Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/12/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I was at IC 1969. I pretty well missed out on PCs since, before they existed, or I could afford one, I used mainframes and minis. When personal computers were practical and affordable I used a pre-IBM-compatible Hewlett-Packard and an Analog Devices Macsym process control computer (to run our wind tunnel). At that time Microsoft software was well marketed but technically weak (I thought they would go bust...) so when I read that Microsoft got the contract to do the much publicised IBM PC OS I thought it would be technically weak, and I wouldn't get one. Shows how a good corporate lawyer is more important than technical competence in business success... I never did buy a IBM-compatible PC, though worked on many, obviously. Ahh nostalgia is not what it was. cheers, Frank - also catching up from a family tour. On 26 Dec, 2012, at 23:39, John McMaster <john at mcmaster.co.nz> wrote: > Punched cards were still in use at IC Mech Eng in 1982 (the year before I > went there)...... > > John - catching up > >> -----Original Message----- >> >> Hi Piers, >> your software could have been running alongside mine then, since I was at >> IC! >> Your card punching was much more onerous than ours though, at Imperial >> there was a room with half a dozen punch machines we could use (as long as >> there was one free). >> Frank >> >>> >>> 1970-71? >>> >>> Me too, but in my last year at (high) school, taking an elective >>> course. The school had something like 30 minutes each month on the >>> Imperial College mainframe in London, which involved gathering together >>> the punched cards from the class, sending down to London by Royal Mail, >>> receiving back the print out which was then split out to each user. I >>> should clarify that the cards were pre-semi-punched, meaning that the >>> user had to use a pin to push out the chads from each row/column by hand >> to code the desired character. >>> >>> It took a while to do one line of code, even after the time it took to >>> learn the fundamentals of Fortran IV programming! >>> >>> And then it took a while to get the response back from the mainframe. >>> >>> By post. >>> >>> Two ways. >>> >>> (I guess that was half-duplex transmission!). >>> >>> I remember the impatient waiting for the print-out to come back, but my >>> memory of reading it is very clear... >>> >>> XXX SYNTAX ERROR LINE 100 XXX >>> >>> The school later graduated to having its own ICL1900 (if memory serves) >>> on site, long after I had left. Wouldn't have made any difference to my >>> skill-level! >>> >>> Piers >>> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information