Dennis
Full Member
Old but still active
Posts: 147
|
Post by Dennis on Feb 24, 2022 4:16:32 GMT -5
Long story.... Started my IT career in 1967/68 programming IBM 1400 and S/360 machines with max 16k memory. This was before the advent of disk drives so had to load operating systems etc off punch cards, Paper tape, and magnetic tape. Began using disk drives in 1969 (IBM 2311) and was excited by random access and index-sequential. Programmed in Assembler 360, COBOL, RPG, PL/1, and FORTRAN mainly on mainframes. Started to use BASIC on UNIVAC mainframes but still continued with COBOL, FORTRAN, etc. on Burroughs, Perkin-Elmer, DataPoint, Olliveti, machines. Built my first home computer (South West Technical) in 1976 and stated to use BASIC on it. I still have a chip containing Bill Gates' first BASIC interpreter. Prior to the advent of the PC in about 1982 or so I used BASIC on the ALTOS machines under the THEOS operating system. I regard the ALTOS and its OS and BASIC as one of the best small machines I worked on. At that time, the ALTOS was capable of taking on a the DEC-VAX which I also programmed. The company I worked for needed distributed computing power on construction sites so used the ALTOS with a complete range of construction software which I wrote in BASIC. Replicated that software on a Perkin-Elmer mainframe using COBOL and FORTRAN. With the advent of the IBM-PC, I started to use MS-BASIC on them and wrote my own "windowing" system to handle input and displays. When MS came out out with Windows 1 (I still have the floppies and manual for it). I made a serious move to using PC's and MS-BASIC but was still under MS-DOS. Tried VB but never liked it. Started to use EWBASIC extensively under Windows and developed a range of commercially available software for Construction, Project Management, Equipment Management, and simulations. When EW-BASIC went off the market, I switched to LB and converted all my commercial software to it (still busy). Luckily I stuck to "basic" BASIC so conversions were not too difficult. LB will probably be my final "language" Been in the game for the past 54 years. Currently retired but still lecturing and authoring books on IT Project Management, Engineering Project Management, Agile, Risk, etc. I still have a number of the earlier microcomputers in my "museum". Commodores (PET etc.), Olivettis, HP, BBC, Sinclairs, ALTOS, etc. Most belonged to my son and we programmed them together in BASIC. Sounds like a long hobbiest/Professional career but then I am old
|
|
bplus
Full Member
Posts: 127
|
Post by bplus on Feb 24, 2022 13:58:02 GMT -5
Well I m impressed. Building your own computer cool!
I got a Pi and thought I might be doing that but no... and the screen was so tiny for these old eyes, I took it back.
|
|
Dennis
Full Member
Old but still active
Posts: 147
|
Post by Dennis on Feb 24, 2022 14:42:45 GMT -5
Thanks !! I have connected my PI to a normal screen - my eyes are just as bad if not worse! Running "UNIX" on the one PI. Playing with Windows on another... Waiting for LB to "go" PI
|
|
|
Post by gidiom2 on Feb 24, 2022 15:30:20 GMT -5
Thanks !! I have connected my PI to a normal screen - my eyes are just as bad if not worse! Running "UNIX" on the one PI. Playing with Windows on another... Waiting for LB to "go" PI Dennis & bplus, its simple to use your existing PC as the screen by either SSH or Remote desktop into the pi. No need for a dedicated screen.
|
|
bplus
Full Member
Posts: 127
|
Post by bplus on Feb 24, 2022 16:20:01 GMT -5
SSH? is it a secret?
Seriously, I see myself saying the whole time, "This would better on my Windows 10 laptop without all the fuss."
I was like that with Python, "This is better in Basic." ;-))
(Well not quite, learned some new ways of looking at a PL with Python.)
|
|
Dennis
Full Member
Old but still active
Posts: 147
|
Post by Dennis on Feb 25, 2022 1:03:27 GMT -5
I agree that you can use your PC or laptop but..... (Tongue in cheek) The two PCs in my office are used to make money...... My laptop is used to make money while travelling...... My PI's are in my electronics workshop.... Non-revenue making hobby!! Unfortunately I still have to work to afford my hobbies!
|
|
|
Post by gidiom2 on Feb 25, 2022 3:32:20 GMT -5
Hi Dennis, but you said you were retired , what, no PC in your workshop to run LB?
|
|
|
Post by meerkat on Feb 25, 2022 7:25:43 GMT -5
WHOA! Never thought I'd see anyone here that has been in the business as long as I have. I also started around 67. Remember the EAM (IBM Electronic Accounting Machines). Did board wiring at Boeing. Their computer room was about as big as a football field. I used all kinds of computers including the 1400's starting with 4K. Wrote everything in assembler, even on the 360's, RCA's Honeywell and others. I really liked the DEC machines. We planned for days just to save one bit on a disk file layout. We would actually place the records in reverse order on disk just to save the amount of time it took the disk to rotate. I wrote my own OS for the IBM/S7. A real time machine larger than a refrigerator, you could easily replace today with a PI. We even wrote our own key board and display software - seems crazy today. Can't even remember how many languages I've used. I mainly designed systems for large companies that needed global access. Trying to get access around the world was a real challenge. Today the web solves most of that problem. I had a company that I sold and retired early. Like you I'm still at it. Write mostly software for charity. Just completed a system for food banks.
I always say I've done everything at least once.
Keep on going.. Dan
|
|
Dennis
Full Member
Old but still active
Posts: 147
|
Post by Dennis on Feb 25, 2022 7:39:22 GMT -5
Retired does not mean that you have stopped working. You still need money to fund expensive hobbies. People quickly find out that you will run out of money before you run out of time... Yip, I have a PC in the workshop... Home built and in pieces...
|
|
Dennis
Full Member
Old but still active
Posts: 147
|
Post by Dennis on Feb 25, 2022 8:00:59 GMT -5
Hey Dan. You have brought back memories of the IBM 400, S/3, CDC, and ICL machines that I also worked on. Remembered things like rotational delay, disk addresses such as CC-HH-TT (cylinder,head, and track) and someting called the UPSI card. Working with limited memory and "clumsy" disk files taught me a lot and I still apply defensive, economical programming today. Old habits die hard - still try to save memory and disk space to the extent that I weigh up space-saving options every time I design or develop a system. I worked on the design and development of software used on social projects run by the World Bank and the UN in Africa. A Meerkat is a small South African mammal similar to a ground squirel without the tail. Why did you pick that as your username? Regards Dennis PS. Just remembered the Ollivetti and Burroughs accounting machines and the IBM 1800 laboratory machines...
|
|
|
Post by meerkat on Feb 25, 2022 9:00:53 GMT -5
Hay Dennis, OMG.. I remember all that stuff! How about autocoder - remember that? You are correct about old habits. I also worry about memory and disk space, even when I know I'm spending time on something not really necessary today. But can't help myself. Most crazy machine I worked on was a paper tape and card NCR machine that had memory cells that did special stuff. We even designed and programmed our own interface cards with something like z80 chips to do real time that you could address with a twisted pair. Yes - You could do tricks with CC-HH-TT to place records, especially when doing them in reverse order. Meerkat's are clever, resourceful, and work together as a team. And my wife thinks they are cute. Just tooo much fun..
Dan
|
|
|
Post by Carl Gundel on Feb 25, 2022 11:10:16 GMT -5
WHOA! Never thought I'd see anyone here that has been in the business as long as I have. I also started around 67. LOL I was born in 1967, but I did start early when I was 11 years old programming my father’s HP-67, and my brother Ernie and I were lucky enough to have access to an HP-3000 via dialup acoustic coupler. Then our dad built a Heathkit H-89 and I got my own TI-57. Then I would play around at local computer stores with Commodore, Apple and Atari computers. Then I met a local businessman at one store at 15 years old I started writing software with him. Finally I got a job at 20 years old with a local circuitboard fabricator! They had CNC machines there and I wrote a bunch of software for the CNC programmers and then a whole ton of other stuff in BASIC, C and Smalltalk. The rest is history.
|
|
Dennis
Full Member
Old but still active
Posts: 147
|
Post by Dennis on Feb 25, 2022 16:19:09 GMT -5
Wow Carl. You are as old as Dan and me have been in computers. We started in 1967 the year you were born. I suddenly feel old....
|
|
Dennis
Full Member
Old but still active
Posts: 147
|
Post by Dennis on Feb 25, 2022 16:29:27 GMT -5
Dan, I asked the question about "Meerkat" as it is a South African annimal. The word Meerkat is actually an Afrikaans word meaning "lake cat". I don't know where the lake came from as they mainly live in arid areas and nowhere near bodies of water. They are related to the mongoose which in other countries live in or near water so perhaps that is where the "lake" came from. I was born and bred and lived in South Africa for 66 years before moving to Greece. I go back there 3 times a year to lecture. I have a coffee table book all about the meerkat. They are really cute, fun, intelligent, and family oriented animals. You have to see them in the wild to really appreciate them. Kids in South Africa love them!! Regards Dennis PS. I remember Autocoder well!
|
|
|
Post by Carl Gundel on Feb 25, 2022 17:12:09 GMT -5
Wow Carl. You are as old as Dan and me have been in computers. We started in 1967 the year you were born. I suddenly feel old.... Me too. Whenever I ask my 92 year old dad (also named Carl) he answers with "Old".
|
|