10 Apr
2024
10 Apr
'24
2:40 p.m.
I want to thank you all for this IBM 360 conversation. It makes me feel
young🙂. My first computer was a PDP-8/L with 4K of core memory and a
Teletype ASR-33. That was 1972 (I was 12).
On 4/10/2024 4:23 PM, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
On Apr 10, 2024, at 5:01 PM, Van Snyder via
cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
...
I think the 360/67 replaced "Halt and Catch Fire" with "Rewind and
Break Tape."
I always wondered if that wasn't a standard property of IBM
tape drives of that era. The ones I remember from our 360/44 had capstans that turned
continuously, one to each side of the head. The tape was shoved against the capstan to
start tape motion, and against a rubber brake block to stop it. That was wild enough, but
the other crazy aspect is that the vacuum columns were arranged so the oxide was facing
outward, i.e., rubbing against the side walls of the vacuum column.
I never did wear out a tape, but then again, I never used a tape more than a half dozen
times on that system.
paul