[Rhodes22-list] Ritual Mounting - 1401

Robert Skinner robert at squirrelhaven.com
Thu Aug 17 00:04:52 EDT 2006


Ronald Lipton wrote:
> The 1401 was used for programming classes and the "computer club" in my
> high school (class of '69)...

OK, I have an entry in this virtual mas cojones match.

I programmed the IBM 1401 at the Armstrong Research Labs in 
Lancaster, PA in FORTRAN in 1959.  IRRC, the disk drives were 
about 2' in diameter, enclosed in something that looked like 
a refrigerator with a glass front.  It was way before 
Winchester technology.

The punched cards were keyed (in my case) on a gadget that 
looked like a credit card roller imprinter, except that it 
had one key for each row, and indexed thru the 80 columns. 
 
If you punched a hole in the wrong place, you pasted a little 
red sticker over the hole, and punched again.  And again.
And again, until you got it right.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.  Next?
-- 
Robert Skinner


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