Yes, the 1620 was a decimal machine. Word oriented. We started with machine
language, then assembler, then the big move to Fortran II, then the huge
5mg hard drive which eliminated having to create object code on punched
cards and resubmitting then to the linker/loader. I believe if you wanted
printed output, you created that output on punched cards and brought them
over to a standalone printer which printed card images
It was the good old days! But not as good and not as old as what you
describe!
David
----- Original Message -----
From: Joe S. Warren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: *List Linux-Newbie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2000 5:26 AM
Subject: Re: [newbie] Linux resources online
> If memory serves me, the 1620 was a decimal machine that didn't have an
> arithmetic unit, add and multiply was performed by trap routines using
> table look-up. My first binary machine was an IBM 7094 w/ 32K of 36-bit
> words, 4 256/512 bpi tape drives, a 300 card/minute card reader and a
> 300 lpm line printer (no disk). In '64 we upgraded to dual CDC 3600s
> with 32K of 48-bit words each and 32K words of shared memory, 8 tape
> drives each, 1200 lpm printers and 1200 cpm card readers; still no
> disks. These were the Eastern Missle Test Range's Range Safety
> Instantaneous Impact Point computers and there were 2 so that the range
> was "Man Rated," supposedly everything had a backup. All s/w was
> assembly language because it took 4 u-sec to do a floating point add. I
> remember modifying the arithmetic sub-pack used to calculate trig
> functions and logs to remove all error returns; these were realtime
> routines and if you stopped, you knew you were wrong, if you just got a
> wrong answer, you might still be right on the next computation cycle 100
> ms later. I didn't learn a compiler language (Fortran-77) until 1980.
>
> Joe
> davidturetsky wrote:
> >
> > Gee, what memories you bring back!
> >
> > I learned FORTRAN II on an IBM 1620 Model 1 (no disk drive) at NYU in
the
> > mid-60s, subsequently upgraded to a Model II with a 5meg drive. I then
went
> > on to do a lot of programming on an 1130
> >
> > In 1971 I went to work for a company which made a microprogrammable
> > replacement for the IBM 1130 which was much faster. Somehow in IBM's
master
> > plan, the 1130 had too good a price/performance ratio to improve it
further
> > since that would put it in competition with models like the 360/44
> >
> > David
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Jim Reimer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Cc: *List Linux-Newbie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Sent: Sunday, August 06, 2000 6:05 PM
> > Subject: Re: [newbie] Linux resources online
> >
> > > I was using a 1620 in 1970, and it was transistorized, not tubes. Had
a
> > > 5-meg disk drive (14 inch variety, stacked platters) and punched
cards.
> > > "High speed" output was to punched cards, and if you wanted something
you
> > > could read, you had to run the cards through an accounting machine.
The
> > > really hot computer at the time was the IBM 1130 (unless you had
access to
> > > one of the 360 variants). The 1130 had assembler, FORTRAN, COBOL, and
> > RPG.
> > >
> > > Also had the privelege (?) of using an RCA 301, which had 4k of core
> > memory,
> > > six vacuum-column tape drives, and a 900-line/minute printer at about
the
> > > same time. The only thing available on it was assembler.
> > >
> > > Sure punched a lot of cards on 026 keypunch machines back then. :-)
> > >
> > > -jdr-
> > >
> > >
> > > Renaud OLGIATI wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I remember working on a machine with 4 k memory; but this was a
> > main-frame
> > > > (IBM 1620) using vacum tubes; input and output by punched cards, and
> > > > running Fortran II;
> > > > Must have been in '68 or '69.
> > > >
> > > > This was the "obsolete" machine us students were allowed to play
with;
> > for
> > > > serious computing, there was another mainframe, with a hard disk of,
> > IIRC,
> > > > 4 Mb capacity; memory was 96 kb, raised to 128 kb around 1970.
> > > >
> > > > And we were told we were priviledged, because our university had one
of
> > the
> > > > most powerful computers in the education system at the time !
> > > >
> > > > Cheers,
> > > >
> > > > Ron the Frog, getting old on the banks of the Paraguay River.
> > > >
> > > > > Anybody else on this list old enough to remember when the "suits"
> > > > > didn't run things, and games/software were ported to every single
> > > > > platform, just because they could/it was neat? Circa '80's with
> > > > > names like Tandy, Atari, Amiga, etc, etc,... ;-)
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > /\
> > > > >
Dark><Lord
> > > > > \/
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > >
> > > > Any sufficiently advanced technology
> > > > is indistinguishable from magic.
> > > > -- Arthur C. Clarke
> > > >
> > > > --- http://personales.conexion.com.py/~rolgiati ---
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > -
> > >
> > > -
> > > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe
linux-newbie" in
> > > the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
> >
> > -
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>
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