<s>
MONECS	B-Application
(	O
Monash	O
University	O
Educational	O
Computing	O
System	O
)	O
was	O
a	O
computer	B-General_Concept
operating	I-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
with	O
BASIC	O
,	O
COBOL	B-Application
,	O
FORTRAN	B-Application
,	O
Pascal	B-Application
interpreters	O
,	O
plus	O
machine	O
language	O
facility	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Specifically	O
designed	O
for	O
computer	B-General_Concept
science	I-General_Concept
education	O
in	O
Australian	O
secondary	O
schools	O
and	O
at	O
the	O
university	O
undergraduate	O
level	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
teaching	O
computer	B-General_Concept
science	I-General_Concept
students	O
in	O
Australian	O
schools	O
Monash	O
University	O
created	O
subsets	O
of	O
the	O
FORTRAN	B-Application
language	I-Application
,	O
an	O
elementary	O
version	O
called	O
MINITRAN	O
then	O
an	O
enhanced	O
version	O
called	O
MIDITRAN	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Burroughs	B-Device
B5000/B5500	I-Device
series	O
,	O
CDC	B-Device
3000	I-Device
,	O
IBM	B-Application
360	I-Application
and	O
ICL	B-Device
1900	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Before	O
the	O
minicomputer	B-Architecture
,	O
it	O
was	O
impossible	O
for	O
a	O
class	O
of	O
Australian	O
students	O
to	O
have	O
hands-on	O
access	O
to	O
a	O
computer	O
within	O
a	O
one-hour	O
school	O
period	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
group	O
at	O
Monash	O
University	O
under	O
the	O
leadership	O
of	O
Dr	O
Len	O
G	O
.	O
Whitehouse	O
solved	O
the	O
problem	O
with	O
a	O
small	O
PDP-11	B-Device
minicomputer	B-Architecture
system	O
that	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
classroom	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mark	B-Device
sense	I-Device
cards	O
were	O
used	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
class	O
of	O
30	O
children	O
could	O
each	O
get	O
two	O
runs	O
in	O
a	O
one-hour	O
period	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Monash	O
University	O
series	O
of	O
Student	O
FORTRAN	B-Application
predated	O
and	O
was	O
an	O
independent	O
effort	O
not	O
associated	O
with	O
DEC	O
's	O
PDP-8	O
based	O
EDUSYSTEM	O
series	O
which	O
centred	O
on	O
the	O
BASIC	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MONECS	B-Application
was	O
optimised	O
for	O
the	O
low	O
end	O
hardware	O
of	O
the	O
Digital	O
Equipment	O
Corporation	O
(	O
DEC	O
)	O
PDP-11	B-Device
minicomputer	B-Architecture
family	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Typical	O
installation	O
would	O
be	O
a	O
PDP-11/03	B-Device
,	O
/04	O
,	O
/05	O
/10	O
or	O
D	O
.	O
D	O
.	O
Webster	O
Electronics	O
 '	O
Spectrum-IIB	O
(	O
repackaged	O
DEC	O
LSI	O
)	O
processor	O
with	O
32k	O
Bytes	O
memory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MONECS	B-Application
systems	O
were	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
PDP-11/05	O
or	O
PDP-11/10	O
processors	O
with	O
core	O
memory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Student	O
systems	O
were	O
fitted	O
with	O
a	O
custom	O
UNIBUS	O
interface	O
to	O
support	O
the	O
Memorex	O
651	O
flexible	O
drive	O
which	O
was	O
an	O
early	O
version	O
of	O
an	O
8-inch	B-Device
floppy	I-Device
disk	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Next	O
major	O
releases	O
were	O
the	O
DEAMON	O
systems	O
based	O
on	O
PDP-11/04	O
or	O
PDP/11/34	O
processors	O
with	O
semiconductor	O
memory	O
and	O
DEC	O
RX01	O
8-inch	B-Device
floppy	I-Device
disk	O
drive(s )	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Then	O
the	O
LSI-11	O
systems	O
based	O
systems	O
which	O
moved	O
away	O
from	O
the	O
UNIBUS	O
based	O
processors	O
and	O
used	O
the	O
PDP-11/03	B-Device
and	O
Spectrum-IIB	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
systems	O
were	O
installed	O
with	O
a	O
mark	B-Device
sense	I-Device
card	O
reader	O
PDI	O
,	O
Hewlett-Packard	O
or	O
Documation	O
M-200	O
,	O
plus	O
a	O
132	O
column	O
lineprinter	O
from	O
Tally	O
,	O
DEC	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Student	O
programs	O
were	O
typically	O
submitted	O
as	O
a	O
deck	O
of	O
mark	B-Device
sense	I-Device
cards	O
although	O
punched	O
cards	O
were	O
an	O
option	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Due	O
to	O
the	O
32k	O
Byte	O
memory	O
constraint	O
MONECS	B-Application
serially	O
processed	O
student	O
programs	O
with	O
all	O
jobs	O
queued	O
in	O
the	O
input	O
hopper	O
of	O
the	O
cardreader	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
appropriate	O
language	O
interpreter	O
was	O
loaded	O
from	O
the	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
for	O
each	O
job	O
and	O
the	O
results	O
printed	O
before	O
reading	O
in	O
the	O
next	O
student	O
's	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
MONECS	B-Application
systems	O
were	O
supported	O
by	O
staff	O
from	O
the	O
Monash	O
University	O
Computer	O
Centre	O
which	O
was	O
an	O
entity	O
independent	O
from	O
the	O
Computer	B-General_Concept
Science	I-General_Concept
Department	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
MONECS	B-Application
system	O
at	O
St	O
Peter	O
's	O
Lutheran	O
College	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
computer	O
available	O
for	O
student	O
use	O
in	O
a	O
Queensland	O
school	O
.	O
</s>
