29 Mar
1999
29 Mar
'99
2:37 p.m.
Does anyone know what the function of an IBM 557 Alphabetic Interpreter
is/was?
Looks like a punch card sorter of some sort.
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 02/15/99]
29 Mar
29 Mar
3:01 p.m.
On Mon, 29 Mar 1999, Sellam Ismail wrote:
Does anyone know what the function of an IBM 557 Alphabetic Interpreter
is/was?
Looks like a punch card sorter of some sort.
From: 'Business Data Processing' E. Awad (1968)...
[picture] caption: The IBM 557 interpreter
[text] "Interpreting is converting machine language into human
language. (...) A distinction can be made easily between printing by
interpreter and that done by key punch. The latter machine prints on
the top of the same column that contains the hole(s), whereas the
interpreter merely prints across the face of the card" [end text]
So what you seem to have is a Big Box that takes un-marked punch
cards and prints out their contents just below their twelve-edge.
Do you actually *own* this, or just know where one is? Tres Cool!
Cheerz
John
3:41 p.m.
On Mon, 29 Mar 1999, John Lawson wrote:
Do you actually *own* this, or just know where one
is? Tres Cool!
I might very soon. Its a huge beast! Too adorable to ignore.
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 02/15/99]
3:07 p.m.
Does anyone know what the function of an IBM 557
Alphabetic Interpreter
is/was?
Looks like a punch card sorter of some sort.
If it's what I think it is, it simply prints a line of text on the card,
above the holes. That's "interpreting" the punches to produce human-
readable text.
what makes you think it looks like a sorter? If it has two output bins and
one input bin, it may simply reject bad cards. If it has more output bins
then it probably does something I don't know about. (You can tell if it
really is a sorter because they have about 11 bins -- one for each digit
plus one for rejects. Sorters are unmistakable.)
-- Derek
3:22 p.m.
At 09:07 PM 3/29/99 -0800, Derek wrote:
...what makes you think it looks like a sorter? If it
has two output bins
and
one input bin, it may simply reject bad cards. If it
has more output bins
then it probably does something I don't know about. (You can tell if it
really is a sorter because they have about 11 bins -- one for each digit
plus one for rejects. Sorters are unmistakable.)
Ummm... (hollerith) card sorters (at least the IBM 83 sitting here beside
me) have 13 bins.
0-9, 11, 12, and reject... B^}
(reject... snicker... the 'Hawaii Five-O' story on my web pages...)
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
4:11 p.m.
Ummm... (hollerith) card sorters (at least the IBM 83
sitting here beside
me) have 13 bins.
0-9, 11, 12, and reject... B^}
I knew that. Anyway, I said they had about 11 bins. Sometimes it pays to
be vague.
Can you actually use the sorter yet or is it still blocked by a huge pile of
stuff? Last I saw, you could put cards in but not take them out (easily).
-- Derek
4:19 p.m.
New subject: Sorters (was Re: IBM 557 Alphabetic Interpreter??)
At 10:11 PM 3/29/99 -0800, Derek wrote:
Well... as I'm in the middle of rearranging the garage (yet again) (come on
good weather!), it varies from day to day... ;^}
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
Ummm...
(hollerith) card sorters (at least the IBM 83 sitting here beside
me) have 13 bins.
0-9, 11, 12, and reject... B^}
I knew that. Anyway, I said they had about 11 bins. Sometimes it pays to
be vague.
Can you actually use the sorter yet or is it still blocked by a huge pile of
stuff? Last I saw, you could put cards in but not take them out (easily). 
30 Mar
30 Mar
2:34 a.m.
#026 and #029 keypunches, nor the punch outputs of most computers, did
NOT print anything on the card. There also existed interpreters, both as
hefty stand-alone, and in #029 housings, that would READ the punches on
the card and print the info on the card, so that it would be readable by
lusers who didn't know how to read punches.
The #029 version printed 80 columns, aligned with the punches (although
there was a LITTLE bit of suppression, etc. available through drum card
programming.)
The stand-alone unit was massive. The ones that I used printed an
oversize font, (60? characters per line?), and therefore could NOT line
up the characters with the content. It was plug-board programmable for
whatever positions, suppressions, etc. you wanted. For years I had on my
wall one such plug-board that had been setup for convenient reading of
COBOL programs, and was labelled "COBOL. Interpreter". I had it on the
wall just for those who wouldn't believe that there existed a COBOL
interpreter :-)
--
Fred Cisin cisin(a)xenosoft.com
XenoSoft http://www.xenosoft.com
2210 Sixth St. (510) 644-9366
Berkeley, CA 94710-2219
On Mon, 29 Mar 1999, Sellam Ismail wrote:
Does anyone know what the function of an IBM 557
Alphabetic Interpreter
is/was?
Looks like a punch card sorter of some sort.
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 02/15/99]
2:44 a.m.
On Tue, 30 Mar 1999, Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) wrote:
#026 and #029 keypunches, nor the punch outputs of
most computers, did
NOT print anything on the card.
Ummm... beg to differ. The 029 keypunch that I currently have in my
collection, and the 026 that I had some years back most assuredly DID have
the capability to print along the top edge of the card.
Now, I will grant that this feature can be switched off, or not selected
as an installed option when the unit was orginally ordered... But the
capability does exist in both units.
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
4:07 a.m.
Upon the date 08:44 AM 3/30/99 -0800, James Willing said something like:
On Tue, 30 Mar 1999, Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) wrote:
I agree that is possible to print on the cards. This is going back to
1972/73 when I was in college but there definitely was printing provided by
the 029 punches we had used. Somewhere I've still got several stacks of my
programs I did for class. (I think I'm nearly down to the bottom of the
pile in the attic of the old house we will have for sale soon. I think I
spied them last Friday as I was digging. Man, what a lot of stuff I had
stashed up there :)
If there was known to be non-printing 029s and 026s, then this indeed was
likely an option as Jim surmises.
Regards, Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL: http://www.ggw.org/awa
#026 and #029 keypunches, nor the punch outputs
of most computers, did
NOT print anything on the card.
Ummm... beg to differ. The 029 keypunch that I currently have in my
collection, and the 026 that I had some years back most assuredly DID have
the capability to print along the top edge of the card.
Now, I will grant that this feature can be switched off, or not selected
as an installed option when the unit was orginally ordered... But the
capability does exist in both units.
7:47 a.m.
On Tue, 30 Mar 1999, Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) wrote:
#026 and #029 keypunches, nor the punch outputs of
most computers, did
NOT print anything on the card.
OOPS!
WRONG!
#026 and #029 keypunches could, and by default did, print what they
punched. The punch output of most computers, nor most of the stand-alone
card duplicators, did not. The unique *RARE* SPECIAL model in the #029
series was the one that could "interpret" (print) the contents of cards
that it was READING, not punching. It was especially useful, because it
had an 80 column printhead, whereas the stand-alone interptreter was a 60
column unit.
Sorry about the wrong info. It's been less than 30 years - must be
coming down with some of that alzh^h^h^h^h "old-timer's disease"
I have 2 keypunch drums that I don't seem to use much any more. Does
anybody need one? (I'm keeping one, just in case.)
8:14 a.m.
New subject: #029 variants (was: IBM 557 Alphabetic Interpreter??
In addition to the rare "Interpreter punch", there was also a quite a bit
less rare variant, the "Verifier". It would READ a card as the operator
typed. If the card and keyboard didn't match, (IIRC after a couple of
tries) it would put a notch in the top of the card at the point of
discrepancy. If everything matched, it would put a notch in the side of
the card, as testimony to it having been checked.
How many remember how service bureaus would CHEAT?
Who is collecting EAM equipment?
11:52 a.m.
New subject: #029 variants (was: IBM 557 Alphabetic Interpreter??
At 02:14 PM 3/30/99 -0800, you wrote:
In addition to the rare "Interpreter punch",
there was also a quite a bit
less rare variant, the "Verifier". It would READ a card as the operator
typed. If the card and keyboard didn't match, (IIRC after a couple of
tries) it would put a notch in the top of the card at the point of
discrepancy. If everything matched, it would put a notch in the side of
the card, as testimony to it having been checked.
How many remember how service bureaus would CHEAT?
They verified blank cards and then keypunch on the pre-verified cards.
gene@ehrich
http://www.voicenet.com/~generic
Computer & Video Game Garage Sale
Gene Ehrich
PO Box 209
Marlton NJ
08053-0209
7:28 p.m.
On 30 Mar 99 at 13:47, Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) wrote:
On Tue, 30 Mar 1999, Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) wrote:
In my case it's been more than 40 years, but ISTR a duplicater in which
you'd insert the "bent, spindalled, mutilated card " and a blank card and
it
would copy(punch) the defective card. You'd only have to go to the adjoining
keypunch room to get it made if the card was totally beyond repair and wouldn't
feed in the amazingly forgiving duplicater. Mind you since the punch card room
had some 20 operaters(x-typists) all female including my current girlfriend of
the time, we found many cards unable to be duplicated.
I don't remember any of these machines also able to print info on the cards,
which would stand to reason since all of them had data which wouldn't fit in
the top space. For that we used the interpreter wired to print the identifying
data.
ciao larry
lwalker(a)interlog.com
#026 and #029 keypunches, nor the punch outputs
of most computers, did
NOT print anything on the card.
OOPS!
WRONG!
#026 and #029 keypunches could, and by default did, print what they
punched. The punch output of most computers, nor most of the stand-alone
card duplicators, did not. The unique *RARE* SPECIAL model in the #029
series was the one that could "interpret" (print) the contents of cards
that it was READING, not punching. It was especially useful, because it
had an 80 column printhead, whereas the stand-alone interptreter was a 60
column unit.
Sorry about the wrong info. It's been less than 30 years - must be
coming down with some of that alzh^h^h^h^h "old-timer's disease"
I have 2 keypunch drums that I don't seem to use much any more. Does
anybody need one? (I'm keeping one, just in case.)
31 Mar
31 Mar
3:25 a.m.
I don't remember any of these machines also able
to print info on the cards,
which would stand to reason since all of them had data which wouldn't fit in
the top space. For that we used the interpreter wired to print the
identifying data.
How'd you accomplish that? I never managed to get more than 80 characters
onto a card, and the top edge of the card had plenty of room for that many.
The punch I used was an 029-clone (I'm not sure of the vendor), and I'm
fairly certain that it printed all the columns that it punched.
11:48 a.m.
On 31 Mar 99 at 17:25, Eric Smith wrote:
As I say it's been a long time. IIRC the non-printed data was on the
right-hand end of the card. What you are saying seems logical to me and I
could read the cards alphabetical info but there was some I couldn't
decode. Could additional data have been referenced by number ?.
ISTR that when the additional data was printed it was sometimes
difficult to read because of the punched holes it printed over.
Maybe my mind made it up .
ciao larry
lwalker(a)interlog.com
I don't
remember any of these machines also able to print info on the cards,
which would stand to reason since all of them had data which wouldn't fit in
the top space. For that we used the interpreter wired to print the
identifying data.
How'd you accomplish that? I never managed to get more than 80 characters
onto a card, and the top edge of the card had plenty of room for that many.
The punch I used was an 029-clone (I'm not sure of the vendor), and I'm
fairly certain that it printed all the columns that it punched.
30 Mar
30 Mar
5:24 a.m.
At 08:34 AM 3/30/99 -0800, you wrote:
#026 and #029 keypunches, nor the punch outputs of most
computers, did
NOT print anything on the card. There also existed interpreters, both as
hefty stand-alone, and in #029 housings, that would READ the punches on
the card and print the info on the card, so that it would be readable by
lusers who didn't know how to read punches.
The #029 version printed 80 columns, aligned with the punches (although
there was a LITTLE bit of suppression, etc. available through drum card
programming.)
All of the 029 units I've worked with had builtin print units and the print
was exactly lined up with the punched column. The print could be disabled
via a drum card as you mention but I have never seen the stand alone units
you are talking about.
Regards,
Bob
9403
days inactive
9405
days old
16 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
bwit＠ticnet.com -
cfandt＠netsync.net -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
dastar＠ncal.verio.com -
dpeschel＠u.washington.edu -
eric＠brouhaha.com -
gene＠ehrich.com -
jimw＠agora.rdrop.com -
jpl15＠netcom.com -
lwalker＠mail.interlog.com