12 Jan
2011
12 Jan
'11
9:26 a.m.
I remember my first computer experiences were in
terminal rooms full of
teletypes. You realised just how noisy they were when the machine (a
DECSYSTEM-20) went down and all the terminals stopped at once. I would love
to get hold of an ASR33 but they seem pretty rare these days.
Don't forget THE SMELL of a room of working model 33's. I'm not sure
exactly what the smell was - probably a mix of ozone from the motors,
warm oil on the mechanical parts, and some of the smell of oiled
paper tape - but that was part of the experience too :-)
Oiled paper tape could actually go rancid under some conditions
(that I'm unclear about today!). I wonder if that's one of the smells
I remember. In particular the smell from the hoppers that
Caught the holes punched from the tape as being not the typical
Teletype smell but something stronger and more offensive. The hoppers
Were not necessarily emptied daily :-)
Tim.