Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Apple, Android, and watches...Oh my!

[Stephen Sherman (stephensherman44]

Did you ever come a across (I think ) a Data Cell, it was strips of mag tape, a mechanical hand would select the a strip and would spool it on a drum that would read/write it, then put it back.

The first Mainframe, was NCR (Not Currently Running ) Century 200. Had 32k of memory in 2 refrigerator size units.

Next we got a NCR Criterion the most memorable thing with that the disk drives ( the LAP plugs (address for the drives) we occasionally had to move the IPL disk and the lap plug because if failed to load.

We told NCR and their solution was to just keep moving the Disk and Lap plug, ONE Day there were no more drives and we could not IPL. Turned out NCR used Mechanical indexes for locating the tracks and the

little gear was worn out is the system region.

Back to the Century 200 on some weekend we let NCR use our site. Every so often after the weekend we had head crashes that cost us DATA.

Turned out there was tech from NCR was the problem. He knew that it was very important the disks were clean so before he would mount the disk he would remove the inter locking cover from the drive and use his

HANDKERCHIEF to clean the platters.

Neat3 was the assembler language on NCR.

The first IBM machine we had was a 370. The Data Cell I mentioned was at the state and they had IBM 360 that was in 1972.

Stephen  

On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 10:56 PM, Rick Moseley <ramosel [at] pacbell.net> wrote:

I'll date myself here...   The first systems I worked on we're IBM system 360s... with tape drives, disc packs, bus & tag cables.   First systems I programmed for were Data General Novas.  Originally they were programmed with switches on the front console... Then we got paper tape readers...  in the late 70s we had something comparable to a ladies' train case with a cassette tape reader inside! Woohoo!   Then I went off to Canoe U, flew jets for Uncle Sam and then went back into computers for some stupid reason...  Oh yeah, family. 

On Mar 10, 2015, at 5:23 PM, Stephen Sherman <stephensherman44 [at] gmail.com> wrote:

To call what I programmed assembler was to give it too much credit. I was the assembler,  there were for the basic functions (+,-, /, * plus a few more which I can't remember ) most of what I did flip bits on and off with switches.

There were a couple of challenges first of those was the moving data around you had to move what I visualized the top half of the byte and then the bottom half and the branches ( to sub routines had to unique ( could not be created by the data)) as the command would start where ever it was in memory and test every byte until it got a match and if it was in the data you were screwed.

The 720C had a cassette program drive, 2 cassette data drives, a teletype (paper tape reader) and teletype ( paper tape writer ) and IBM Selectric typewriter for a printer.

The data entry program used the program drive and 1 of the data drives as a program drive ( as the program could not be rewound by program control as the data drives could. Punched paper tape was the output.

One the simplest problems ( to me ) was the company had 2 distinct systems so I got International Orange and fluorescent green Labels to identify each company.

Not so, got a call from the accountant he had got the tapes messed up.  Turned out he was/is color blind and both colors look like the same shade of gray, so simple Black for one and White for the other.

Stephen 

 

On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 4:39 PM, Rick Moseley <ramosel [at] pacbell.net> wrote:

Yeah, but those 1982 bytes cost someone a big chunk of money!!!

On Mar 10, 2015, at 2:35 PM, Stephen Sherman <stephensherman44 [at] gmail.com> wrote:

My 1st programming ( paid ) job was in 1973 on a Wang 720C. It was the best work I have ever done. 1982 bytes not K, meg, Gig, just BYTES. Full payroll, job cost accounting, was the most rewarding.

Stephen

On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 10:24 AM, Rick Lindsay <richardolindsay [at] gmail.com> wrote:

I must admit, the only thing prettier than Apple products is the boxes that they come in!

I recently bought a notebook for Nancy; a Dell something-or-other. It came with Windows 8. What a cock-up abortion of an operating system!!! Gawd its terrible! It really typifies the plight of the PC:

Hobbiest toy > office machine > scientific calculator > gaming platform > entertainment device

I must admit, I'm a Linux guy. Was using it professionally as early as 1994! Granted, the latest implementations are candied-up quite a bit, but command line is still strong. I can't even find a command prompt on Nancy's W8 machine, not that I really want to...

Of course, this is the direction of progress. Games and entertainment built the personal computer market, just like porn built the internet; as much as we don't want to believe it. My next quest is to see if Windows 7 is compatible with Nancy's new Dell. If so, the question is whether to go back or wait for MS to replace this Vista-like release with something workable.

Wait! This is the Ferrari list, not the computer list. Sorry. Did I tell you that my cat died?

-rick

Happy Connecting. Sent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy S® 5

-------- Original message --------
From: Stephen Sherman <stephensherman44 [at] gmail.com>
Date: 03/10/2015 9:57 AM (GMT-06:00)
To: Rick Lindsay <richardolindsay [at] gmail.com>
Cc: The FerrariList <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Apple, Android, and watches...Oh my!

I guess I will admit that I am getting an Apple Watch ( Black Stainless Steel 42mm Milanese band).

I don't have an IV Apple drip, I just like the watch.

I don't have any Mac's (build my own PC's) I prefer Woz's approach rather than Job's.

I will admit to being a past president of an Apple users group, back in the day when you could buy a blank card from Apple.

Stephen

On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 9:16 AM, Rick Lindsay <richardolindsay [at] gmail.com> wrote:

Erik wrote...

> What?  No comments?  Guess the list is just waiting for a good cat and gun...

I'm just not a Apple person. Never have been. Just not my religion. That said, and with the manufacturer ignored, a wrist worn computer is a pretty cool idea. No more rectangle imprints on women's butts, no more '80s-pocket-calculater-like holsters hanging from guys' belts. Not bad. Of course, it won't help the millenials who have to carry a movie screen around with them 24/7...but nothing says they can't have both!

Sorry, Ferrari content: My cat died a couple of years ago, and I have an IR thermometer and a timing light, both of which are gun-shaped. 

-rick

 Samsung Galaxy S® 5, but I'm not an Android guy either.

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