After I read the quoted text, I kept thinking that the system 3 had 2 rows
of 45 columns. I finally remembered that what I was thinking of was the
Univac punched card. It was the same size as an 80 column card, but had 2
rows of 45 columns, and the holes in the card were round.
My first job as a computer operator we had a 360 Mod 40 computer, but before
I started they had a Univac computer. A while after I had started, we had a
job that took all weekend loading tubfiles of these old Univac cards to
disk. There was a special modification to the 2540 reader/punch to be able
to read the 90 column cards. These were cards that spent time in the shop,
so besides being very old, they had lots of hair and paper clips in them.
Lots of card jams. At least we didn't have to sort them. The cards that
got jammed were repunched into 80 column cards by keypunch.
By the way, for the 96 column card, did each row go from left to right, or
on one row did the columns go from right to left? I was just thinking that
when you punched a 96 column card in a keypunch, it would be easier to move
the card left to right for the first row, and then back up for the 2nd row,
etc.
Eric Bielefeld
Sr. Systems Programmer
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
414-475-7434
----- Original Message -----
From: "Field, Alan C." <[email protected]>
The 96 column card was actually 3 rows of 32, almost a square card. Tiny
round holes. I used them on a System/3 in the early 70sm.
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