Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[Deleted member 268085]

My first computer in '76
IBM System/32 - Wikipedia

My second computer in '78
IBM System/34 - Wikipedia

Job change - My third computer that was converted to System/34 circa '80
IBM System/3 - Wikipedia (System/3 Model 10 both disk and 96 column cards)

Job change (SW Bell Telecom > AT&T) - My fourth circa '86
IBM System/36 - Wikipedia We had 14 of these - two larger ones at the corp office (development and production), and 10 smaller ones in the 10 regional offices. Programs and data were transfered by modem.

My fifth circa '87 - replaced all of the System/36 machines. Regional offices connected to corp on leased lines.
IBM System/38 - Wikipedia
Also added a DEC VAX that ran one application that later converted to the S/38

My sixth circa '90 to my retirement in '09 We had two machines - smaller for development, larger for production.
IBM System i - Wikipedia (and the various iterations and name changes)

My first was an IBM, around 1976. Just don't know which one. I do know that it took an entire building at UW-Madison to house it. Nothing like sitting at a card punch machine at midnight, trying to find the syntax error in a Fortran card deck.

 

[GonePlaid]

My first was an IBM, around 1976. Just don't know which one. I do know that it took an entire building at UW-Madison to house it. Nothing like sitting at a card punch machine at midnight, trying to find the syntax error in a Fortran card deck.

What percent is the "sin tax" in WI?

 

[G-Dog]

My first was an IBM, around 1976. Just don't know which one. I do know that it took an entire building at UW-Madison to house it. Nothing like sitting at a card punch machine at midnight, trying to find the syntax error in a Fortran card deck.

I don't remember what the machine was, but I sure remember those punch card machines for Fortran class at college in '69! Glad I had taken typing in high school, but those were more difficult than any typewriter I ever tried. Cured me of wanting to get to know computers until the Compaq Portable appeared in '82. Now that was fun!
.
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[beans-on-toast]

Nothing like sitting in an engineering class, playing Moon Lander on my HP 41c. I talked the HP distributor in Madison, WI into selling me one direct, before they hit the stores. You should have seen the drool from the other engineering students.

I haven't written a line of code in many years, but I'm still a fan of RPN and the Forth programming language.

I still have mine. Somehow I lost the card reader.

 

[beans-on-toast]

I took a city bus today, it was about half full. First time on a bus in a year. It felt pretty creepy being near so many strangers. Spritzed everything with alcohol when I got home.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Public transportation disasters once loomed large with tenement fires. Inexplicably, some people like to read those news stories. Not so inexplicably, there are people willing to write and sell those stories. "Terrible conflagration" comes in flavours for every taste, be it a physical event or a political or economic event.

 

[gtmalone]

They taste better than the rest....

Now that you mention that... In the 3rd grade we were standing in line for something and the girl in front of me turns around and she has a mouthful of yellow crayon.

 

[gtmalone]

My first was an IBM, around 1976. Just don't know which one. I do know that it took an entire building at UW-Madison to house it. Nothing like sitting at a card punch machine at midnight, trying to find the syntax error in a Fortran card deck.

Fortunately, I had to do very little with the cards. We had three keypunch operators. The card sorter was a chore. Two passes to sort one field in the card file. If more than one field it started getting complicated. You had to remember which output stack went in the right order for the next passes. It was always pretty funny when someone dropped a deck of cards!

My boss at that place was an "empire" protector. We converted stuff like the customer master, inventory master, etc. to the S/34. I asked him what he wanted to do about online file maint which normally the users would do. He said keep it in house. The keypunch machines were replaced with the digital equivalent (IBM 3741). The user had to bring updates to us then stuff was keyed to diskette which then had to be loaded on the S/34 for a batch update program. It took another year or so before he let that go. Idiot.

 

[gtmalone]

I took a city bus today, it was about half full. First time on a bus in a year. It felt pretty creepy being near so many strangers. Spritzed everything with alcohol when I got home.

When SWBell moved us from Richardson to downtown Dallas, I rode the DART train. 15 min drive to the station, 40 mins on the train, 4 block walk. Always fun in the rain and winter time!
It took time to get used to being around a carload of strangers but after awhile I got to know a handful of folks who were on the same train. Most of the time I read. I missed my stop downtown once while reading and had to walk about 1/2 mile back. Where I got on in the morning was also the end of the line. I was reading again, not paying attention to the stops. A lady taps me on the shoulder and said "You have have to get off now". After five years of riding I didn't pay any attention to when the train stopped and started. It worked pretty well but I was tired of it. Then retirement happened.

 

[GwenOnBass]

There's recognizing your fellow train passengers, and there's recognizing your flight attendants. Doing both is another thing.

 

[5StringBlues]

My weather report is:

there is snow on the ground and the streets are frozen over. I am thirty miles from the Gulf of Mexico so that doesn't happen often. Tonight is supposed to be dropping the temperature into the teens (F) which is unheard of here.

Exactly what he said.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

We've been getting temps in the teens (Fahrenheit) with clear skies. Unbelievable stars at night. When you live somewhere without a lot of city lights the sky is like a free star show. There were some Aurora Borealis ribbons in the sky and they did a little dance for us. Sheesh it was cold!

Carey and I got our second Covid shot last Wednesday and it kept me out of the office Thursday. Was sore like (insert how sore here) with a headache and felt weak. Spent most of the day sleeping. Woke up Friday and I felt great. Went back to work as usual. Sitka's current Covid-19 alert has been reduced to "Low." From the beginning all the authorities took the whole thing very seriously and a lot of money was spent on training, public education, and contact tracing. Evidently Senator Murkowski secured enough vaccine to cover the majority of doses needed when they became available-- for Alaskans. Now we're told to still be careful because the vaccine needs two-three weeks to build up in the immunity system. I have an old friend in Seattle and she said she's not even getting her first shot until April 10. Hopefully those dates will change once all the pharmaceutical companies ramp up production.

Happy President's Day!

 

[beans-on-toast]

When SWBell moved us from Richardson to downtown Dallas, I rode the DART train. 15 min drive to the station, 40 mins on the train, 4 block walk. Always fun in the rain and winter time! It took time to get used to being around a carload of strangers but after awhile I got to know a handful of folks who were on the same train. Most of the time I read. I missed my stop downtown once while reading and had to walk about 1/2 mile back. Where I got on in the morning was also the end of the line. I was reading again, not paying attention to the stops. A lady taps me on the shoulder and said "You have have to get off now". After five years of riding I didn't pay any attention to when the train stopped and started. It worked pretty well but I was tired of it. Then retirement happened.

One time I was on the last train out of town, returning from school to the burbs. I fell asleep and woke up just as the train was pulling out of my station. The next stop was out in the sticks. No other transport back except for a taxi which I couldn’t afford. I had a two hour walk back at midnight, along the railway tracks. Stupid things you do when you’re young.

 

[shadowtippy]

My weather report is:

Be careful if you have to drive anywhere. People drive worse there than they do here, if that is possible.




Exactly what he said.

 

[Jeff Scott]

...I got to know a handful of folks who were on the same train.

The past couple of days I have been emailing with a bus pal from earlier this century. Haven't heard from him since he moved east.

Unbelievable stars at night.

Sadly, we only get the standard, believable ones, around here.

Woke up Friday...

Very glad to hear that...

One time I was on the last train out of town, returning from school to the burbs. I fell asleep and woke up just as the train was pulling out of my station. The next stop was out in the sticks. No other transport back except for a taxi which I couldn’t afford. I had a two hour walk back at midnight, along the railway tracks. Stupid things you do when you’re young.

Age has nothing to do with it, laddie, IME.

 

[5StringBlues]

This is me for the next 72 hours.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

Public transportation disasters once loomed large with tenement fires. Inexplicably, some people like to read those news stories. Not so inexplicably, there are people willing to write and sell those stories. "Terrible conflagration" comes in flavours for every taste, be it a physical event or a political or economic event.

If it bleeds, it leads!

 

[Charlie Tango]

We've been getting temps in the teens (Fahrenheit) with clear skies. Unbelievable stars at night. When you live somewhere without a lot of city lights the sky is like a free star show. There were some Aurora Borealis ribbons in the sky and they did a little dance for us. Sheesh it was cold!

Carey and I got our second Covid shot last Wednesday and it kept me out of the office Thursday. Was sore like (insert how sore here) with a headache and felt weak. Spent most of the day sleeping. Woke up Friday and I felt great. Went back to work as usual. Sitka's current Covid-19 alert has been reduced to "Low." From the beginning all the authorities took the whole thing very seriously and a lot of money was spent on training, public education, and contact tracing. Evidently Senator Murkowski secured enough vaccine to cover the majority of doses needed when they became available-- for Alaskans. Now we're told to still be careful because the vaccine needs two-three weeks to build up in the immunity system. I have an old friend in Seattle and she said she's not even getting her first shot until April 10. Hopefully those dates will change once all the pharmaceutical companies ramp up production.

Happy President's Day!

Congrats on collecting the whole set of shots, though I hear "they're" working on possible boosters to cover variants. I got my first one yesterday, and actually got a little teary over it. Sore arm started yesterday, feeling sort of crummy started today, headache-y, but it's comparable to getting a flu shot.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

Congrats on collecting the whole set of shots, though I hear "they're" working on possible boosters to cover variants. I got my first one yesterday, and actually got a little teary over it. Sore arm started yesterday, feeling sort of crummy started today, headache-y, but it's comparable to getting a flu shot.

Interesting character to be a disciple of!

 

[GwenOnBass]

Two messages my doctor's office today. Neither involves vaccine. First message was a congratulations from my doctor. Her nurse rang me a short time later to say My Fine Insurance Outfit insists I change a medication to something that doesn't cost them so much. Is this a weather report of some kind?