On Mon, 2020-12-07 at 11:21 -0800, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote: > On 12/7/20 10:32 AM, Van Snyder via cctalk wrote: > > > The first computer I was paid to write software for didn't require me > > to toggle in a boot loader: The IBM 1401 in 1966. > > > > All I had to do was push the load key on the card reader, or the tape > > load key on the operator console. And it didn't even have a teletype > > console. > > The contemporaneous 1620 had it both ways--one could type in the loader > on the console typewriter (hit the Release key when done) or by pressing > the console LOAD key, could read a record from either card or paper tape > into 00000-00079. On the CADET, one of the first things that most > loaders did was to have a small routine to read in the addition and > multiplication tables. If you're going to do any arithmetic at all, > you'd better have those! >
> --Chuck One of my friends changed the tables in a 1620 to do octal arithmetic, for telemetry processing. Speaking of those tables, do you remember why the 1620 was called CADET? Not because it was a "beginner's" or "novice" computer. It was an acronym for "Can't Add; Doesn't Even Try." The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California has a 1620 that worked for a time. They had a problem with cooling the core memory, which they could probably repair. They didn't get a 1622 card reader/punch, so they connected it to a PC -- which makes the appropriate noises. When Professor Maniotis retired from Purdue University, he gave two 20-drawer card cabinets of 1620 software to CHM. CHM also has two working IBM 1401's. Their cool address is 1401 Shoreline Blvd.
