Just a couple added memories. Punched cards were my first experience with "copy/paste" - there was a "duplicate card" key on the card machine which would create a duplicate of the card you queued up in the input slot. Of course you could also cut/paste just by moving the card :-).
Above the card reader at the computing center there was a very colorful "beware the rubber bandito" sign to remind you to remove the rubber band from your card deck :-) I also remember the transition from 300 baud modems to 1200 baud modems than made a full screen editor usable vs. the line editor that we used with 300 baud modems. I wonder if any FORTRAN programmers out there remember the trick of putting line numbers after column 72 so the card sort could sort your program back into order when you dropped your card deck? Finally I'll never get back the three days I spent finding the zero I had mistakenly put in place of the letter O in my JCL at the front of the card deck. Good times... On Sun, Apr 3, 2016 at 10:31 PM, Dave Anderson <d...@daveanderson.com> wrote: > On Mon, 4 Apr 2016, ropers wrote: > > On 4 April 2016 at 02:06, Adam Thompson <athom...@athompso.net> wrote: >> >> On 2016-04-01 11:07, ropers wrote: >>> >>> And if anyone has ever operated the OpenBSD installer via a teleprinter, >>>> I want to hear that story. >>>> >>>> >>> I think there's still a first-generation TI Silent 700 somewhere in my >>> parents' basement. If, when they either die and/or move out to a >>> seniors' >>> residence prior to that certain event, I should run across it, and I can >>> find a compatible telephone (acoustic handset coupler, remember!), and >>> can >>> find a compatible 300bps modem to dial into, and can find an >>> honest-to-god >>> POTS phone line (I expect this to be the hardest part) and can find a >>> compatible system with a serial console that can be stepped down to >>> 300bps, >>> and the thermal paper is still viable, I'll do a fresh install just so I >>> can mail you the ~3-4m of thermal paper I suspect that would generate. >>> Would that be close enough for you? :-) >>> >>> >> YES! I'd be extremely honoured to receive something like that. But, I >> think >> there are probably more worthy recipients. Computer museums, even. >> >> >> (Actually, it just occurred to me that I don't need the phone line as long >>> as I can also find the old PENRIL modem that can start training on a >>> front-panel button-press instead of a -90v ring signal. Or maybe the >>> local >>> museum will have a 300bps acoustic-coupler modem I can borrow?) >>> >>> >> Wikipedia currently says that at least some Silent 700s could be locally >> connected: >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_700 >> Of course, that technically sort of takes away the tele- part from the >> teleprinter (which is not to say that the device was now just a printer), >> but I definitely think that an install to a locally attached teleprinter >> counts. The key here is that it's monitorless, so not a glass terminal; >> the >> paper is the only place where you get to see output. >> > > I love it, btw., that the Wikipedia article speaks of "the new high-speed >> interactive computing environment" -- at 1200 baud. :) >> > > That was advanced stuff. I remember how pleased we were when we upgraded > to blazingly fast 300 baud 'glass teletypes' from 110 baud KSR35 teletypes. > > Dave > > > Those were days when actual interactive use of a computer was not unlike >> getting telescope time at a major observatory -- and before time-sharing >> allowed concurrent multi-user access, it must have been almost exactly >> alike. >> Like Woz said in the Youtube video I linked: "Your use on these company >> computers, it was so far above us in value." >> >> >> I vaguely recall once doing an OpenBSD install where the "console" path >>> was: >>> Local VT220 -> multiplexer -> modem -> DATAPAC 3101 (Canadian X.25 >>> service) PAD -> remote PAD -> remote dial-out service -> another modem -> >>> another multiplexer -> serial line into, IIRC, ttyA on a Sun system I was >>> helping someone repurpose. The entire install completed successfully >>> off a >>> network boot in about an hour at 2400bps (*and* simultaneously 2400baud, >>> all you pedants out there...). >>> >>> >> Wow. >> >> > -- > Dave Anderson > <d...@daveanderson.com>
