A Bit of History

MikeML

Joined Oct 2, 2009
5,444
First computer I used like we use microcontrollers today(Arduinos, etc) was a PDP8 with 4K of Ram and two mini-tape drives. It was a data aquisition system used in hospital operating rooms. I transported it all around the country on commercial airlines (727s).
 

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MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
I wish I had hung on to the old PDP stuff I had, on the old magnetic core memory card, you could actually SEE one BIT of memory!!
Max.
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
I remember the old core memory planes, too. I first played on one of the earliest PDP computers; 1 or 2? It had a round green CRT and we played Asteroids loaded from DECTape.
I also programmed on an IBM 1130 with 4k memory, punched cards and a modified Selectric for its output device.
 

ErnieM

Joined Apr 24, 2011
8,377
My first computer was also a PDP, an 8L with I believe a whopping 16K of core memory. It ran 4 teletype terminals, 3 of them remotely over "acoustic" modems.

An acoustic modem is a place to stick an old school POTS phone receiver so it's microphone and speaker can work the phone. This was before AT&T let anyone just connect anything to their equipment.
 

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MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
One of my first forays into CNC control was a CNC single axis boring machine that someone I believe at Minnesota Univ. had written and adapted from a data processing PDP8, the memory had to be reloaded via a Punched tape teletype.
Every time some welding occurred in the area, the memory was wiped.
Max.
 

BillB3857

Joined Feb 28, 2009
2,570
One of my first forays into CNC control was a CNC single axis boring machine that someone I believe at Minnesota Univ. had written and adapted from a data processing PDP8, the memory had to be reloaded via a Punched tape teletype.
Every time some welding occurred in the area, the memory was wiped.
Max.
That was a very advanced machine compared to one of the first I worked on. It had modified telephone cross-bar data storage. Friden punched tape readers supplied the input. Input was in Tab Sequential format. We techs carried a short section of tape in our tool box with TAB, 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,EL punched so we could do manual data entry one character at a time. The control was a GE Mark II running a Milwaukee-Matic.
I always thought it was so amazing to watch that machine drill, then tap 4-40 holes in a movie camera housing used on the F-4 aircraft.
 

alfacliff

Joined Dec 13, 2013
2,458
when I started for NCR in the late 70's we were scrapping pdp8's used for automated test systems. when I started for boeing in 86, we were still using pdp8's for nc controls. some of the machine tool makers used single board pdp11's as numerical controlls. there were a lot of pdp11's used around here in the engineering labs and for bookeeping too. most have been changed out along with the vax's for newer stuff now. we had a cray xmp2 here for a while, but somebody forgot to buy the operating system, so it was moved to seattle with the other 2. most of the machine tool computers are now pc derived, either a custom box, or just a pc running the machines.
 

Thread Starter

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
On a side note, in the early days of P.C.'s when Bill Gates instigated the first edition of Windows, a lot of P.C.'s although technically superior went the way of the Dodo.
Heath-Zenith Z-100 for e.g.
Another at the time was a PC with a Unix based operating system that did not fly, mainly because of limited software and cost, but very nice to use.
Due to US anti-dumping laws, they were available in Canada for 10¢ on the $.
The 'Technically Superior' does not always rise to the top.
Ala Sony BetaMax.:(
Max.
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
21,159
My first computer was a piece of "Big Iron". An IBM 7090 with an IBM 1410 controlling the card reader, a dozen 729 MkII Tape Drives, and an IBM 1103, 600 lpm line-printer. It ha a whopping 32K of 36-bit words of memory. It belonged to Princeton University and was paid for by the Air Force, but I had access. Learned FORTAN and FAP Assembler programming on it.

Gettin' all misty here.
 
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