Shopsmith Forums

robinson46176 wrote:Timex-Sinclair

I have one of these in the original box. It's the only one I kept out of the many computers I had over the years.

JPG40504 wrote:And the 'manuals' for early(pre 3.x) Dos included technical reference info as to how dos and the hardware communicated. Each succeeding version of Dos became more 'of a secret'.

I have an IBM PCDOS 3.x manual with disks sitting on my book shelf. I also have I copy of IBM PCDOS 2000.

There are people that still use DOS. Yes you can surf the internet with it.

Dark ages indeed! My first use of computers was with and IBM 360 in college. I was taking a differential equations class, ( Tough enough to begin with) and we had to learn to program enough to build the matrix solutions to these. You had to write the program, type it onto cards, feed the cards and then correct any errors. Then you tried again. I was "functional" at the programming, but my typing was horrible. The compiler would read until it found an error then spit the whole thing out. I finally gave up trying to type my own and hired a lady in the computer office to do it. A stack of cards wrapped in a rubber band could be a problem if you dropped them.( NOT THEORY) FORTRAN IV was a good introduction to how things worked inside a computer, and helpful later teaching Basic, but as I said, the newer machines and software serve me just fine.

dlbristol wrote:Dark ages indeed! My first use of computers was with and IBM 360 in college. I was taking a differential equations class, ( Tough enough to begin with) and we had to learn to program enough to build the matrix solutions to these. You had to write the program, type it onto cards, feed the cards and then correct any errors. Then you tried again. I was "functional" at the programming, but my typing was horrible. The compiler would read until it found an error then spit the whole thing out. I finally gave up trying to type my own and hired a lady in the computer office to do it. A stack of cards wrapped in a rubber band could be a problem if you dropped them.( NOT THEORY) FORTRAN IV was a good introduction to how things worked inside a computer, and helpful later teaching Basic, but as I said, the newer machines and software serve me just fine.

What! You did not sequence number them??????


360? New generation stuff!

Fortran II was fun compiling on a 1620! Read your cards in, punch card output. Then 'read' the output cards to run. Whole lotta chad creation!;)

I only dropped my punch cards when it was raining and only when there was a pending project dead line. Whenever I did need to repunch cards there was usually two or three card readers out of operation.

The computer room at the university was always a zoo.

My 300 baud modem was a life saver.

[quote="JPG40504"]What! You did not sequence number them??????


360? New generation stuff!

Fortran II was fun compiling on a 1620! Read your cards in, punch card output. Then 'read' the output cards to run. Whole lotta chad creation!]
Ever try compiling COBOL in a 1401?

When I was in college...Fortran was the scientific language; Cobol was the business language; and PL1 was billed as the latest and greatest. Loved every minute of the programming classes. Unfortunately they limited the size of the programs we could write but still a lot of fun. First home computer was a 386 PC. Just played games on that.

[quote="burkhome"]When I was in college...Fortran was the scientific language]

PL1 came along much later. No 'do loops'. No 'goto's. Lotta 'if then else'. Do whiles . . .

IMHO there is nothing wrong with 'goto's. Now multiple 'go back' or leap frogging around leads to much italian pasta!:rolleyes:

When I went to KU I took a fortran/numerical analysis class. It was summer in Kansas, so computer room in Summer Field Hall was nice and cool. 2 summers later it was bombed. The late sixties were turbulent times.

There were no computer science degrees at that time, but the one class was the start of my career. iBM 360 model 30 with 64k and another, the big hummer, a model 40 with 256k. Fortran, P/L 1, And COBOL made up the first 18 years of my career in equal parts. I cussed the computers regularly and enjoyed my jobs throughout.

I got my TRS-80 in 1981, 16k and no disks. I still have it in the basement and it has 48k and a pair of 5 1/4" drives. I eventually got into programming GUI based systems and internet applications. I thought I probably work 6 to 10 month a year in retirement, due to poor economy, it did not happen. I don't know where I would find time for it anyway now!

Peace