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I actually still have my first IBM XT. My Dad didn't buy it though,
I did. A piece at a time. My Dad has never bought a computer. I
gave my Mom one about 5 years ago but he won't use it.
I think I should go to bed now. I am not getting any work done.
Mark
On May 27, 2005, at 1:15 AM, Christopher Bergeron wrote:
> Ok, here's my background -
>
> My first machine was a TRS-80. I was 9 years old, and I remember
> having to rewind the cassette tape (drive?) to play "star trek" (it
> was the only game I had; I'm not a Trekkie/er). I was stoked when
> at age 12 my Dad got an IBM XT (Xtended Technology baby!). It had
> TURBO mode that bumped it from 4.77Mhz to 8 Mhz. I remember
> mastering WordStar at age 13. I think I was the only kid in Jr.
> High that turned in "printed" homework. In fact, I think that a
> few teachers even rejected it (but it's been a while). Anyway,
> I'm pushing 30 now, so I'm feeling a bit old. The new BBS
> Documentary that just came out isn't helping matters any.
>
> Sorry if this post makes anyone feel bad - it isn't intended to. I
> just wanted to add my history to 'history'.
>
> Kind regards,
> CB
>
>
>
>
> James P. Kinney III wrote:
>
>
>> Ol' fart ;)
>> On Thu, 2005-05-26 at 22:26 -0400, Mark Wright wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I have worked on 6262's. Didn't know anything about them but
>>> usually got them running.
>>>
>>> The most bodacious (thats the only word that comes to mind)
>>> printer I have ever worked on was an STK 5000. It was not a dot
>>> matrix but a band printer. It was the biggest and baddest impact
>>> printer in the land. It could print 5000 132 character lines in
>>> one minute. It was huge. Imagine a continuos tractor fed sheet
>>> of paper two feet wide flying through this huge machine as it is
>>> pounded by a row of hammers 132 characters wide. The noise of
>>> five or six servo controlled motors big enough to power a golf
>>> cart going full blast was incredible alone, then the hammers
>>> printing...
>>>
>>> There used to be four of these in the windowless State archive
>>> building downtown that printed all the tag and title forms for
>>> the state. They were still in use last time I was there about 1999.
>>>
>>> I took a Fortran class using punch cards, a card reader to input
>>> program and data and output from a line printer. We didn't even
>>> have console with a tube an keyboard. The card reader and
>>> printer we connected using IBM SNA (systems network architecture)
>>> and a T1 to GA Tech's mainframe.
>>>
>>> I the late 80's I installed a computer for AT&T that cost 4
>>> million without any disk or tape subsystems. They bought the
>>> disk, tape and network stuff from other companies. This computer
>>> and the connected devices would just sit idle in the case another
>>> computer on the other side of the data center had a failure.
>>> These computers routed 800 calls. AT&T lost about 100 million in
>>> business because that first computer went down once. (anyone
>>> remember a 800 number and cell phone issue in the late 80's in
>>> New York?) Hence the approximately 6 million dollar hot spare.
>>>
>>> I love stuff like this. I have more stories. I better shut up.
>>> Once a Space Shuttle launch was put off because we asked for time
>>> to apply patches to a System at AT&T. Ok Ok, I'm stopping
>>>
>>> Oh wait! The console processor on the Mainframes I worked on
>>> used UNIX! (Is that close to having a Linux topic?)
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>>
>>> On May 26, 2005, at 2:36 PM, Matt Magee wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Not old enough to have worked with a 1403, but one place I
>>>> worked at had a pair of 6262s which apparently operate in a
>>>> similar manner. The 6262s will induce hearing loss if you leave
>>>> the doors open!
>>>>
>>>> People would ask why we used these huge twinax connected
>>>> monsters. The reply was always "because it works!"
>>>>
>>>> Ben Coleman wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>>>>> Hash: SHA1
>>>>>
>>>>> Brian J. Dowd wrote:
>>>>> | My first home computer (1975) ran a Teletype ASR33...
>>>>> | Now that was a kick. Stood on an attached stand and was
>>>>> shipped to
>>>>> | me bolted to a wooden palette. Sounded just like a newsroom
>>>>> at 110
>>>>> baud :-)
>>>>> | Is anyone else ancient on this list or are the other geezers
>>>>> still
>>>>> | running DOS or Windows?
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm ancient enough to remember the IBM 1403 line printers from
>>>>> the same
>>>>> era. Talk about loud! I remember one where if you had several
>>>>> lines of
>>>>> asterisks (typical for the header and trailer pages), it
>>>>> sounded as
>>>>> though someone was hitting it with a hammer. Fast, though!
>>>>>
>>>>> Ben
>>>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
>>>>> Version: GnuPG v1.2.3-nr1 (Windows 2000)
>>>>> Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - <a rel="nofollow" href="http://enigmail.mozdev.org";>http://enigmail.mozdev.org</a>
>>>>>
>>>>> iD8DBQFClgK+QBcsLKrSBE8RAhqSAJ457PGS1L2D8d2boAJ+qHsvaqbKvACgxJOI
>>>>> wnzDJWpsQuUfRHuOtESfwow=
>>>>> =4V83
>>>>> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
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>
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</pre>
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<li><strong><a name="00976" href="msg00976.html">[ale] Need Tractor Feed Dot Matrix printer</a></strong>
<ul><li><em>From:</em> esoteric at 3times25.net (Geoffrey)</li></ul></li>
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<li><strong><a name="00950" href="msg00950.html">[ale] Need Tractor Feed Dot Matrix printer</a></strong>
<ul><li><em>From:</em> oloryn at benshome.net (Ben Coleman)</li></ul></li>
<li><strong><a name="00953" href="msg00953.html">[ale] Need Tractor Feed Dot Matrix printer</a></strong>
<ul><li><em>From:</em> mattslistmail at earthlink.net (Matt Magee)</li></ul></li>
<li><strong><a name="00962" href="msg00962.html">[ale] Need Tractor Feed Dot Matrix printer</a></strong>
<ul><li><em>From:</em> mpwright at speedfactory.net (Mark Wright)</li></ul></li>
<li><strong><a name="00967" href="msg00967.html">[ale] Need Tractor Feed Dot Matrix printer</a></strong>
<ul><li><em>From:</em> jkinney at localnetsolutions.com (James P. Kinney III)</li></ul></li>
<li><strong><a name="00972" href="msg00972.html">[ale] Need Tractor Feed Dot Matrix printer</a></strong>
<ul><li><em>From:</em> christopher at bergeron.com (Christopher Bergeron)</li></ul></li>
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