Re: Nostalgia

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#620700

From: Charlie Gibbs
Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2018 01:11

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On 2018-03-01, Anne & Lynn Wheeler <ly...@garlic.com> wrote:

> Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> writes:
>
>> The fact that keypunches didn't support lower case was merely an
>> implementation detail.  If there had been a demand for lower case,
>> keypunch keyboards would be more like typewriter keyboards.  Most
>> printers, on the other hand, supported 64 characters at best, and
>> exceptions (e.g. a 1403 with a TN chain) were avoided if possible
>> because they ran slower that way.  IMHO it was printers that held
>> back the acceptance of lower case, not punches.
>
> BCD didn't support lower case, had to move to EBCDIC (w/360)
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCD_(character_encoding)
>
> biggest computer goof, 360 was suppose to be ASCII (not EBCDIC) ...  but
> ascii unit record gear wasn't available in time, so started with lots
> of existing BCD equipment (and then conversion was much harder)
> http://www.bobbemer.com/P-BIT.HTM

Although there were certainly practical considerations, a (un)healthy
dose of the NIH syndrome certainly wouldn't be inconsistent with IBM's
behaviour at the time.  Quoting Ted Nelson's _Computer Lib_:

    ASCII and ye shall receive.
      -- the computer industry

    ASCII not, what your machine can do for you.
      -- IBM

-- 
/~\  cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ /  I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
 X   Top-posted messages will probably be ignored.  See RFC1855.
/ \  HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored.  Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!

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From: Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Nostalgia
Date: 2 Mar 2018 01:11:57 GMT
Organization: NewsGuy.com
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References: <fennrjFber7U1@mid.individual.net> <1313349967.541300884.430961.peter_flass-yahoo.com@news.eternal-september.org> <p6vrnc$ue5$1@dont-email.me> <slrnp97b4c.eu5.grahn+nntp@frailea.sa.invalid> <0lq79dpae03ai000r0690fja58qcud4udu@4ax.com> <781108426.541345708.829546.peter_flass-yahoo.com@news.eternal-september.org> <slrnp98rhs.eu5.grahn+nntp@frailea.sa.invalid> <1463069258.541386219.019217.peter_flass-yahoo.com@news.eternal-september.org> <slrnp9e76p.eu5.grahn+nntp@frailea.sa.invalid> <GgFlC.87698$m03.8659@fx38.iad> <14be8814-bfb8-47c4-96c2-ae80334d9bb1@googlegroups.com> <p79gtn22msl@news1.newsguy.com> <87d10njtzp.fsf@garlic.com>
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