17 Jun
2020
17 Jun
'20
1:26 p.m.
On 6/17/20 12:25 PM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:
https://archive.org/details/FarewellEtaoinShrdlu
28min documentary on the last ever edition of the NY Times to be
printed using hot metal -- before they switched to what are now a
quite choice assortment of late-'70s minicomputers. I think I spotted
a PDP, a Data General and some IBM device, but I am no expert in this
era.
When I was in college, I went on a weekend trip with a friend to see
where he worked during the summer. It was a print-shop, complete with
both letterpress and offset--and a Linotype ("pot" heated with natural
gas). The local advertising circular was still set with hot type and I
witnessed the operation of that contraption. Noisy and wonderful.
See the Twilight Zone episode "Printer's Devil" for another sample.
I was told that most newspaper pressmen were alcoholics, as it blunted
the effect of the then-toxic inks used in printing.
Anent ETAOIN: Early on in the formation of the CDC spinoff, ETA
Systems, I asked Neil Lincoln what "ETA" stood for. He related the
story of his son and ETAOIN SHRDLU. Back then, the name of the
supercomputer was referred to as the GF-10; later changed to the ETA-10.
(GF standing for GigaFLOP).
--Chuck