24 May
2016
24 May
'16
4:18 p.m.
On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 9:44 AM, Swift Griggs <swiftgriggs at gmail.com> wrote:
-- Charles
On Tue, 24 May 2016, Charles Anthony wrote:
Hah. Video of some toggling in a bootstrap...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIsZVqhaneo
"Older machines" covers a lot of
ground.....
Sorry, I should have said "machines from the 50's - 70's which used
buttons, toggles, rockers or other switches on the front panel"
Typically, there was a set of data switches (0/1
toggles) that could be
set to an address or data value, and a set of command switches
(momentary contact) that copied the data switches to some data register
or memory.
Did some of the machines have blinkenlights to show you what you were
doing so you could see the values you were inputting? Judging from how I
play guitar, I'd probably miskey and have to start all over etc...
The 709 had these massively over-engineered
rocker switches, reminiscent
of circuit breakers, and a reset switch which activated a electric motor
in the console which physically set the switches back to 0.
Heh, that sounds cool. Could you hear the motor running after hitting the
switch to activate it?
Oh yes. *whir* *CLUNK*