On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:22:27 -0700 "Knute Johnson" <knute@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >When I first learned to program in 1964 we used an IBM 1620, fondly > >known as CADET (Can't Add, Doesn't Even Try). It had 20,000 memory > >cells, each of which stored one decimal digit. Words were delimited > >by a flag bit in the most significant digit -- i.e. they were > >variable length. Since there were no integrated circuits then, the > >whole desk-sized machine, complete with blinking lights, console > >switches, and a built-in IBM Executive electric typewriter for small > >amounts of input and output, was made with individual transistors. > >My ex could type faster than that machine, especially with a > >Selectric, but this was before the Selectric too. > >Bob > > In the middle seventies I got a job as a computer operator for an > auto parts jobber in San Bernardino. They had a General Automation > 1830 which was a clone of the IBM 1130. Ours had 16K of core memory, > two disk drives the size of washing machines and a card reader. We > had four full time keypunch operators and I fed cards into that thing > all day long, about 30,000 per month. We had an IBM sorter in the > back room that I sorted cards on and a decollator that I used to > separate the multi-part paper from the carbons. Those were the days. Hello, Everyone This may be a little off topic for this thread, but here is a link to a picture of my Dad working on a device called a "Megabit Link Exerciser." http://www.afolkey2.net/gallery2/main.php/v/Ulrick1/MomAndDad/Dad/Dad-012a.jpg.html If I remember correctly, said device is an early, and very slow, modem. Steven P. Ulrick
