[ Re: UNIX- Grad-daddy of all modern operating systems?]

[Dale Farnsworth]

> http://georgetoft.com/georgeslaw.shtml
>  From my college days . . .
> 
> "Hey, Grampa, tell us the story about 80 column punch cards, and why a 
> good rubber band was your best friend. You mean you couldn't just talk 
> to the computer?"
> 
> "Well, Sonny, columns 1-5 were for your numeric labels. A 'C' in column 
> 6 meant it was a continuation from the previous line, and your code went 
> in columns 7-72. Columns 73-80 were your card sequence number and it was 
> optional. Nobody liked to put numbers there because if we moved a block 
> of code, we would have to resequence the cards. Screw that - just make 
> sure you had a good rubber band, and another one as a backup in case the 
> first one broke. Gives you a whole new meaning of data backup, huh."
> 
> "Grampa, what was the deal with column 1 on the printer?"
> 
> "Oh, yeah. Put a 1 in column 1 and the printer won't advance. Print 
> about 10 lines with this:
> 1====================================================
> and all of the print wheels on the line printer would line up and the 
> strikers would synchronize and go WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP and shake the whole 
> computer center. Heh, heh, heh. The computer operators would jump out of 
> their skin - they definitely knew when I ran a job."
> 
> "Grampa, what's a line printer?"

Hey, great post George.  So true.  Minor nit though, a 1 in column one
would trigger a new page, a + in column one would overwrite (only on
some printers, though).

Dale