features. The architecture shared many similarities with the design of the failed [[IBM Future Systems project]], including the [[single-level store]], the use of [[microcode]] to implement operating system functionality, and the Machine Interface abstraction.<ref name="inside-as400" /><ref name="schleicher-interview">{{cite interview|last=Schleicher|first=David L.|interviewer=Arthur L. Norberg|title=An Interview with DAVID L. SCHLEICHER|url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107623/oh381ds.pdf|publisher=Charles Babbage Institute|date=2006-01-24|website=conservancy.umn.edu|access-date=2021-03-05}}</ref><ref name="henry-interview">{{cite interview|last=Henry|first=Glenn|interviewer=Philip L. Frana|title=An Interview with An Interview with GLENN HENRY|url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107623/oh381ds.pdf|publisher=Charles Babbage Institute|date=2001-08-07|website=conservancy.umn.edu|access-date=2021-03-21}}</ref> It had been developed over eight years by [[IBM Rochester|IBM's laboratory]] in [[Rochester, Minnesota|Rochester]], Minnesota.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbi.umn.edu/hostedpublications/pdf/IBMRochesterHistory.pdf|title=IBM Rochester @ 50}}</ref> The president of IBM's General Systems Division (GSD) said at the time: "The System/38 is the largest program we've ever introduced in GSD and it is one of the top three or four largest programs ever introduced in IBM."<ref name="s/38-ibm-archives">{{cite web|url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/rochester/rochester_4009.html|title=IBM System/38|website=IBM Archives|date=23 January 2003}}</ref>

The system was designed as a follow-on for the [[System/3]],<ref name="s/38-ibm-archives"/> but it is not compatible with those computers. The predecessors to the System/38 include the System/3 (1969), [[System/32]] (1975), and [[System/34]] (1977). In 1983 the [[System/36]] was released as a low-end business computer for users who found the System/38 too expensive for their needs. The System/38 was succeeded by the [[IBM AS/400]] midrange computer family in 1988, which originally used a processor architecture similar to the System/38, before adopting [[PowerPC]]-based processors in 1995.<ref name="inside-as400" />