In the 1950s the SWAC computer had many kinds of songs. The audio played thru a speaker that was coupled to various kinds of instruction (e.g. ADD). There were sounds characteristic of programs that gave clues when a program misbehaved.
When the 1401 came in we wrote songs for the printer. -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Warner Mach Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 12:00 PM To: [email protected] Subject: 1401 & Music In the November issue of 'Wired' magazine (pg 92) there is a short note titled, 'Composer Plays the Big Blues' ... Tells of composer Johann Johannsson from Iceland, whose father worked for IBM on the 1401. His father performed the popular hack of getting music out of the machine by placing a radio in the appropriate location to emit music according to the programming. . So, based on recordings taken in 1971, when the machine was decommissioned, he composed a 'requiem' titled, 'IBM 1401, A User's Manual' ... I ordered it from Amazon and got a kick out of it. In addition to sounds from the radio it features the voice "... of an unknown instructor from an IBM Data Processing System maintenance instruction tape". . The movements are: (1) IBM 1401 Processor Unit (2) IBM 1403 Printer (3) IBM 1402 Card Read-Punch (4) IBM 729 II Magnetic Tape Unit (5) The Sun's Gone Dim and the Sky's Turned Black ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
