Punch cards

[Irish]

Now BobD ... I KNOW that you are not old enough to remember "Do Not Spindle, Fold or Mutilate" let alone have had ANY experience with processing Punch Cards!!

Don't pick on you elders!

Susan

Bouncing S

[BobD (Archive)]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

what are punchcards?

Bob

[Ashbys]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

Oh no! I know what they are !!!

Sad

[BobD (Archive)]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

Does it having something to do with Hanging Chads?

Bob

[Ashbys]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

Only in Fla. !Talking

[kaiserb]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

Does it having something to do with Hanging Chads?

Bob

This thing never left hanging chads it punched all the way through and then some:

http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/jpgs/cardpunch.jpg

[wade clark]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

Bob,
No, nor dangling participles!
You are kidding, right?
Wade

[Irish]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

OK ... now I REALLY DO feel old. For all of you Young Bucks this Old Doe will do some straightening out here ...

All computers work in binary code which is written using only two charaters ... 0 (zero) and 1 (one). That's all they read. So somewhere deep inside your computer below the DOS programs is the binary coding that creates that program.

Punch cards were the original method for programing a computer. The cards were approxiamately 3" high by about 7" long with rows of small rectangles across their face. Whether each rectangle was punched out or not told the computer the binary code. I believe that it was if the rectangle was solid it was a 0 and if punched a 1.

We would have box loads of these that got feed into the computer hopper in order and the computer read the binary code which told it what to do. So you stood beside this HUGE monster and feed stacks and stacks of these punch cards into the hopper just so the stupid computer could add and subtract or alphabetize a listing or print a series of numbers.

Besides having to feed the computer you had to keep all the punch cards in exact order and face up. If you dropped a stack of punch cards there was no way to put them back in correct order ... so the whole pre-punching job had to be done again. So this is where the "Do Not Spindle, Fold or Mutilate" slogan came from for if you did you trashed your computer program.

After punch cards came the magnetic tape ... which was exactly like you use in a tape player for music. If you accidentally picked up a digital tape and put into the radio's tape deck it sounded exactly like the fax machine on the telephone.

The original floppy was next and it was this extremely thin sheet of plastic that got laid into a drawer that pushed into the computer. The ones I remember were the same funny red color of 33 rpm records ... Don't ask me about 33's !!!!!! And they really were floppy ... you would hold one by a corner and wave it up and down.

Computer programs got more sophisticated about then and we had wonderful words that the computer was pre-programed to understand as RUN or GOTO. By then you could 'almost' type a program in English ... Almost!

Now all of this was about the time that the Apollo rockets made their space voyages. At that time the space capsule computers had less memory then the average math calculator that your fifth grader takes to school with him or her.

That brings me to the time that created the Y2K bug (2000) because they only entered the year in a date with the last two numbers ... Why, you ask ... Well, I'll tell you say I ... because it took a whole 17 KB to enter the other two numbers and 17KB was a tremendous amount of memory space in those days. Our first home PC had this huge huge huge hard drive of 3 gig and my brother, the computer nerd in the family, called it a cannon for us to go duck hunting with.

Which totally makes me feel like a real old granny around here because I Remember When you would CLICK on an internet page that was all text ( no pictures yet) then you would go get some coffee, go to the bathroom, check the TV news, and when you got back you were STILL waiting for the page to load.

AHHHH!

Susan

PS ... Michael is adding that he remembers when you needed two floppies ... one was your operating system (Windows) and the other the program you wanted to run.

[Irish]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

Oh Whosits! I'm so old that I remeber when you picked up the telephone and Thelma Straw, the telephone operator for Bell Telephone, would ask you who you wanted to talk to. Our phone number was 585J and it was a party line for about six houses. Touch pad??? Dials??? No, just Mrs. Straw and you had better be nice and polite to her or she wouldn't place your call.

Old Mamma Susan

[Ashbys]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

Thats ok Susan ,

I can remember using punch cards at work, when they were used to operate machines. Not the same as the puchcard your speaking of but along the same principle. And I will take you back just a bit father, I remember a lot of houses without indoor bathrooms. I also remember when color TV came out. And having only 48 states. Opps now we are getting back too far .. no I don't remeber any of that! uhh lets see who was Jimmy Hendrix ...Exclamatio

hehe
Ash

[wade clark]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

I just remember that when I was in the Navy I had to give one of these cards to the Yeoman, in perfect shape, not folded etc., or I didn't get paid that month!
Our operator was a sweet blind lady, Elsie, who was also the reporter for the local paper. It took 10 minutes of telling her everything you knew about everyone else, then she'd place the call. Everyone else already knew the news, because they were all listening on the party line! I think our number was 42 and our ring was two shorts and a long. That was up town! Before that, it was 3 rings and there were only 3 phones on the whole system! You could call UP Shirttail Creek, or DOWN shirttail Creek, a modern miracle, seeing that those 3 houses spread over nearly 4 miles! You used these funny things called envelopes, stationery and stamps to contact New York or anywhere you couldn't ride the horse or drive to. And I'm only 56! Time flies!
Wade
Wade

[Old_Gord]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

I know it's OT, but not OT to the theme that the last few messages are using.Smile
Thought it might just fit in, if it's too OT for some I'll remove it.

"OLD GEEZERS"

"Geezers" (slang for an old man) are easy to spot: At sporting events,
during the playing of the National Anthem, Old Geezers remove their caps
and stand at attention and sing without embarrassment. They know the
words and believe in them.

Old Geezers remember the Depression, World War II, Pearl Harbor,
Guadalcanal Normandy and Hitler. They remember the Atomic Age, the
Korean War 1950-53-55, The Cold War, the jet age, and the moon landing, the 50 plus Peacekeeping Missions from 1945 to 2005, the Jet Age and the Moon Landing, not to mention Vietnam.

If you bump into an Old Geezer on the sidewalk, he will apologize. If
you pass an Old Geezer on the street, he will nod or tip his cap to a
lady. Old Geezers trust strangers and are courtly to women. Old Geezers
hold the door for the next person and always, when walking, make certain
the lady is on the inside for protection.

Old Geezers get embarrassed if someone curses in front of women and
children and they don't like any filth on TV or in movies. Old Geezers
have moral courage. They seldom brag unless it's about their
grandchildren.

It's the Old Geezers who know our great country is protected, not by
politicians or police, but by the young men and women in the military
serving their country.

This country needs Old Geezers with their decent values. We need them
now more than ever! Thank God for Old Geezers!


Cheers.

OG

[GaryMc]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

Hey Gord!
I am an old geezer also. But I was born just a little later, (1951) but you described me to a tee, and many others here I imagine. I don't know if it was off topic or not, but I enjoyed it! Thanks!
GaryMc TalkingTalking

[kaiserb]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

That brings me to the time that created the Y2K bug (2000) because they only entered the year in a date with the last two numbers ... Why, you ask ... Well, I'll tell you say I ... because it took a whole 17 KB to enter the other two numbers and 17KB was a tremendous amount of memory space in those days. Our first home PC had this huge huge huge hard drive of 3 gig and my brother, the computer nerd in the family, called it a cannon for us to go duck hunting with.

The nerd in me had to correct this... 1970 in Binary is 00001111 0110010 (2 bytes, or 2 8 bit sets) Whereas 70 in binary is 01000110 (1 byte or 1 8 bit set) Thus taking half of the memory or one byte I think you meant to say a 4 digit number took 17 bits (sixteen plus a stop bit). [calculations courtesy of http://www.mistupid.com/computers/bytes.htm ]

I remeber having a X86 with a 20 meg drive that was about the size of a cigar box. That was known as a great home PC. Now my VOIP telephone has more memory and calc power.

I also remember when an IBM green card was a yellow book on Sys 360 and Sys 370. Now that was a operating system http://www.planetmvs.com/greencard/

[wade clark]

Re: How To technique for clean "joints" and sides

Kaiserb,
not "a operating system", rather "an operating system". Man, finally I get to correct you on something, after all that other stuff went over my head so high and so fast!!!
I learn alot from all your techno-speak. don't stop! It's great to see someone who absorbs knowledge and passes it on. I mostly pick what I can use and wonder later what I missed. I barely benefit from that, let alone anyone else. Your in depth info has been greatly insightful and beneficial many times to me and everyone else here!
Thanks!
Wade
p.s. This is all in sincerity except the "a" vs. "an". wc