[Tfug] Punched cards and paper tape.

Malcolm Schmerl mjs355 at comcast.net
Tue Jan 18 21:05:55 MST 2011


Thought I'd put in my two cents. In '64, I went to work for lockheed 
Missiles and Space Co. in Sunnyvale, Calif. I worked in a team of 40 
engineers known as Loads and Dynamics Analysis. I was the only one with 
any computer skills at all which resulted from a two unit FORTRAN course 
I'd taken at Purdue University. My main job was to maintain and execute 
a a FORTRAN program that modeled the launch of a Polaris missile from a 
submarine and calculated the shear forces as the missile exited the 
launch tube for specific roll, pitch and yaw motions of the submarine 
and wave conditions as well as arming configuration of the missile. The 
program was some 5,000 lines of code all on punch cards. When one of the 
engineers wanted to see results for certain conditions, I'd type up some 
data cards, properly place that data at the end of the two and a half 
boxes of cards, put the boxes on a cart, wheel that cart down the hall 
and hand them through a window to a computer tech. The next day, I'd 
return to pick up the output. The computer was a Univac 1107, said to be 
one of the most advanced machines at that time. It was housed in what 
I'd imagine was a 10,000 sq. ft. room that was substantially air 
conditioned. Amazing that I now have thousands of times as much 
computing power at my finger tips and it all sits on my lap.

On 01/18/2011 08:20 PM, keith smith wrote:
> How much did the Altair cost and what did you pay for your house in 1974?
>
>
> ------------------------
> Keith Smith
>
> --- On *Tue, 1/18/11, TR /<trexx at pobox.com>/* wrote:
>
>
>     From: TR <trexx at pobox.com>
>     Subject: Re: [Tfug] Punched cards and paper tape.
>     To: "Tucson Free Unix Group" <tfug at tfug.org>
>     Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 8:13 PM
>
>     In '69 I did not work on IBM iron, but I designed and built and
>     simple Half-Adder
>     <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adder_%28electronics%29> that I made
>     in to a calculator and then with point to point wiring made a
>     computer of sorts.  Building various Popular Electronic projects
>     until building an Altair around 74.  even had an article in
>     Pop-Elect around that time, can't remember what is was,  a simple
>     light controller
>
>     TR
>
>     On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 7:50 PM, Ed Wilson <debed at debed.com
>     </mc/compose?to=debed at debed.com>> wrote:
>
>         OK, who among this list learned how to wire/program a IBM 407
>         accounting machine? Or a 557 card reproducer (I think it was a
>         557, may be 559 too many years ago). That was a lot of fun!! J
>
>         Ed
>
>         ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>         *From:*tfug-bounces at tfug.org
>         </mc/compose?to=tfug-bounces at tfug.org>
>         [mailto:tfug-bounces at tfug.org
>         </mc/compose?to=tfug-bounces at tfug.org>] *On Behalf Of *keith smith
>         *Sent:* Tuesday, January 18, 2011 7:39 PM
>
>         *To:* Tucson Free Unix Group
>         *Subject:* Re: [Tfug] Punched cards and paper tape.
>
>
>         You just pulled in the entire list.
>
>         ------------------------
>         Keith Smith
>
>         --- On *Tue, 1/18/11, Ed Wilson /<debed at debed.com
>         </mc/compose?to=debed at debed.com>>/* wrote:
>
>
>         From: Ed Wilson <debed at debed.com </mc/compose?to=debed at debed.com>>
>         Subject: Re: [Tfug] Punched cards and paper tape.
>         To: angussf at geoapps.com </mc/compose?to=angussf at geoapps.com>,
>         "'Tucson Free Unix Group'" <tfug at tfug.org
>         </mc/compose?to=tfug at tfug.org>>
>         Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 7:35 PM
>
>         So which of you folks had a Commodore 64?
>
>         Ed
>
>         -----Original Message-----
>         From: tfug-bounces at tfug.org
>         <http://mc/compose?to=tfug-bounces@tfug.org>
>         [mailto:tfug-bounces at tfug.org
>         <http://mc/compose?to=tfug-bounces@tfug.org>] On Behalf Of
>         Angus Scott-Fleming
>         Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2011 7:20 PM
>         To: Tucson Free Unix Group
>         Subject: Re: [Tfug] Punched cards and paper tape.
>
>         On 18 Jan 2011 at 15:57, Jim Secan  wrote:
>
>         > UA still on punch cards by 73-74?
>
>         Long after that, I did some statistics at the UA using
>         punch-cards, and I
>         think
>         that was in '78 or '79.
>
>         > Although, I was still feeding punch cards to an IBM 360 at
>         UCLA in the
>         > mid-1970s (still have some of those decks, too).
>
>         Finally parted with mine a few years ago. [sigh].
>
>         --
>         Angus Scott-Fleming
>         GeoApps, Tucson, Arizona
>         1-520-290-5038
>         Security Blog: http://geoapps.com/
>
>
>
>
>
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