Please help identify bass chord symbol

[Pipemajor]

Bah! You were lucky to even have computers, I say.

Or the posh version which you could carry in your sporran!

 

[PeterFromAkita]

You guys are all talking about the past. I live in it! Here in Japan all government functions and administration is still done by floppy disk. Mostly 3,5 inch, but 5¼-inch are also still around. Still shocked every time I visit city hall.

 

[dak]

You guys are all talking about the past. I live in it! Here in Japan all government functions and administration is still done by floppy disk. Mostly 3,5 inch, but 5¼-inch are also still around. Still shocked every time I visit city hall.

I wonder where they get the media. I converted my music electronics to USB drives when even new old stock became too unreliable for reformatting and writing (and partly even just for reading).

 

[Tom]

Speaking of assembly language, I still have my “green card” around here somewhere. Load and link register, baby!

 

[Scuromondo]

Early in my career I programmed an embedded diesel engine control, a “black box” event recorder, and a precision temperature controller—all using a combination of assembler and “C.” But those were back in the days when there were no remote software updates available so you had to really get it right the first time.

 

[dak]

Speaking of assembly language, I still have my “green card” around here somewhere. Load and link register, baby!

Workflows on those machines was you typed your program into a cardpunch typewriter, sorted your stack with the proper job control cards and fed them into the central cardreader (which sucked through a 2000-card box in less than a minute I think, presumably using optical sensing). Later you'd get the output from the high-speed chain printers (about 2000 lines per minute) into your personal output tray. Admittedly I only needed the assembly language manual to make sense of the "post mortem dumps" most of your programs initially generated instead of proper output. Those included the assembly language generated by the compiler and the instructions causing your program to abort and related memory references.

But enough about 60-bit processors: the one where I still know most execution cycle counts by heart is the Zilog Z80, and for good reason.

 

[JeffJetton]

Of course the building had its own power supply backups so the operators did not have to do this other than after repairs/replacements.

If the 6400 used magnetic-core memory (which I would assume yours did, but a later upgrade might've been possible, so who knows?), then it would've kept its contents even with the power off. The one advantage to the older technology!

 

[JeffJetton]

I loved assembly language. 40 years on my and a friend (who has a PhD in this sort of thing) still test each other on 6502 op codes. Though as the years pass, I've forgotten the hex values, but I could still probably throw together a little programme.

I still program in it today! I've been writing a bunch of software for a 6502-based homebrew for about the past year. I'll get it up on GitHub one of these days.

Although I'm not much of a whiz with the hex opcodes either, as the Monitor program I created for it uses octal. Funny enough, that's an idea partly inspired by the Heathkit H8 Caps mentioned, which initially did the same.

 

[JeffJetton]

That must be the smoothest turnabout to get the discussion back on topic I've seen in ages. Perfect.

It was a noble effort, even if it didn't stick.

 

[Tom]

Workflows on those machines was you typed your program into a cardpunch typewriter, sorted your stack with the proper job control cards and fed them into the central cardreader (which sucked through a 2000-card box in less than a minute I think, presumably using optical sensing). Later you'd get the output from the high-speed chain printers (about 2000 lines per minute) into your personal output tray. Admittedly I only needed the assembly language manual to make sense of the "post mortem dumps" most of your programs initially generated instead of proper output. Those included the assembly language generated by the compiler and the instructions causing your program to abort and related memory references.

But enough about 60-bit processors: the one where I still know most execution cycle counts by heart is the Zilog Z80, and for good reason.

Yup, I was the guy that you handed your box of cards to and sorted and distributed the printouts (after changing the font keys). I’m sorry I dropped your deck Dak! Oh, those were the days!

 

[dak]

If the 6400 used magnetic-core memory (which I would assume yours did, but a later upgrade might've been possible, so who knows?), then it would've kept its contents even with the power off. The one advantage to the older technology!

Do you mean those serious looking operators in their white lab coats have taken me for a ride and the button board was not for keying in the bootstrap loader but for controlling the HVAC? More likely, use of that panel was only necessary after exchanging faulty memory. To be honest I cannot even vouch for correctly identifying the system. The 6400 was mainly used for conversions those days (and running some library jobs): as opposed to the "main" CDC175 it had a papertape reader.

 

[Caps]

Or the posh version which you could carry in your sporran!

I still have my aluminum pocket Pickett in its little leather case! Actually use it once in a while.

 

[cestjeffici]

Bah! You were lucky to even have computers, I say.

I have about 2 dozen of these laying around the house. My first computer experience was with IBM EAMs programmed by wiring boards. Also keypunch IBM029 programs for the data entry girls (there were only girls doing that work in 1962. By 1967 I knew almost everything about the IBM 360s. (Hardware (CPU and all peripherals) including the micro-code and all the software (PCP through MVT and VM) These may have been the last days one person could know a whole system down to the last resistor. I installed a number of these systems while working for IBM in the late '60s. In those days you could run a relatively large enterprise with 16K (not a typo) of core memory and a 7 megabyte hard drive.

 

[dak]

I have about 2 dozen of these laying around the house.

Problems with numbers?

In those days you could run a relatively large enterprise with 16K (not a typo) of core memory and a 7 megabyte hard drive.

16K of what? My first computing experiences were on 60-bit words… And when I later worked on a minicomputer (Olivetti P6060), the external memory were floppy disk. And I don't mean those puny semi-rigid 5¼" things but real floppy disks, with a belt drive (mains power I think, but at the very least 24V). Certainly beat punch cards as storage medium.

 

[Dingo40]

I have about 2 dozen of these laying around the house.

I still have a book of logarithm tables!

 

[Ffingers]

I still have a book of logarithm tables!

Nice music, those lumberjacks' dances.

 

[baldlightning]

Bah! You were lucky to even have computers, I say.

You heard about the engineer with constipation, right?

 

[cestjeffici]

Problems with numbers?

16K of what? My first computing experiences were on 60-bit words… And when I later worked on a minicomputer (Olivetti P6060), the external memory were floppy disk. And I don't mean those puny semi-rigid 5¼" things but real floppy disks, with a belt drive (mains power I think, but at the very least 24V). Certainly beat punch cards as storage medium.

Donuts