There's some anecdotal stuff about early work with computers in my MT article:
A Complicated Recipe : Diversity and Infocap Content [MT105] http://www.aoi.com.au/MTSite/MT105.htm You can google "Dissolving the Device-Handler Code" for the section. At the time, I was programming a PDP-8 computer to run the fall-back system for the UWA Library (the full system was run on the WARCC PDP-10, but that was months late in getting to the running stage). It's amazing in today's terms, that an extra 4K of computer memory cost enough that we clubbed together to buy the PDP-8 a lottery ticket to finance the purchase. Another memory, not in the article, is that the operating system for the PDP-8 was "tailored" in a lengthy process after selecting the bits of the system you needed. I would start the assembly process at the end of Friday afternoon before going home, it was still running on Monday morning after the weekend, taking almost 3 days to complete. David Noel On 24 July 2014 17:34, Maureen Smith <topsm...@internode.on.net> wrote: > Hello fellow WAMUGgers, > > As we are celebrating 30 years of WAMUG I though it might be interesting to > share what memories we have of all things Macintosh /Apple and beyond. > > Earlier this month, Severin Crisp wrote to me of his experiences 40 + years > with computers and his association with Apple . It makes for a very > interesting read. > He has given permission to share it to the list. > > I am sure others have had lengthy and/or interesting associations with > Apple. It would be great to hear your memories. > > Cheers, > > Maureen > > Severin Crips’ Email > > My introduction to computing was on a Bendix G15 at National Research > Council of Canada in Ottawa where I was a PostDoctoral fellow from 1960. It > was a single user machine on which you booked time and it had paper tape > input and typewriter output and had a regular maintenance outage for one > hour every morning! Shortly before we left Canada in 1964 (plus two sons > who had materialised in our time there) the division acquired a new machine, > still paper tape input but which ran Fortran, to which then I was > introduced. Back in Physics at UWA an IBM 1620 card machine had been > acquired and was a huge advance. Still single user for which you could > book time but many jobs run by the Computing Centre staff as batches. I > remember almost wheelbarrow loads of boxes of cards! Then a DEC10 time > sharing machine appeared, a huge step forward in speed and capability > including direct talk to the computer from a terminal! and the announcement > that this would satisfy the University’s computing needs for at least the > next 5 years. In 6 months it was up to saturation and the CDC Cyber > machines, extensive mainframes with card readers, magtape drives, line > printers and the works all running principally batch more or less took > over. A later DEC machine ran as an adjunct, usable from remote terminals > around campus for direct input/output, a foreshadowing of desktop machines. > > The PCs started to appear, both IBM and others and Physics elected to go > Mac, a brilliant choice as far as I was concerned! Machines proliferated > through teaching and research, I had a DEC PDP-8(?) controlling my X-ray > spectrometer and collecting data and communication directly with a Mac in my > office. For home I bought one of the first 128K bundles, with a dot matrix > printer and a carrying case, around $2000 from memory. It was subsequently > upgraded to a MacPlus with a massive 4MB of memory and used as office > computer in my wife’s art gallery. On my desk at work I had stepped up to an > SE 30, a real speed machine, and progressed through a series of upgradings > until my retirement in mid 1964 at which time we moved to Albany and I > purchased a PowerMac which since then has progressed though a series of > necessary(??!) indulgences to my current 21.5inch iMac, which cost a similar > amount to that first 128k Mac. > > In my time at NRC in Ottawa and in Physics at UWA there was always expert > advice and comment for problems immediately to hand, usually from someone > just a door or two down the corridor or at the help desk in the Computing > Centre, a vital thing when unravelling Fortran puzzles! In Albany that was > not similarly available and at some stage I discovered WAMUG on who/which I > have relied heavily every since. So many times a seemingly hopeless > impasse has been resolved by an exert input, I know my experience mirrors > that of many others. Notably Ronni and Daniel have pointed me in the right > direction many, many times as have so many other members. Much information > sits in the archives to be unearthed; I admit to laziness and just reask the > question. I cannot speak too highly of the benefits I have had from my > WAMUG membership, my $30 annual fee is trivial for the return I get, not > only from direct answers and speedy resolution with no time wasted when > problems arise, but from general learning from seeing solutions emerge from > other member’s dilemmas and generally about things Mac. > > My one regret is that I have never attended a WAMUG meeting nor have I met > any members (other than Neil Houghton who lives nearby) face to face; I am a > true member in absentia. Advancing years, which see us both in our 80s, > make trips to Perth rare and become a serious physical effort. Sadly I will > not be able to join with you all on August 10th for the celebration. The > WAMUG committee, who keep the show going the way itv does, deserve at least > an Order of MacStralia in the next honours awards, without them there would > be nothing. > > I will be there with you in spirit, “Floreat WAMUG!”. > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
