I KNEW that would get a response. :) Mike > On 04/26/2021 8:37 PM SteveL <lawr...@woh.rr.com> wrote: > > > Sorry, > We are wading through and reminiscing about our early engineering training in > the 1960’s and into the 1970’s… > > The CRC? A thick book of tables of computed values. If you wanted to know > the sine of some value? You could look it up. The same for logarithm, root, > other trig functions, and so forth. The book was simply hundreds of pages of > math function tables. > > A PDP-8 (or 11 or…) were early commercial computers produced by Digital > Equipment Corporation (DEC). Design was based on simple IC gates of various > types - no microprocessors yet. Core memory was based on tiny magnetic beads > threaded through with sensing and magnetizing wires. > > Disk drives were new in the 60’s and very expensive. A drive the size of a > top loading washing machine only held 300MB in the late 70’s. As such, > storage like punch cards, punched paper tape, and magnetic tape was widely > used. DEC even had a random access tape drive (DEC Tape) that increased > utility and speed. > > FORTRAN was an early algorithmic programming language that supported equation > like statements. It was well suited for math problems - not general data > oriented. Your program was written on paper cards punched with holes whose > pattern represented letters and numbers. A typewriter like “card punch” > facilitated creating these cards. Cards were read into the computer when you > wanted to run the program. Program storage was a box you carried your card > deck around in. It all seems so primitive now! > > I could not afford the HP35 - my first calculator was a TI (Texas > Instruments) SR-10. This was 4 functions plus square, square root, and > reciprocals. So I carried around the CRC and slide rule as well. This was > replaced by an SR-51 which had full trig functions. This was the closest we > could imagine as a “personal computer”. > > My station? Heathkit HR10b receiver and Ameco AC-1. Novice call signs all > included “N” as the second letter. Frequency was crystal controlled. > > Steve > aa8af > and once upon a time WN8CYL (which I now wish I could have retained somehow) > > > > > On Apr 26, 2021, at 5:12 PM, MIKE ZANE <n...@comcast.net> wrote: > > > > What the heck are all those things you guys are talking about? Mike n6zw > >> On 04/26/2021 11:18 AM Bill Frantz <fra...@pwpconsult.com > >> <mailto:fra...@pwpconsult.com>> wrote: > >> > >> > >> OK, I can't resist any longer. > >> > >> On 4/26/21 at 11:33 AM, lawr...@woh.rr.com (SteveL) wrote: > >> > >>> Who carried around a CRC book of tables of various calculations in lieu > >>> of an unaffordable scientific calculator? > >> Yup. > >> > >>> Or programming FORTRAN on punch cards? > >> Yup. At first on a IBM 650 with a 4 pass compiler, intermediate > >> storage on punch cards. > >> > >>> Or PDP-8 on paper tape after toggling in the boot loader through the > >>> front panel switches? > >> Sorry, mine was a Varian 620/i (8K of 16 bit words) used for > >> nodes in a circuit switched data network (Tymnet). :-) > >> > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to n...@comcast.net ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
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