I remember when you'd get Hollerith cards in the mail with careful instructions as to how to send them on their way. And I have actually written programs (albeit only as a student exercise) on card punch machines and submitted my program with a rubber band around it to be fed in the Great Maw Of Computing in order to get a printout of the results, and my cards, 30 minutes later (if the comp sci center wasn't too busy).
I wonder what will emerge in the future to make USB thumb drives look to our kids the way floppy disks and Hollerith cards look to us now.
I remember using punch cards to load encryption into radios·while in the army in 1996.· To me punch cards are much more wonderous then floppies and thumb drives.
Thanks for sharing all the archaeological dig findings, now I wonder what goodies·Parallax has hidden away in their office closets.
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There is no problem that can't be solved with a suitable amount of explosives!
What will make USB thumb drives look old? The fact that they are visible. I predict that eventually everything will be based on servers or memory banks far away and that the concept of getting internet off cable will be as extinct as drawing water from a well. Everything will be wireless. There will be towers streaming lightning fast internet access, not just to surf the web, but it will be your hard drive as well. You will pay a small fee to tap these towers and the idea of "WiFi hotspots" will sound ridiculous. This same network will stream your TV and even video games, and you will never buy movies, games, or music at the store, but will download it with a quick push of a button to be accessible on your TVs, Computers, phones, and everything else. You will never have to transfer anything, the idea of cable transfers and "syncing" your devices will sound as ridiculous as programming with punch cards. Everything that you own will be able to access your data wirelessly, so how could something NOT have your info on it? Everything will be so easy that you won't have to do anything for the sake of work.
As a result of this, creativity will be an art lost to the entertainment industry.
I found it in the darkest·corner of the shed. It took me a while, I·had to fight tumbling boxes of old boards to get it. I remember reading it and at the time I was very impressed! I'm indeed honoured Sir. Do you have a copy of that issue? If you don't then please contact me with your details and I'll send you my copy.
For the others I've scanned the first page.
Cheers,
Dave
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It's all a function of time.
When I went to high school in the late 70's/early 80's. In 1980 I first learned to program on a PDP11/03 on marked cards. We used to program in Basic and Fortran, and mark them character by character with a 2B pencil, and got print outs in 120 column paper?··(green and white rows). I remember I·got a detention for drawing a little too much attention to myself by crashing it with a·large multi card program·where I used a 5B pencil.·The homework was to make a program to calculate Farenheit to Celcius, and show the result for a number. I was a little overzelous and did it for the celcius range of 0-100 degrees with·a graph showing Farenheit in the Y axis and Celcius in the X axis). I found that the 2B pencil markings had a misrate for large card runs, which you'd have to re-submit and re-run. So I experimented and found that I could get a more reliable run result with a 5B pencil. However it apparently dirtied the machine and made subsequent runs fail.... sigh.
I found one of my programming cards in the shed while finding Phils article.
Ahhh those were the days :-)
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It's all a function of time.
Post Edited (zoopydogsit) : 6/3/2010 7:15:31 AM GMT
Phil C Pilgrim sir, I googled your name after I saw 'Mar. 1993' from the article you wrote which Zoopydogsit posted. Zoopydogsit described, "...tumbling boxes of old boards..." He's been doing this for a long time too. I uttered "Whoa!" when I saw how many times your name came up. I will shortly change "PropellerHead" above my avatar back to 'registered member'. I·was excited at becoming involved with the propeller but it is an·association I have to earn. That change is unimportant. Being an accepted member of this forum means more. Many of the engineers here are relative giants and I want to express my respect for all of you.·
To tell the truth, I enjoy occasionally programming Stamps using the original DOS editors on an old Toshiba 486 laptop. No one even thinks about stealing an old laptop, so I use it as an on-site debug terminal for some Stamp aps.
I·won the very first TCFFHRC·with a Stamp 1 on a Compaq LTE 286 in 1994. Those were the daze!
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ·"If you build it, they will come."
Don't sweat it. I don't think anyone minds you using the "propellerhead" in your avatar or sig. Actually it's refreshing to see so much enthusiasm! What I love about these forums is that there are folks from around the world, varying skill levels, and interests, all wanting to share. I've learned considerably more from what people are trying to do, the approaches they considered, the diagnostic methods, solutions and wisdom, and more than from any technical guide or manual.
Like most folks in this forum, I just play with Propellers as a hobby, they give me the creative, technical and intellectual challenge that I don't get·elsewhere in my life.·I'd love to do it full time but haven't worked out how to make it pay.·Unfortunatley at best I'm time poor. I wish I had them 20-30 years ago when I had spare time, I could have done some amazing stuff!!
In regards to the piles of boards,·I collect old boards out of almost anything for the spare parts.·You never know when you need an inductor/cap/pot/transistor, etc. And often it's quicker to lift it off an old board than it is to go to the nearest electronics store. Though I'll probably never use most of it.· I collect stuff from friends, neighbours, relatives. Where I live we have council clean-ups a couple of times a year, where everyone in the neighbourhood throws out their old furniture, this too can be a good source of old electronics.·I strip stuff down for the electonics, cables, springs, screws, nuts, etc. They all can come in handy. Though I probably have more than I'll ever practically need/use. And some of it's now very old. My poor shed is bursting at the seems again. I purge stuff from time to time only to realize that I needed it later on.... so it can be hard to let go.
I've found that;
- Printers are very useful for motors, driver circuitry, opto interupters, switches, belts, springs etc.
- Scanners are useful for stepper motors, driver circuitry, belts, optics.
- PC hard drives are good for SMD tantalums.
- Video recorders are useful for motors, gears, belts, springs, cables and·electronics.
- TV's and radios are useful for their electronics. Good source of inductors, caps, etc.
Even old telephones can be useful, I have one I hacked as a test DTMF generator :-) Cool!
Google and the Internet (alldatasheets.com, etc) is an amazing place on getting information on IC's on boards, etc. Though there are a lot of IC's (especially Japanese) that have no data - sigh! However when you can find the data they can often be very useful. For example I hacked an old telephone a few months back as a DTMF reference source. I was able to do this as I found the datasheet for the tone generator IC in the phone, and was able to work out what to disconnect, what to jumper, where to apply power and where to get the signal. It'll never work as a phone again, but then again I have a box of them in the shed (somewhere!).
I don't touch old Microwave ovens.·I've heard they are too dangerous! Google "Microwave Oven Capacitor discharge". And·a warning about old TV's, the EHT·still holds a charge for years and is dangerous,·it's normally the part on the picture tube·connected by·a heavy·red rubber cable. Due to the capacitance it will·hold it's charge.·Just·snip it clean with some insulated handled wire cutters should be fine.
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It's all a function of time.
·" Like most folks in this forum, I just play with Propellers as a hobby, they give me the creative, technical and intellectual challenge that I don't get·elsewhere in my life.·I'd love to do it full time but haven't worked out how to make it pay.·Unfortunatley at best I'm time poor. I wish I had them 20-30 years ago when I had spare time, I could have done some amazing stuff!!"
Ditto for me. I guess I'm not alone. I run downstairs when I hear UPS knocking. I've been at this since '09'. I'd like to make up for lost time.
Comments
Thanks for sharing all the archaeological dig findings, now I wonder what goodies·Parallax has hidden away in their office closets.
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There is no problem that can't be solved with a suitable amount of explosives!
EOD Memorial
As a result of this, creativity will be an art lost to the entertainment industry.
*sigh* I hope the last part does not come true.
Micro
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Check out my new website!!
Use the Propeller icon!!
Follow me on Twitter! Search "Microcontrolled"
*sigh* I hope the last part does not come true. "
Too late... it's already a lost art in the entertainment industry! Even worse in the advertising industry.
I found it in the darkest·corner of the shed. It took me a while, I·had to fight tumbling boxes of old boards to get it. I remember reading it and at the time I was very impressed! I'm indeed honoured Sir. Do you have a copy of that issue? If you don't then please contact me with your details and I'll send you my copy.
For the others I've scanned the first page.
Cheers,
Dave
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It's all a function of time.
Yes, I saved my copy. But thanks just the same for the generous offer!
-Phil
BTW, that's the first time I applied Parallax dev tools to propellers!
Post Edited (Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)) : 6/3/2010 7:05:36 AM GMT
When I went to high school in the late 70's/early 80's. In 1980 I first learned to program on a PDP11/03 on marked cards. We used to program in Basic and Fortran, and mark them character by character with a 2B pencil, and got print outs in 120 column paper?··(green and white rows). I remember I·got a detention for drawing a little too much attention to myself by crashing it with a·large multi card program·where I used a 5B pencil.·The homework was to make a program to calculate Farenheit to Celcius, and show the result for a number. I was a little overzelous and did it for the celcius range of 0-100 degrees with·a graph showing Farenheit in the Y axis and Celcius in the X axis). I found that the 2B pencil markings had a misrate for large card runs, which you'd have to re-submit and re-run. So I experimented and found that I could get a more reliable run result with a 5B pencil. However it apparently dirtied the machine and made subsequent runs fail.... sigh.
I found one of my programming cards in the shed while finding Phils article.
Ahhh those were the days :-)
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It's all a function of time.
Post Edited (zoopydogsit) : 6/3/2010 7:15:31 AM GMT
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Fun sites to see old computer stuff:
http://oldcomputermuseum.com/My_Collection.html
http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org
To tell the truth, I enjoy occasionally programming Stamps using the original DOS editors on an old Toshiba 486 laptop. No one even thinks about stealing an old laptop, so I use it as an on-site debug terminal for some Stamp aps.
I·won the very first TCFFHRC·with a Stamp 1 on a Compaq LTE 286 in 1994. Those were the daze!
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·"If you build it, they will come."
Post Edited (erco) : 6/7/2010 6:20:30 PM GMT
Don't sweat it. I don't think anyone minds you using the "propellerhead" in your avatar or sig. Actually it's refreshing to see so much enthusiasm! What I love about these forums is that there are folks from around the world, varying skill levels, and interests, all wanting to share. I've learned considerably more from what people are trying to do, the approaches they considered, the diagnostic methods, solutions and wisdom, and more than from any technical guide or manual.
Like most folks in this forum, I just play with Propellers as a hobby, they give me the creative, technical and intellectual challenge that I don't get·elsewhere in my life.·I'd love to do it full time but haven't worked out how to make it pay.·Unfortunatley at best I'm time poor. I wish I had them 20-30 years ago when I had spare time, I could have done some amazing stuff!!
In regards to the piles of boards,·I collect old boards out of almost anything for the spare parts.·You never know when you need an inductor/cap/pot/transistor, etc. And often it's quicker to lift it off an old board than it is to go to the nearest electronics store. Though I'll probably never use most of it.· I collect stuff from friends, neighbours, relatives. Where I live we have council clean-ups a couple of times a year, where everyone in the neighbourhood throws out their old furniture, this too can be a good source of old electronics.·I strip stuff down for the electonics, cables, springs, screws, nuts, etc. They all can come in handy. Though I probably have more than I'll ever practically need/use. And some of it's now very old. My poor shed is bursting at the seems again. I purge stuff from time to time only to realize that I needed it later on.... so it can be hard to let go.
I've found that;
- Printers are very useful for motors, driver circuitry, opto interupters, switches, belts, springs etc.
- Scanners are useful for stepper motors, driver circuitry, belts, optics.
- PC hard drives are good for SMD tantalums.
- Video recorders are useful for motors, gears, belts, springs, cables and·electronics.
- TV's and radios are useful for their electronics. Good source of inductors, caps, etc.
Even old telephones can be useful, I have one I hacked as a test DTMF generator :-) Cool!
Google and the Internet (alldatasheets.com, etc) is an amazing place on getting information on IC's on boards, etc. Though there are a lot of IC's (especially Japanese) that have no data - sigh! However when you can find the data they can often be very useful. For example I hacked an old telephone a few months back as a DTMF reference source. I was able to do this as I found the datasheet for the tone generator IC in the phone, and was able to work out what to disconnect, what to jumper, where to apply power and where to get the signal. It'll never work as a phone again, but then again I have a box of them in the shed (somewhere!).
I don't touch old Microwave ovens.·I've heard they are too dangerous! Google "Microwave Oven Capacitor discharge". And·a warning about old TV's, the EHT·still holds a charge for years and is dangerous,·it's normally the part on the picture tube·connected by·a heavy·red rubber cable. Due to the capacitance it will·hold it's charge.·Just·snip it clean with some insulated handled wire cutters should be fine.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
It's all a function of time.
·" Like most folks in this forum, I just play with Propellers as a hobby, they give me the creative, technical and intellectual challenge that I don't get·elsewhere in my life.·I'd love to do it full time but haven't worked out how to make it pay.·Unfortunatley at best I'm time poor. I wish I had them 20-30 years ago when I had spare time, I could have done some amazing stuff!!"
Ditto for me. I guess I'm not alone. I run downstairs when I hear UPS knocking. I've been at this since '09'. I'd like to make up for lost time.
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