7 Dec
2020
7 Dec
'20
12:53 p.m.
> The first computer I was paid to write software
for didn't require me
> to toggle in a boot loader: The IBM 1401 in 1966.
On Mon, 7 Dec 2020, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
The contemporaneous 1620 had it both ways--one could
type in the loader
on the console typewriter (hit the Release key when done) or by pressing
the console LOAD key, could read a record from either card or paper tape
into 00000-00079. On the CADET, one of the first things that most
loaders did was to have a small routine to read in the addition and
multiplication tables. If you're going to do any arithmetic at all,
you'd better have those!
The 1620 that I had access to had PDQ ("pretty Damn Quick"?) FORTRAN,
and a 1401 emulator!
Being students, not administrators, we had VERY limited access to the
1401, but unlimited access to the 1620, and learned 1401 machine language
on the 1620. VERY limited memory, but you could use the input and output
buffers as RAM when you weren't reading nor writing.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com