Fouled coil?
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Optical fanfold, or the older mechanical tape reader/punch? When we got a high-speed optical tape reader for the PDP 8/s, it was like entering a brave new world.
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I’m beginning to think Medievalist refers to when you got your first systems engineering job 
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I engineered my first sonata around 1972 or '73 (mercifully long since lost). Musical systems count, don’t they?
Actually, my first time programming would have been about ‘69-‘70, a 2-1/2’ x 2-1/2’ x 1-1/2’ minicomputer with a teletype interface and a Dartmouth Basic ROM monitor, maybe about 4 kb of memory. F*cked if I know the make (brought into my school for a weekend), but it had to have been one of the very first.
My first programme ran quite well with a bit of work, printing function tables for (iirc) super- and sub-ellipses. (Those were the days when Piet Hein was a celebrity. 
)
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The tapes I used for PDP sysgens were fan-folded in trays for storage, but the reader I had to use was a Teletype model 33 (that used the same paper as the hand-towel dispenser in the men’s room) terminal with an eight-bit tape muncher on the left of the keyboard. I honestly don’t remember if it was optical or not, but I remember the reader was designed for spools not fanfolds so it would periodically tear the damn tape on the folds.
Other than my brief stint programming giant robots for Uncle Dupie, I have never had position where there was any distinction between systems engineering, programming, and systems administration. Nowadays I do all that and networking too.
Hey, you beat me, you ancient nerd! I didn’t write any real programs until around 74 or 75. @d_r is probably older than me, too, since he’s got PDP-8 experience. I did very little on the 8, although I used a lot of different PDP-11 models and OSes.
Now I’m the spring chicken! BUKAWK!
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[quote=“Medievalist, post:86, topic:85632, full:true”]
The tapes I used for PDP sysgens were fan-folded in trays for storage, but the reader I had to use was a Teletype model 33 (that used the same paper as the hand-towel dispenser in the men’s room) terminal with an eight-bit tape muncher on the left of the keyboard. I honestly don’t remember if it was optical or not, but I remember the reader was designed for spools not fanfolds so it would periodically tear the damn tape on the folds.[/quote]
The teletype reader used little sensor pins; it could read either the standard tape or the fanfold, but the standard tape was stronger and a little oily so lubricated the mechanism as it was used, and didn’t tear as readily. We started with just the teletype, but later got the optical reader, it was hugely faster and very satisfying to watch.
Hey, you beat me, you ancient nerd! I didn’t write any real programs until around 74 or 75. @d_r is probably older than me, too, since he’s got PDP-8 experience. I did very little on the 8, although I used a lot of different PDP-11 models and OSes.
I dunno, I used the PDP 8/s in '71-2. However, my first programming was through an outreach program at the local Army base on an IBM 360, might have been '69-70 like PatRx2. JCL and COBOL.
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Um, by any chance was that Army base the Army Reserve in New Castle County, Delaware, and by any chance was that outreach to the local Explorers?
Because I don’t actually ever admit to knowing any JCL or COBOL nor to having ever used punch cards, but, um…
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…you’d have to run away screaming if you did…
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Fort Sheridan in Illinois, and yes, it was a scouting outreach.
I used punch cards all through grad school. The Univac did have some terminals on it, but the per-minute cost ate through allocated budget too quickly, I preferred submitting decks then looking for the errors right on the printout offline over a beer at the student union.
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Well, in that case I categorically deny having ever been involved with punch cards or any mainframe prior to the 9672. And only in order to install the IP stack on that one and later ones. Because of what Pat said, you know.
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