Hi :) PDP11s look interesting! A short article that claims the default OS was Multics; http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/PDP-11-Programmed-Data-Processor-11 but that many put Unix on it. Wikipedia gives a great long list of OSes that ran on or could run on PDP11s; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-11#Operating_systems
As you can see in the url below Nuclear Power Plants are apparently still using and plan to continue using PDP11's until 2050 ! http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/19/nuke_plants_to_keep_pdp11_until_2050/ Regards from Tom :) On 22 July 2015 at 03:21, Tim---Kracked_P_P---webmaster < webmas...@krackedpress.com> wrote: > > My first real computer job was data entry typing punched cards for an IBM > system. > > Then I started working at several colleges with those "ghastly" PDP/11 > systems. One was the core for a large computer center with large tape > units, and one was just a stand alone system with a drive platter and all > of those dump terminals. That "stand alone" PDP/11 system is where I had > to write/code/etc. a full general ledger accounting system using COBOL. > Have you even tried to write a data entry system for an accounting system, > so people could not type in the wrong info/data - like Feb 29th for a > non-leap year or an account number that is not created, or other values > that are not within the proper any of the data ranges. That was 3 time the > coding size than all of the rest of the system, including the account > query/search system and report generating systems. > > Yes, I remember those data cassette tape drive computers, before you could > afford a dual floppy IBM PC/AT/XT clone. Then there were those 10 MEG hard > drives. > > I saw the introduction of the PC based > Hard Drive > CD ROM drive, then burner > > Real Graphics above 640 by 480 > > I saw the introduction of the Bulletin board system that was > interconnected so you had a primitive email address - mine was almost 80 > characters long. > > I saw the start of the WWW part of the Internet, which is what is now "THE > Internet", since most of the other parts [terminal based mostly] have > either "died" or been converted to use a browser. Of course there are > still parts that run via the terminal which I still use from time to time - > mostly local to server communications. > > The domain I use for this email address - I own - was first created in > the early '90, when you only had 14.4 dialup for most areas of the US, and > has gone from one domain service to another, and my hosting service from > one to another, till I finally settled on the one[s] I have been using for > many years now. > > Yes I have seen the wireless phone go from the "big brick" technology > through to the introduction of the smart phone technology. I now use a LG > base model Android phone, since I do not need all of the wow-wee stuff. I > do not need to use it for my every "computer" need, like some are touted. > > I have bought 3 Android tablets over the years. I still use 2 of them. > And no, I do not like the hype of not needing a larger system - laptop or > desktop - since a Android, IOSx, or MS OS claims it will do everything you > will need. My desktop I am typing this from is an old 4 core running Linux > Mint 16 with 4 hard drives internal, 1 OS and 3 data drives - adding up to > 6.25 TB - with 3 external 2 TB drives for backup. I use to have 4 backup, > till an internal 2TB drive failed and I needed my spare to replace it. > > I really wonder how you could get a tablet to have 6 TB of data storage. > I also like to see these tablets find printer drivers to run the USB or > network printing. I have enough trouble tryng to find a working Linux > [.deb] printer driver for my newer printers, and I have not been able to > get any of my android tablets to access any of my colored printers - just a > "older" HP laser printer. I now look for Linux drivers BEFORE I decide to > buy the printers. > > > I have gone from punched card data entry to web-based data entry screens. > I have gone from cassette tapes, through to floppies, internal/external > hard drives, USB flash drives and SD cards. > I have seen mainframe computers the size of a bedroom, down to a > refrigerator. > I have seen the IBM PC come out to the modern 4/6/8/16 core desktops. > I have use "portable" computers that were 30+ pounds down to the ultra > thing, ultra light multi-core tablets. > > I have "retired" from the "computer field" - as they use to call it - > after 3 computer related degrees and many computer related jobs. > Then I had to get "permanently and 100% disabled" working as a substitute > teacher by a student who should have been locked up in a mental ward. > > > > On 07/21/2015 07:15 AM, Gary Collins wrote: > >> On 07/18/2015 09:25 PM, James E Lang wrote: >> >>> The big discussion of Linux over the past 24+ hours has me wondering: >>> What operating environment(s) do other members of this list use at home and >>> at work? What factors influence the choice? >>> >>> My first home computer was a BBC micro (anyone remember those?) That >> was back in the days when programming had to be really tight, only had 32Kb >> (yes, Kb) of RAM; long term storage was all external on cassette tapes, >> eventually upgraded to floppy disk drive (and the disks really were >> floppy). I've still got that computer and AFAIK it still works! >> My next machine was Acorn Archimedes, followed by RISC PC. It's a great >> shame that the marketing for those machines was so poor, leading to >> collapse of the company. The ARM chips had a great architecture and >> instruction set. >> After that, I got my first laptop, a Sony Vaio running windows XP. When I >> upgraded, which I was forced to do due to a machine failure, I got a laptop >> running Windows 7 - which is still my current machine. A better Windows, >> once I'd got used to it, but it had a real downer - couldn't get driver for >> my flatbed scanner - Canon didn't produce one. >> At work, in my first job I used a computer called a PDP 11 (ghastly >> thing); can't remember what the OS was called. >> In my second job I think we started off with some sort of mainframe, the >> details of which are hazy now. Later we migrated to Sun Spark workstations. >> In my last real job, used PCs running windows, I think it was XP at that >> time. >> Now in my office based voluntary work I use PCs with Windows 7. Did have >> a play with Win 8 on a laptop, but hated it. It might be OK for tablets, I >> don't know, but it was horrible to use with normal PC input devices. >> I have thought about upgrading to Linux but have never got around to it. >> This is mainly because of familiarity with certain software packages, >> especially Photoshop. I know there is GIMP for Linux, but it's not a patch >> - for one thing, it doesn't have the concept of adjustment layers; and that >> means that all my working files, which tend to be saved as TIFF with layer >> compression, can't be properly loaded and edited in GIMP.I also make use of >> a video editor (not free but fairly inexpensive) which can edit MPEG2 files >> without reencoding unchanged parts of the video, which makes it quite fast >> and doesn't lose quality. Something like that probably does exist for Linux >> but I haven't got around to looking, and familiarity is a big part of the >> story.Another thing is the convenience of plug and play when it comes to >> hardware - I don't think I've ever had to manually load a driver, >> everything seems to work "out of the box" and that's a very good thing, >> saves a lot of time and effort. I'm not sure what Linux is like in that >> respect, as I've had no experience. >> On my phone I have android and I tend to get on reasonably well with that. >> I'm not sure what I will do if I ever need to change computer again. >> /Gary >> >> > > > > -- > To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org > Problems? > http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ > Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette > List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ > > All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be > deleted > -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
