Do you need a formatter tool if you want to cross from IBM to DEC rp03? The 1130 had one, 5 fixed / 5 removable. Ran hundreds of Fortran and programming jobs every day.
On Tue, Dec 16, 2025 at 1:59 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk <[email protected]> wrote: > >> It is a sad comment on our society that there could be a need to tell > >> people. > >> Are there really people who were not taught that the first time that > they > >> encountered a threaded fastener? > On Tue, 16 Dec 2025, Carey Schug wrote: > > i guess it is such a sad comment. at 76 years old I was never taught > that, > > including in shop class in high school. > > It is interesting, and a little horrifying, that it wasn't taught. > Surely it wasn't that the shop teacher didn't know to do it? > Or, maybe it was so deeply ingrained that it didn't occur to mention it? > > My mother (farm raised) told me. > Even my father (city boy from NYC, "call the super"), who didn't even know > that there is more than one size of Phillips screwdrivers, told me. > > But, for half a century, I have been saying that the demise of erector > sets (or equivalent in other countries) after they changed from a motor > with a whole bunch of gears to a plastic battery motor, means that > mechanical competence is going, going, gone > (Likewise, modern kids don't all know what "CLOCKWISE" means! (reasonably > mentioned about Jake in "Two And A Half Men".)) > > ("When you are standing on your head, and seeing with a mirror, to know > which way to turn the drainplug, imagine a watch face on it.") > > -- > Grumpy Ol' Honda Fred ("wrote the book", but only literally) > [email protected] >
