9 Feb
2026
9 Feb
'26
6:58 p.m.
as an operator, getting a sort job was cushy. load the sort work 2311s,
read the tapes, let it churn for hours, mount the output tapes.
but the best was when there was too much data for the sort work disks, and
you had to do a tape sort. load the work tapes, the input tapes one at a
time, the last work tape. it could churn for several shifts, i think at
least once i started a tape sort and came back the next day to finish it.
worst was printing tab cards on the 1404 printer, or reading short (52
column?) charge card receipts in the 2540, which tended to jam as they were
bent etc in handling. but we are way off topic now and way off the title
too.
On Sat, Feb 7, 2026 at 3:35 PM Van Snyder via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
... because the only 360 program I ever used
was SORT --- which was much faster than 1401 SORT 7 because the 240x
tape drives could (and did) do read reverse — but I ran 360 SORT only
once or twice.
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