Early timesharing/BBS systems

Time-sharing services were pretty common in the early 70s when powerful computers were difficult to afford for even medium-sized companies. Dec pdp-10s were often used. The company I worked for in the UK at the start of the 70s used a computer bureau called TSL (Time Sharing Limited) who offered both an interactive Focal-like language and compiled Fortran. The terminal was a standard 10cps teletype with paper-tape reader/punch. Careful checking of input was needed because of the high costs involved. As an example I recall making a single error in a several thousand line circuit analysis program (we were designing early integrated circuits using it) and the resulting failed compilation cost £80 ($140) - quite a lot of cash in 1972! The username and password from those days is so burned into my brain that I still frequently use them today! As recently as 1981 I was managing a multi-terminal IC design department time-sharing over a muxed 2400b line to a CDC supercomputer for Spice analyses with the output on the noisiest drum printer I've ever sat beside! Thankfully an in-house Vax then appeared. Bob Adamson _________________________________________________________________ It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today! http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger