On 12/12/2015 07:22 AM, Mike wrote:
The one question I do have for the older gentlemen on here
is what in the world did the computers without a screen to
look at do? Now I know about the tape, cassette tape's and
even the paper with the hole punches in them but what kind
of applications were they use for? Mathematics or? ? ?
Well, in the 1960's lots of companies ran their payroll,
billing and general ledger on IBM 1401 and similar
machines. IBM sold 12000 of them, and then there were
additional partially compatible machines in the same line
(1410, 1460). Many 1401's were used in the beginning
entirely from cards, or cards and tape, with no disk.
Certainly, some people used them for math problems, as
well. I know our local phone company had a 1401 in their
planning department, and they used it to compile statistical
info telling them what equipment they needed to plan in the
future.
Our University had a 1401 for accounting, and a 7094 for the
rest of the University's needs. Then, in 1969 they upgraded
the 7094 to a 360/50. None of these machines had
"screens". All programming was done on punch cards, most of
the data was prepared on punch cards, although some came on
tape. Then, if you were a user with privileges, you could
get some tiny amount of disk space to hold data for a while.
Sometime later, maybe around 1971 they got some IBM 2741
terminals which were Selectric typewriters connected to an
interface. Later they got some IBM 2260's, which were
Zenith 9" TV sets and a keyboard connected to an interface
box in the machine room. Very primitive, but very
interactive, great for quick program editing and submission.
Jon
