Klarinet Archive - Posting 000048.txt from 2012/02

From: "Ray Whitmore" <ray@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] IBM 1620
Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:36:01 -0500

In addition to the DEC PDP-8s, we also had a DEC PDP-6 which took up a whole
room. It calculated slower than the modern desktop PC. We also had to toggle
in a bootstrap program that then loaded the operating system from DecTape,
DEC's proprietary small tape system.

The best part was turning on the power of this behemoth with a small toggle
switch on the front panel. There was a deafening "thunk" and all the lights
dimmed in the lab for about 10 seconds while all the large disk drives came
up to speed. The power of a micro-switch.

Ray S Whitmore
Senior Application Engineer
COmputer COnsulting Associates
A member of the Datamat Group
730 Hebron Avenue
PO Box 342
Glastonbury, CT 06033
860.657.2210
ray@-----.com
www.datamat.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Gentry [mailto:peter.gentry@-----.uk]
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012 12:15 PM
To: 'The Klarinet Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [kl] IBM 1620

Lucky you I had to use toggle switches on a DEC Mini-Computer to load the
bootstrap program (think BIOS) before being able to load a paper tape
containing the compiler (a poor mans Fortran) before you even got around to
a program (or programme as my boss would
insist!)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith Bowen [mailto:keith.bowen@-----.com]
> Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012 3:58 PM
> To: 'The Klarinet Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [kl] IBM 1620
>
> Agreed Oliver. I too used to be able to read paper tape (in my case 8
> hole) without bothering to run it through a printer! Punch cards ...
> thought I'd died and gone to heaven!
>
> Keith
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Oliver Seely [mailto:oseely@-----.com]
> Sent: 02 February 2012 15:57
> To: klarinet list
> Subject: Re: [kl] IBM 1620
>
>
> Oh yeah? How about the vacuum tube ILLIAC I where I had to punch
> programs on 9-track paper tape in one room and feed them through the
> reader in another, with a tech standing at the other corner to catch
> and wrap the program tape as it shot out of the reader. And how the
> filament voltage was set at 70% of normal during the day but raised to
> 100% after 5pm when a utility was run to locate all of the bad tubes.
>
> You guys are kids! 8-)
>
> Oliver
>
> > Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2012 08:23:05 -0500
> > To: klarinet@-----.com
> > From: gkidder@-----.org
> > Subject: [kl] IBM 1620
> >
> > My goodness, yourself! That sure does take me back. I first
> > started into
>
> > computers at the old Biophysics Laboratory at Harvard Med. School as
> > a young post-doc in (I think) 1963, and remember that beast well.
> >
> > For the benefit of those who missed this experience: To write a
> > program, you first cut a bunch of key-punch cards, and loaded them
> > into the card reader along with the first-pass compiler. This
> > produced a stack of intermediate cards, which were loaded into the
> > reader along with the second-stage compiler deck. Then, and only
> > then, would it cough and say "mixed mode", a common error caused
> > (simplified version) by using a variable name beginning with i, j,
> > k, l, m, or n for a real (as opposed to
>
> > an integer) number. Or vice-versa. The amount of hard language
> > this produced had to be experienced!
> >
> > I don't remember using Leeson's material, but it's been a long time now.
> I
> > never stopped using computers as aids to my work, but it sure got
> > easier and cheaper.
> >
> > George
> >
> >
> >
> > At 06:46 PM 2/1/2012, you wrote:
> > >My goodness. How did you ever get hold of that film? I was the
> > >producer and it was made for the 25th anniversary of the
> > >introduction of FORTRAN somewhere around 1980. If anything can be
> > >credited for bringing about the beginning of the computer
> > >revolution, it was FORTRAN. I don't know if anyone uses it today,
> > >but it was a cash cow in the 1950s, 60s, and early 70s, and without
> > >it, the introduction of large scale computers (which led Jobs to
> > >the personal computers) would have been delayed enormously.
> > >
> > >Dan Leeson
> > >email: dnleeson@-----.net
> > >alternate email: leesondaniel899@-----.net
> > >
> > >
> > >-----Original Message-----
> > >From: Mark Charette [mailto:charette@-----.org]
> > >
> > >Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2012 1:23 PM
> > >To: The Klarinet Mailing List
> > >Subject: Re: [kl] Saying goodbye
> > >
> > >I never met Dan, yet I had read some of his early work ...
> > >
> > >Basic programming concepts and the IBM 1620 computer
> > >
> > >and seen his movie
> > >
> > >http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/FORTR
> > >AN/video/FORTRAN-1982.wmv
> > >
> > >way before I knew he was interested in clarinets.
> > >
> > >Software programming, movies, and the clarinet.
> > >
> > >What a guy!
> > >
> > >Mark C.
> > >_______________________________________________
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> > >Klarinet@-----.com
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> > >to:
> > >http://klarinet-list.serve-music.com
> > >
> > >_______________________________________________
> > >Klarinet mailing list
> > >Klarinet@-----.com
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> > >http://klarinet-list.serve-music.com
> >
> >
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