Re: RCA301 was Re: IBM 1401 was: Re: Is it possible to use the value of the PROGRAM I

robert.deletethis@wagner.net (Robert Wagner) wrote

> Everything about the RCA 301 (aka ICT1500) seemed like a joke. It had a di
sk
> drive made by Wurlitzer that looked and worked like a juke box.

Then you missed the joke.  That drive was _not_ made by Wurlitzer, it
was called 'Wurlitzer' as a joke because it worked like a juke box.
This was no more strange than other mechanisms, such as MCF (Magnetic
Card File) or the IBM system that used a mechanical loading system for
tape cartridges to store and recover disk data.

> When an IO error
> occurred, the machine stopped and a red light came on. The operator was ex
pected
> to fix the record in memory (how?) and continue.

When it had an 'IO error' the machine stopped and the operator fixed
the card and refed it.

> It had a three-speed card
> reader that required the programmer to start downshifting about a hundred
> cards from the end.

No, it didn't require the _programmer_ to downshift.

I worked for ICT (International Computers and Tabulators), later it
was renamed ICL when it merged with English Electric LEO Marconi and
others.

> Perhaps the biggest joke was the tape drives. They were designed with a
> hook-and-eye fastener between the removable tape and the permanent leader.

It was quite common to have preloaded leaders, not only with computer
tape drives, but with commercial audio and vieo drives too.  And not
just reel to reel, I still have some 3 inch cartridge tapes (that is
the diameter of the cartridge not the width of the tape) that
automatically clips onto a pretheaded leader on the drive.

> It
> didn't work right, so operators would dismount a tape by cutting it with a
 pair
> of scissors. The first time I saw that, I couldn't believe my eyes. To mou
nt a
> tape, they'd attach it to the leader with splicing tape.

Whatever works for them.