4 Mar
2005
4 Mar
'05
5:50 a.m.
shoppa_classiccmp at trailing-edge.com wrote:
I remember seeing this on a IBM 1620. I have no idea what the program
was called but as I recall (dimly) it used a 'field copy' command which,
I think, would copy digits backward until it hit a field marker. If I
remember correctly the length of the field affected the frequency heard
(but who knows, maybe it was affecting the duty cycle). I think it only
had one voice. It was a nice piece.
Anyway, the repertoire (on punch cards) was large and varied. I
rememeber the Christmas carols fondly :-)
It all started (much like the 8" floppy story :-) when I asked, "what's
the radio for?". Next thing I know - music!
That machine also had a very nice Calcomp plotter. I miss plotters.
-brad
remember a
story that you could run a certain program on the Altair and hold
an AM radio next to the Altair and you would hear music.
A few years earlier than the Altair, a DECUS package let you do this
on a PDP-10. See
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/decuslib10-01/01/43,50011/mblurb.txt.html
(NOTE: For simple, quick-and dirty listening, placing a
transistor radio near the MI, or near Bay 2 of the KA10
will produce the music, but hardly in Hi Fi.)