1960's electronic calculator

[alluseridsrejected]

Ah, okay, thanks. Fascinating history. I wouldn't want to be one of the CEs that were responsible for that catastrophe. I can imaging what they cost back then. IBM was great to work for back then; not sure about today, as the competition is fierce today and it's a different world.

as I remembered, the CEs blamed the factory. They came out with a new process of populating the arrays from the bottom up instead of the top down. Fortunately nobody was hurt. I worked for IBM from 2000-2010 and it was getting pretty sad then.

 

[allanc]

I remember the cartridge drives (made by CDC, I think) but honestly don't remember having to spin them up. The bottoms were exposed until you put them in the drive assembly shown in the post above this one, or the carrier. Anybody program an IBM 407 accounting machine? (raises hand.) LOL. Geezers!

I can't remember that far back.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I was told to get the tape developer and dip the tape in it.

Good job on recovering records based on reading the bits on that folded tape! We had a thin brass cylinder that sandwiched a solution with magnetic particles in it between the thin bottom and a glass window through which you could see the bits as you lay the thing onto the tape. I can't recall what we did about it though. That was in a data centre I managed years later, where we had S360/65 and S360/50 interconnected for load sharing/control, etc. The main problem we had with tapes was the oxide surface gradually shedding (along with all those data bits) due to a change in the glue they used during manufacture. That and operator error, where the staff inadvertently erased tapes for re-used -- which tapes were still in active use!

 

[alluseridsrejected]

That and operator error, where the staff inadvertently erased tapes for re-used -- which tapes were still in active use!

Yes, it was great when we got tape management systems to track the tapes. I remember Dynam-T on the DOS systems and CA-1 on OS/VS (which became MVS and then later z/OS). If the operator mounted the wrong tape, the system would reject it as NOT SCRATCH.

Did you work on any System 370 or newer systems?

 

[Larry Sabo]

Did you work on any System 370 or newer systems?

No; not that I'm aware of. I did some contract programming but have no idea what system they were using. After the data centre job I mentioned, I worked for DEC doing marketing research for 12 years and they sure didn't have any IBM systems. LOL

 

[Larry Sabo]

I can't remember that far back.

I can remember very far back without much problem. What day of the week it is and anything short-term, not so much.

 

[GTP]

I'm not quite old enough to remember using mechanical calculators but I did own one of the first electronic calculators when I was kid, which had a vacuum fluorescent display, a bit like this one. It would dramatically flash on and off (displaying 'ERROR') when you did something wrong, like divide by zero. I have fond memories of that calculator, not only because I learned that I could spell stuff like 5318008 and 710.77345 on it ('boobies' and 'shell oil' upside down), but also because it was the first electronic device that I owned ... and ultimately took apart to learn how it worked.

That "acoustic memory" is interesting. I never knew there were mechanical calculators that used that 'technology'. It looks like it works similar to a spring reverberator, which I have played around with in the past when making electronic audio projects. Using a spring/coiled wire effectively allows the use of a longer wire in a more compact unit, giving longer delays. I think those may be more prone to mechanical/shock interference though, which may be why they went for a spiralled straight wire design in the calculator.

Thanks for the memory! I had this exact calculator when I was in school. My math teacher would confiscate it till after class 'cause he said it "was the Devil's tool," lol
Like you It was fun to "spell" with it and we used to spend hours trying to find words.

 

[Moltuae]

Thanks for the memory! I had this exact calculator when I was in school. My math teacher would confiscate it till after class 'cause he said it "was the Devil's tool," lol

haha. Yeah, I remember similar resistance to electronic calculators from out teachers too. It was probably 5 years or more before they became an accepted classroom tool, and even then we weren't allowed to use them in exams.

 

[Porthos]

I used to have one of these up my sleave.
https://www.google.com/search?q=cal...M6d7ZAhVR-6wKHYFgBl4QiR4IlgI&biw=1920&bih=915

 

[Moltuae]

I used to have one of these up my sleave.
https://www.google.com/search?q=cal...M6d7ZAhVR-6wKHYFgBl4QiR4IlgI&biw=1920&bih=915

I wore calculator watches like those for years. I even progressed on to the Casio Databank watches, which could hold about 10 friend's phone numbers. Of course being an introverted geek, 10 was more than enough.

I probably had 4 or 5 Databank watches, including a gold one exactly like the one below, which I had to import from the US (no easy feat before Ebay and the internet) because it wasn't available in the UK.

If I recall correctly, you could transfer phone numbers to the watch from a computer. To connect, you had to point the watch at the computer screen and the software would flash the screen rapidly to transmit the data. In anything but a perfectly darkened room, you'd have to put a coat over the screen and get under it to achieve a successful data transfer.

I also owned one or two of the Databank watches that had a built-in universal TV remote control.