Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/12/07

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Subject: [Leica] PDPs, Vax and number crunchers
From: douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp)
Date: Wed Dec 7 12:08:53 2005
References: <4cfa589b0512061848r48df2e54y474875a86faaffac@mail.gmail.com> <NEBBJDFBIKOBILIKPPBNIEDKDDAB.red735i@earthlink.net> <6.1.0.6.2.20051206223923.061a3d90@192.168.100.42>

Ho!, history lessons - takes me back a while, really nostalgic
we ran CDC 3000 series, moved on to 6600, and had a pile of PDP-11s and 
later VAXs for small stuff, then a Cyber (780?)and, before they closed 
us down, one of the first Cray XMPs.

The PDPs were the only machines that would still run in a container in a 
damp field in Holland without a cooling system, tough machines.

My computer life started with punched tapes and cards, often the rubber 
band holding the card deck together snapped on the way to the input 
room, (wasn't it just fun resorting them to get your job back together), 
went on through tapes to cartridges and exabytes and even CDs - now the 
whole geophysical stuff is done on clusters, as much number crunching 
capacity as the Cray but about the size of the old tape drive cabinets 
we used on the PDPs. An ex-colleague now has the Cray gracing his party 
cellar - it always did look like a piece of modern furniture anyway.

Douglas


Richard wrote:

> You have punch tapes? How advanced! We only program in 1s and 0s, and 
> sometimes we run out of 1s!!!
>
> At 06:55 PM 12/6/2005, you wrote:
>
>> Youngster....PDP-8.  Rocker switches for the BIOS, Punch tape for the
>> program.
>>
>> Frank Filippone
>> red735i@earthlink.net
>>
>> Ah for the joys of PDP-11
>> assembler!
>>
>> adam
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
> // richard (This email is for mailing lists. To reach me directly, 
> please use richard at imagecraft.com)
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>

Replies: Reply from red735i at earthlink.net (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] PDPs, Vax and number crunchers)
Reply from pdzwig at summaventures.com (Peter Dzwig) ([Leica] PDPs, Vax and number crunchers)
Reply from shino at panix.com (Rei Shinozuka) ([Leica] PDPs, Vax and number crunchers)
In reply to: Message from abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge) ([Leica] Re: [LRflex] Digital Leica "M")
Message from red735i at earthlink.net (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] Re: [LRflex] Digital Leica "M")
Message from richard-lists at imagecraft.com (Richard) ([Leica] Re: [LRflex] Digital Leica "M")