8 Oct
2008
8 Oct
'08
9:24 p.m.
> A blank was the usual character for single-
spaced output. You could
> also punch a tape so that a skip was executed over the perforation,
> but single-spaced output otherwise.
Not sure about that - I've never punched a real
forms control tape.
> "+" kept the paper from advancing, I believe. This is all from
> memory--I'd have to check to be sure.
On the IBM, CDC and Prime systems I worked with, blank to single space,
0 to double space, + to overstrike, - to triple space. (Prime even had
a variant they called "COBOL carriage control" in which the spooler
inspected the leading _two_ columns for such characters.)
MSU's SCOPE/HUSTLER installation assigned some channel, I don't recall
which, to land just above the end of the page. They then used this to
set up the lines of *** that were characteristic of banner pages, so
that they spanned across the perf, making it easier for Ops to burst the
listings. For some reason, the ** characters on their print chains were
always mushy. :)
Actually, they also sometimes printed dayfile output at the right side
of the page, allegedly to even the wear on the "chain", though I suppose
that would indicate that the printers weren't really "chain" printers.
De