Comments on: Where has the BA book been, Part VIII: River ran through it http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/ I am an astronomer, writer, and skeptic. I likes reality the way it is, and I aims to keep it that way. My real name is Phil Plait, and I run the Bad Astronomy blog. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:56:02 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Barton Paul Levenson http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/comment-page-1/#comment-61355 Barton Paul Levenson Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:43:59 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/#comment-61355 I programmed PDP-11s in FORTRAN for years. Now I can't get a job as a FORTRAN programmer. Only scientists appear to use the language any more, and they don't seem to hire programmers to do their programming. *sigh* I programmed PDP-11s in FORTRAN for years. Now I can’t get a job as a FORTRAN programmer. Only scientists appear to use the language any more, and they don’t seem to hire programmers to do their programming. *sigh*

]]> By: Nigel Depledge http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/comment-page-1/#comment-61354 Nigel Depledge Sun, 30 Dec 2007 14:39:06 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/#comment-61354 Buzz, I never saw a PDP-1, but I have used (briefly) a PDP-11. It had four hard discs (14" platters, none of the namby-pamby micro mini stuff you get these days), which each had a capacity of 1 MB per side. That was a whole 8 MB of disc space. It also had two 8" floppy drives. One day, it suffered a head crash on disc 0 (i.e. the first disc it accesses during boot-up, so it could no longer find out where the OS was stored). You could actually see the groove the head had carved in the disc. :) Buzz, I never saw a PDP-1, but I have used (briefly) a PDP-11. It had four hard discs (14″ platters, none of the namby-pamby micro mini stuff you get these days), which each had a capacity of 1 MB per side. That was a whole 8 MB of disc space. It also had two 8″ floppy drives.

One day, it suffered a head crash on disc 0 (i.e. the first disc it accesses during boot-up, so it could no longer find out where the OS was stored). You could actually see the groove the head had carved in the disc. :)

]]> By: Michael Lonergan http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/comment-page-1/#comment-61353 Michael Lonergan Sun, 30 Dec 2007 03:14:34 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/#comment-61353 PDP-1? :) I just had to wiki that to see if it was the latest game machine. Apparently it was the first! PDP-1? :)

I just had to wiki that to see if it was the latest game machine. Apparently it was the first!

]]> By: Buzz Parsec http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/comment-page-1/#comment-61352 Buzz Parsec Sun, 30 Dec 2007 02:08:01 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/#comment-61352 VICs? TX1000s? Huh? My first game machine was a PDP-1. :-) VICs? TX1000s? Huh? My first game machine was a PDP-1. :-)

]]> By: Michael Lonergan http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/comment-page-1/#comment-61350 Michael Lonergan Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:11:15 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/#comment-61350 Thomas, I find it amazing that people are still using those old machines for some very practical purposes! I came across a website several months ago devoted to retro-computing, and, boy did that bring back memories. I had a friend in High School (early '80's) that built Apple compatible machines in his basement. Everyone laughed at him. I used to work at Radio Shack, selling the old Tandy Computers! My first "real" computer was a TX 1000, 286 processor. Thomas, I find it amazing that people are still using those old machines for some very practical purposes! I came across a website several months ago devoted to retro-computing, and, boy did that bring back memories. I had a friend in High School (early ’80’s) that built Apple compatible machines in his basement. Everyone laughed at him. I used to work at Radio Shack, selling the old Tandy Computers! My first “real” computer was a TX 1000, 286 processor.

]]> By: Thomas Siefert http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/comment-page-1/#comment-61351 Thomas Siefert Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:48:56 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/#comment-61351 Michael, I started dreaming about getting a Sinclair ZX80 and later a VIC 20, but it wasn't until Commodore 64 came that I stepped into the computer world. The company I work for now used to have their main products with a Z80 chip as the core processor. It used to excite me to no end not only was I working with that ground breaking processor, I was doing it for practical purposes and getting paid to do it too. Michael, I started dreaming about getting a Sinclair ZX80 and later a VIC 20, but it wasn’t until Commodore 64 came that I stepped into the computer world.

The company I work for now used to have their main products with a Z80 chip as the core processor. It used to excite me to no end not only was I working with that ground breaking processor, I was doing it for practical purposes and getting paid to do it too.

]]> By: Michael Lonergan http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/comment-page-1/#comment-61349 Michael Lonergan Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:34:10 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/28/where-has-the-ba-book-been-part-viii-river-ran-through-it/#comment-61349 Thomas, I remember my first gaming machine, a VIC 20. (She may not know what that is/was.) :) Thomas, I remember my first gaming machine, a VIC 20. (She may not know what that is/was.) :)

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