Klarinet Archive - Posting 000063.txt from 2012/02

From: "Bill Hausmann" <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] IBM 1620
Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:04:31 -0500

They had one in our family's business when I was a kid. We used to love to
play with it, making it do long division problems just to hear it whirr and
chunk! It probably cost $1000 THEN, but only a few years later a pocket
calculator could duplicate its results faster and quieter, and for about
$50, and later, $5.00.

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Fred [mailto:vze2bsbs@-----.net]
> Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012 2:33 PM
> To: The Klarinet Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [kl] IBM 1620
>
> YUP!
>
> In the 1970's I bought a BIG Friden mechanical calculator (the kind
> with the movable carriage and second smaller keypad to the left of
> the huge main one, and the little windows for the numbers to spin
> by). It weighed a ton but I got it at a mail order surplus house for
> $10 plus $5 shipping. It didn't work 100%, but I dug in and sort of
> got it working. I was awed by the fact that this all mechanical
> machine could multiply and divide. It was NOISY too! I eventually
> stored it at work for a couple of decades. When it was time for me
> to retire, I tried it one more time, but the motor had frozen and it
> was, alas, silent. I think the same thing is going to happen to me.
>
> But anyway, I DID get a Curta type II calculator on eBay that is in
> perfect condition. I am awed by such purely mechanical things. I
> remember in 1960 when I got my first clarinet I was awed by the
> mechanism, and how it affected the different sounds the horn
> made. It was love at first toot. I shall continue tooting
> 'till,alas, I can toot no more.
>
> Fred
>
>
> At 02:30 PM 2/2/2012, you wrote:
> >Frieden calculators anyone?
> >
> >On Feb 2, 2012, at 10:56 AM, Oliver Seely wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > 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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> > >> http://klarinet-list.serve-music.com
> > >
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> >
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>
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