[Date Prev][Date Next] [Chronological] [Thread] [Top]

(erielack) ibm cards

>Re:(erielack) punch cards
>
>i still have a stack of unused IBM punch cards about 3 inches thick 
>in a desk drawer - started in a bank in buffalo in 1959 - one of our 
>customers was C&O rr which had paychecks that were punched cards- 
>they were a trip, weekly we looked for a guys check that went to a 
>greasy spoon to cash his check, bacon grease and egg all over it - 
>needless to say that check wouldn't go thru any of our machines, 
>anyone remember the cummins card conditioner?? - last time i used 
>punched cards was in 1981, did an application in north carolina 
>where decks of ibm cards were made up to used to test old, obsolute 
>missle systems that went into remanufacture for a middle east 
>country - i still have the forearms developed from those 5200 blocks 
>of the cards - straight computers from 1982 till i retired in 2002 - 
>ralph in syracuse




>----
>
>
> From Archives_@_Railfan.net
>Message-ID: <928480.85146.qm_@_web33805.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
>In-Reply-To: <id.03102008220152.00000_@_FPE>
>Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 19:31:41 -0700 (PDT)
>From: "Gary R. Kazin" <gkazin_@_yahoo.com>
>Subject: Re:(erielack) punch cards
>
>- --- On Fri, 10/3/08, Janet & Randy Brown <jananran_@_mymailstation.com> wrote:
> > I wonder if a spare bedroom would hold a card punch and a
> > reader and a sorter - not to mention the noise and the
> > stress on the framework of the house.  These things were
> > MACHINES!
>
>When I started college in June 1969, the school actually OWNED an 
>IBM 1620 computer, which had its own card reader and punch.  It was 
>about the size of an office desk.  It also had several  off-line 
>card punches, a card SORTER, and a machine that read cards and 
>PRINTED their contents.  The room was half the size of a regular 
>classroom, and it was full.  Over in the corner was a programmable 
>electronic calculator from Wang Labs.  It had one part on the table 
>and another (bigger) underneath.  Together, it weighed about 40 
>pounds.  Most of the machines were noisy, either in themselves or 
>because of their cooling fans.
>
> > Not only did the cards carry the data (as we learned to
> > call "information") but they held the programs as
> > well.  Oh, boy!  The excitement and vocabulary lesson when
> > someone carrying a stack of program cards dropped them!
>
>5200 pick-up, as we called it.  The sorter helped, if you could 
>figure out which columns you wanted sorted and in what order - 
>assuming you'd bothered to number the cards as the instructor had warned.
>
> > And, remember -- not all nor everywhere was punch cards.
>
>Yes, there was paper tape, magnetic tape, and something called 
>magnetic core storage.  The 1620 had something like 10K!
>
> > Many of us spent untold hours shortening #2 Eberhards
> > transcribing deathless "data" onto sheets which
> > were . . . not faxed, but sent by company (Army, in my case)
> > mail to someplace else, where someone else did something
> > else with them (probably putting them on punchcard) while we
> > went back out and did another yard check.
>
>At work, we switched from IBM computers to Control Data, which used 
>a different coding scheme for special characters.  EVERY program had 
>to go through a conversion program, so suddenly we had more than 
>double the cards we had before: the IBM deck to use until the 
>hardware was changed and the CDC deck to use afterward.  If the data 
>got updated, or new info was received, we had to change BOTH...
>
> > The good ol' days . . .
>
>NOT!
>
>Gary R. Kazin
>DL&W Milepost R35.7
>Rockaway, New Jersey
>
>
>
>
>         The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
>         http://EL-List.railfan.net/
>         To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html
>
>------------------------------
>
>End of EL Mail List Digest V3 #2887
>***********************************


RRRRRRR
RR    RR
RR    RR
RRRRRRRR
RR    RR
RR     RR  Ralph McClive
RR      RR rmcclive_@_twcny.rr.com 


	The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
	http://EL-List.railfan.net/
	To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html

------------------------------