11 Sep
2009
11 Sep
'09
1:33 p.m.
------------------Original:
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:12:06 -0700
From: Eric Smith <eric at brouhaha.com>
Subject: Re: Front panel switches (WAS: You just can't buy these
anymore)
M H Stein wrote:
In my days with Burroughs systems, the operator
consoles that had
"front panels" and many of their maintenance panels used illuminated
momentary push buttons that toggled on/off; that always struck me
as more intuitive (not to mention faster to set up) than separate lights
and switches.
The DEC KI10 (PDP-10 processor ca. 1973) did that also, as did the Fabritek
BI-TRAN SIX. It is NOT faster for data entry, because you effectively
have to manually
XOR each entry with the previous one. It might be OK if there were a
clear button (as
there is on the BI-TRAN SIX), or if the entry word cleared itself after
deposit, though the
latter would be bad when you actually want to enter consecutive
identical non-zero
words.
Toggles (with suitable handles) are much easier for binary entry,
because you can
push them up or down without regard to their previous state. With
practice you
can easily enter octal data three bits at a time using three fingers.
--------------Reply:
Good point, but as expressed elsewhere I suppose it depends on
personal preference, what you're actually doing, and what you learned first.
I can see that for data entry toggles could be faster, but my experience
was mostly examine/deposit etc.; never had the exhilarating experience
of actually "typing in" a program that way, alas.