An excellent trip down memory lane. I no longer have the memory and cognitive skills I once had but there are events in my life I still remember and cherish. The first computer I remember working on was the either the PDP-7 or 8(classmates at that time no longer live here in rural Ontario to consult with) at my high-school where the electronics/electrical teacher had in his office. It was a donation from a wealthy benefactor, an alumni, who saw the future and said computers would revolutionize society!
Murray 🙂 On Wed, Apr 10, 2024 at 5:40 PM Mike Katz via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > I want to thank you all for this IBM 360 conversation. It makes me feel > young🙂. My first computer was a PDP-8/L with 4K of core memory and a > Teletype ASR-33. That was 1972 (I was 12). > > On 4/10/2024 4:23 PM, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote: > > > >> On Apr 10, 2024, at 5:01 PM, Van Snyder via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> > >> ... > >> I think the 360/67 replaced "Halt and Catch Fire" with "Rewind and > >> Break Tape." > > I always wondered if that wasn't a standard property of IBM tape drives > of that era. The ones I remember from our 360/44 had capstans that turned > continuously, one to each side of the head. The tape was shoved against > the capstan to start tape motion, and against a rubber brake block to stop > it. That was wild enough, but the other crazy aspect is that the vacuum > columns were arranged so the oxide was facing outward, i.e., rubbing > against the side walls of the vacuum column. > > > > I never did wear out a tape, but then again, I never used a tape more > than a half dozen times on that system. > > > > paul > > > > > >
