Thread View: alt.folklore.computers
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Started by Jeff Jonas
Wed, 10 Oct 1990 05:40
re: reminiscing about card punches
Author: Jeff Jonas
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 1990 05:40
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 1990 05:40
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(The Cooper Union Computer Center was centered around the PDP11/45 running Version 6 UNIX at the time, so most folks never needed cards. Now it has Vaxen, microVaxen, PS2s, 3B2s and other stuff). You could actually insert and delete text on punched cards. To delete: firmly hold the card you're punching in place. Pressing space will advance the original card. To insert: hold the original card in place while typing. The nicest keypunches I ever used were by Decision Data. They had 2 hoppers and 2 stackers. They had indicators for all error conditions (hopper full, jam), quite unlike the IBM keypunches that just locked the keyboard for ANY error condition. They buffered the entire card and punched the entire card when you pressed "release" (the keypunch equivalent of "enter"/"return"). This allowed you to back up and correct mistakes! They also had modes to verify cards, enter corrections while verifying, interpret cards, even duplicate a deck! "You can't erase a hole" doesn't mean anything anymore. Recent anecdotes aren't about folding, stapling and spindling of cards but of floppy disks. I was chatting to a co-worker who claimed that he never used punched cards. Now that's starting to make me feel old! PS: a fellow once asked for some unused cards for his collection. I finally found the cards, but lost who asked. Jeffrey Jonas jeffj@synsys.uucp synsys!je...@uunet.uu.net
Re: re: reminiscing about card punches
Author: jo... Douglas W. Jones201H MLH31...
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 1990 16:45
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 1990 16:45
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>From article <427@synsys.UUCP>, by jeffj@synsys.UUCP (Jeff Jonas):
>
> PS: a fellow once asked for some unused cards for his collection.
> I finally found the cards, but lost who asked.
>
I asked. I collect punched cards, preferably unpunched with corporate,
university or other organizational logos on them. I will gladly exchange
cards for cards of equal quality and number. I have a stock of cards with
various Bell Labs logos from the early 1970's and prior, as well as a
smaller stock of Carnegie-Mellon cards.
Since you can't e-mail cards, send them to:
Doug Jones
816 Park Road
Iowa City, IA 52246
Include a self-addressed envelope if you want cards in exchange, don't
include such an envelope if you just want to see your cards preserved for
posterity.
WANTED: The card I want the most is an AT&T card from after the adoption
of the Deathstar logo (or American Ball logo as some people called it).
If such cards exist, I want one.
Re: re: reminiscing about card punches
Author: jcmo... Joe Morris
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 1990 21:33
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 1990 21:33
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In a recent article jo...@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones) writes: >I collect punched cards, preferably unpunched with corporate, >university or other organizational logos on them. I will gladly exchange >cards for cards of equal quality and number. I have a stock of cards with >various Bell Labs logos from the early 1970's and prior, as well as a >smaller stock of Carnegie-Mellon cards. > >Since you can't e-mail cards, send them to: Who says you can't e-mail cards? Many years ago we tested the analytical abilities of new operators by telling them to read several boxes of blank cards and put the resulting data on tape. That way if we ran short of blank cards we could just punch off a couple of boxes. It was scary how many operators never questioned the assignment... Joe Morris
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