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Some may find this interesting. It was something I sent to another list (for computer professionals). Subject: Les's History of the Internet I enjoyed reading Les's history of the internet - http://www.stanford.edu/~learnest/net.htm - and hope you do fill in the gaps. I have vague memories of some events leading up to the internet and the technology. I was a cryptologist in the late 50's at the White House and later in the War Room at the Pentagon and we had computers (very big ones) and they used vacumn tubes (adders and [diode] multipliers), which had to be changed constantly; in fact it was a full time job for a few techs. In cryptology in the late 50's and early 60's we were still using the KY1 and KO6 primarily, which relied on mechanical wheel devices and cards. My uncle at Aberdeen Proving Grounds was using leading edge computers however to improve munitions for the army. He was a physicist there and I had the privilege of visiting his lab. I believe the army got the very first computer developed for the defense department, at Aberdeen, and my uncle used it for his work. Since I was a ham since high school and had more knowledge of radio I was kind of the resident expert in the alternative White House and used all the new multiplexing technology at the time, but still no computers. That came in the early 80's (probably the late 70's also), when as a member of Army MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System), I used a Commodore 2001 with packet data transmission for radio-teletype. In the 80's I enrolled at Durham Tech in Durham, N.C. to take courses in programming (mostly COBOL), joined ACM, and learned about the new internet and became a participant/user. Thanks for your history. I wrote a little about it in my bio at http://pnews.org/bio, although my memory often fails me, and I probably got some things wrong, including dates; but that was a long time ago. Hank Roth http://pnews.org/ Originator and Founder of PNEWS-L (oldest progressive list on the internet for "progressive" news and views - since 1982 and before that on ham radio -- PNEWS-L is a LISTSERV(tm) list at ST Johns University) ADDENDEM I mentioned I worked in the War Room at the Pentagon. There were probably a couple of "war rooms" but the one I worked in was for the Chiefs of Staff (both at the Pentagon in Va, and the alternative Pentagon in Md.). I was assigned to JCS and the computer system Les talks about in a subsequent article (http://www.stanford.edu/~learnest/e2a.html) was the one I was referencing, in my previous comments, with all the tubes. It was part of the Command and Control structure and the "voice" security crypto room was attached to it (in a separate secure area), which is where I spent most of my time (with my KO6 equipment and my sawed off shotgun). Hank http://pnews.org/ --- / o o \ ===OO=====OO================================================= http://g0lem.net/PhpWiki/ (NewsWiki) - http://pnews.org/ (Home) http://pnews.org/vortal/ (Portal) Myth Busters/Mid-East http://g0lem.net/vortal/ (Portal) Insane Planet/Progressive http://g0lem.net/portal/ (Portal) Bad-Ass Truth/Economics http://pnews.org/portal/ (Portal) Naked Truth/Propaganda http://pnews.org/signup.shtml - (pnews-l) info // sub/unsub -(oldest progressive internet list - since 1982)- ============================================================= \_/ \_/
