Burroughs L-series paper tapes

[Mike Stein]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stan Sieler via cctalk" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2020 4:07 PM
Subject: Re: Burroughs L-series paper tapes


> >
>> Mike Stein writes:
>>   > I remember there was another L9000 rescued in California years ago,
>> but maybe that's the one you have now.
>>
> 
> My consulting company was in Redwood City, CA.  Our nextdoor neighbor had a
> company leasing new cars.  They ran the company on a Burroughs L9000.
> 
> About August of 2000, they were at the point where they could no longer
> obtain ledger cards (roughly 8x11 with a magnetic stripe down the side for
> computer data), for the L9000, so they were going to move to a PC-based
> system.
> The owner knew I was a computer collector, so he offered to give me the
> L9000.
> 
> I was tempted...but it was a large machine, so I arranged for it to be
> given to the Computer History Museum (where I was, or became (timeline
> hazy) a senior docent).
> 
> I remember the owner saying that only the cleverness of their independent
> maintenance guy had kept the machine running ... to the point where he'd
> machined some replacement parts himself.
> 
> I talked to the elderly lady who ran the machine (i.e., did the data
> entry).  She compared it to the PC, and lamented the loss of the L9000.
> The L9000 was so much faster and easier to use!  She could probably enter
> data four or five times faster on the L9000.  It wasn't just a matter of
> familiarity ... much of the slowdown was due to the GUI nature of the PC
> program they switched to, and they no longer had the luxury of having
> relatively purpose-related hardware on the L9000.
> 
> Stan
-------------------------
If you scroll down to the L9000 there are pictures of the rescue I was thinking of, which may well be the system you're talking about and even the lady in question:

http://www.picklesnet.com/burroughs/gallery/bpgltc.htm