Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Ah, the 'bad ol' days'

dave engvall wrote:

> Jeff Barlow wrote:
>
> > Hi Ken,
> >
> > There seem to be a lot of us walking antiques on this list. I go way
> > back to pre 8080 days, I'm afraid. 8 and 16 bit minis with real core,
> > etc. Same model 33 teletypes, though.
> >
> > BTW, I seem to recall 8" floppies, about mid 70's vintage, still have
> > some out in the garage somewhere, I think.
> >
> > Jeff
>
> Age, what age, can't remember, can't count.
>
> My first attempt at programming was FORTRAN II on a PDP-8S with 4 K (words of 12 bit memory) and a ASR-33 as system, input and
> output device. Toggle boot, load loader, load system, load editor, edit , punch source, etc, etc.
> Still have 32 K board of REAL core from an '11-40' as well as a functional 11-23.
> So much for memory(s).

I've seen a PDP 8S. I also tinkered with a PDP-5 (instruction set compatible with
the PDP-8) which had a 6 uS major cycle time. So, it was doing about 100 K
instructions/second. We loaded FOCAL, an interpreted language similar to
some early minicomputer BASICs on it once, and it couldn't keep up with an
ASR-33 teletype!

I even fiddled around with a computer with vacuum tubes and drum memory.
This was a Bendix G-15, a pretty compact machine for its type, about the
same size as an old mini.
These were, of course, totally obsolete when I was tinkering with them.

Jon