Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/03/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Adam, You revive old recollections. Though I was not computer-oriented, I had some brilliant techies working for me. Our first attempt at wind tunnel control improvements was to provide test environment displays in true engineering units, rather than as instrument readouts. We utilized a surplus DEC PDP-8, loading the programs with punched paper tape. After proving the concept, we went on to DEC PDP-11s and eventually a VAX. This led to computerized control of selected plant valves in order to hold testing conditions within tight tolerances during the data-taking process. The first computer that I actually utilized personally was made by Xerox and utilized two 8-INCH floppy drives, one for the operating system and one for the application and data. Those were the days! Jim Nichols Tullahoma, TN USA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Adam Bridge" <abridge@gmail.com> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org> Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2007 11:57 AM Subject: Re: [Leica] Re:SD cards in M8 > My first "real" computer was a DEC PDP-11/23. It had 64K(!) of RAM and > a huge, I say HUGE, as in VAST 5 MB hard drive. Of course the entire > operating system footprint was 4 KB, 8 KB if I elected to use the > non-overlayed version. Later we had the PDP-11/70 on a chip (the J11 I > think it was called) and it address 4MB of RAM that cost at least $4k. > > Today even small drivers take 4k and just the space lost in formatting > a typical hard drive totals more than the entire disk capacity I owned > in the first 10, no make it 15, years of computing. > > I wish I had kept the VAXstation I had which was a wonderful machine > with a rock-solid OS (VAX/VMS). Ah well . . . the good ol' days. > > Adam > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >