IBM gave us Unix and mvs in one box without the need for dual boot ;-) *| **Itschak Mugzach | Director | SecuriTeam Software **|** IronSphere Platform* *|* *Information Security Continuous Monitoring for Z/OS, zLinux and IBM I **| *
*|* *Email**: [email protected] **|* *Mob**: +972 522 986404 **|* *Skype**: ItschakMugzach **|* *Web**: www.Securiteam.co.il **|* On Mon, Apr 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM Steve Beaver < [email protected]> wrote: > IBM gave us the MOUSE > > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Jay Maynard > Sent: Monday, April 28, 2025 7:13 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: What has IBM ever done for us? (probably more than I know) > > IBM wasn't consistent with PgUp/PgDn, either. The 122-key PC/3270 keyboard > has the magic 6 (which are above not an inverted T, but a cross, with Home > in the center) as PA1, PA2/PgUp, and Jump/PgDn (with PA3 on the Alt) across > the top, then backtab/End, Insert, and Delete. > > On Mon, Apr 28, 2025 at 12:40 AM Timothy Sipples <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Steve Thompson wrote: > > >I'm not sure the mag stripe on a credit card was by IBM. As I > > >understood it, TeleCredit of Tampa owned that patent as it had > > >been invented by one of their people. > > > > I wrote "Magnetic stripes on payment and other cards (such as ID cards)," > > i.e. the card itself. Upon further research it still looks historically > > accurate. Here's IBM's point of view: > > > > https://www.ibm.com/history/magnetic-stripe > > > > As I understand it, Ron Klein claims he was first to file a *related* > > patent (in 1966, granted in 1969). His patent is for automating credit > card > > validations. He does not claim he invented the magnetic strip/stripe card > > itself. At least not in this article where he offers his point of view: > > > > > > > https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/point-sale-pioneer-ron-klein-looks-back-2013-08-13 > > > > The work the late IBM engineer Forrest Parry and his wife, Dorothea, did > > (originally for the CIA) dates to 1960 -- prior art about 6 years before > > Klein filed his patent. Also, IBM did NOT patent its magnetic stripe card > > technology. (Maybe IBM didn't have a choice?) Which makes IBM's > > contribution that much more relevant to the "for us?" part of the subject > > line. > > > > Jay Maynard wrote: > > >1) There aer still a lot of folks who swap left-control and caps lock, > and > > >will swear till their dying day that control must always be to the left > of > > >A and refuse to consider any other option. They will argue that down low > > >where it is on basically every modern keyboard is and always will be > > wrong. > > > > Sure, but DEC's CTRL isn't to the left of the A key on the LK201. DEC put > > the CAPS LOCK key to the immediate left of the A key, then the CTRL key > to > > the left of CAPS LOCK. That was a supremely bad arrangement. If you want > to > > remap CAPS LOCK to CTRL, of course you can. Just like a fair number of > > people remap right CTRL to 3270 ENTER. But I think IBM was quite wise in > > keeping CTRL and CAPS LOCK well separated. > > > > While I'm complaining, DEC had the excellent insight to create the > > "inverted T" layout for the 4 cursor navigation keys but then placed > "Next > > Screen" and "Prev Screen" keys *horizontally* and *adjacent* to one > > another. Ugh. Maybe they had flipping through the pages of a book in > mind? > > But at least with the benefit of hindsight I don't think that was the > best > > decision. It's inconsistent with the behavior of the inverted T keys, and > > it doesn't even make sense in terms of the left arrow/right arrow key > > positions which should be orthogonal. The arrangement of the other keys > > (and the keys themselves) in their chosen "magic 6" is also hard to > > understand. Frankly, the LK201's "magic 6" is a complete mess. I think > IBM > > got this part right too: Page Up and Page Down arranged vertically. Same > > with Home and End. IBM's 6 key layout just makes a lot more sense in my > > view. > > > > >4) I'm typing this on a 122-key IBM keyboard with a vertical enter key, > > and > > >;'\ are right next to each other to the left of L there, too. > > > > Yes, absolutely there were variations. The 122 key layout was reasonably > > popular for hardcore data entry and in customer call centers, as > examples. > > But I'm really focusing on the much more popular 101/102 key PC layout > that > > IBM helped spread far and wide because that's the layout that still > > reverberates, in many good ways. The \ and | keys are important for > command > > line work in various operating systems, so on the PC keyboard layout IBM > > kicked that key above the ENTER key and enlarged it slightly. Good > > decision, I think. > > > > >And yeah, the LK201's touch, not to put too fine a point on it, sucks > > >rocks. > > > > Yeah, and the (configurable) speaker clicks to simulate the sound of > > mechanical keystrokes somehow made the whole experience even worse. :-( > > However, the smooth scrolling feature was mildly entertaining for about > 10 > > minutes. :-) > > > > ————— > > Timothy Sipples > > Senior Architect > > Digital Assets, Industry Solutions, and Cybersecurity > > IBM Z/LinuxONE, Asia-Pacific > > [email protected] > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > > > > -- > Jay Maynard > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
