9 Apr
2001
9 Apr
'01
12:07 p.m.
--- "McFadden, Mike" <mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu> wrote:
It's nostalgia time
Do you remember IBM JCL, Job Control Language?
Yep. Never wrote it, but I bummed quite a few lines/cards. Used it for
testing DEC<->IBM stuff over COMBOARDs. We used to have a 4331 in-house
when times were good. I remember when the microcode floppy drive died.
We were dead in the water, since as as development house, we rebooted
things on a regular basis (sometimes on purpose... then there was the
time I learned what "IPL" stood for... ;-)
Do you remember DEC DOS/BATCH?
Never used it, but I have the manual (the size of a phone book!)
Have you punched cards using a drum card?
Yes, but only as a kid playing with the keypunch.
Have you used an O26 keypunch?
Yes. Got one. Needs adjustment/cleaning. Wouldn't mind getting a few
hundred punch cards for testing.
Have you used an O29 keypunch?
Yes. As a kid playing outside the computer room at Ohio State in
the late 1970s. Never had to keep my stuff on a deck, though. It
was all DASD by the time I took a class.
Have you played trek on at VT52?
Yes. On an ASR-33, too, on my own PDP-8/L w/paper-tape BASIC and 12Kw core.
Have you entered data on a VT05?
Never touched one. Seen pictures - looks like it fell off the set of
"Space: 1999".
Have you used an RX01?
Many, many times, on my own PDP-8s and PDP-11s. I even serviced one
for a former employer a couple of years ago (theirs developed a serious
fault when the motor clogged with dust and the driver transistors
set fire to the PCB).
Have you used a TU58?
Many, many times, mostly booting VAX-11/725s and -11/730 (and the odd -11/750).
I spent quite a while writing various flavors of boot tapes to optimize load
times (>20 minutes with a factory tape, <5 minutes with an optimized one!)
The oldy and goldy Fortran II, remember go to's
and format statements.
Don't forget all capitals.
Only played with it on the PDP-8. My one and only programming class was
on an Amdahl running WatFiv. I chose to go into the Data Center to use
a 3270 terminal rather than fight the clunky line editors on the Wilbur
(Wylbur?) system. One only two "A"s I got in college. :-)
My turn:
Have you run paper-tape diagostics?
Have you emptied out a chad collector (bit bucket)?
Have you used 9-track write rings as ammunition in a cube war? (one
meter cardboard tubes make great launchers!)
Have you toggled in a program?
Did you have a dumb terminal on your desk?
Have you ever mounted a removable disk pack?
-ethan
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