3 Nov
2022
3 Nov
'22
8:01 p.m.
On 11/3/2022 2:36 PM, Rich Morin wrote:
I was nominally a music major at S.F. State at that time, in the midst
of my self-imposed avoidance of computers, that started with disdain
from my initial exposure to Fortran on IBM 1620 at U of MO-Columbia in
1964 and ended with semi-abandoning my rock and roll pursuits in early
1971 and starting C.S. studies at UT-Austin. I also took math courses at
S.F. State in 1968 but was unaware of the above cited "lab".
Regarding keyboarding skills, I took touch-typing in summer school after
9th grade, got a SCM portable electric typewriter that I might still
have, and am still grateful for QWERTY facility that has served me ever
since, on card punch, 2741, 3270, Displaywriter, and more obscure and
more modern keyboards.
CHS
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On Thu, Nov 3,
2022 at 11:19 AM Paul Winalski <paul.winalski(a)gmail.com> wrote:
The model 33 had a very fast and powerful carriage return mechanism,
good for cracking walnuts ...
In 1968, San Francisco State College (now yclept "University") set up a
"computer lab", based on a few IBM 2741 terminals. These were hooked by leased
lines to Stanford's Wylbur system and allowed us to do line-based editing,
interactive Lisp, etc.
Anyway, the terminals were based on the I/O Selectric, and the ball impacts were powered
by a spinning bar with pretty much infinite torque. One day, an insufficiently cautious
TA got her long, straight hair wound onto the bar. Each character that was printed pulled
her head closer to the terminal.
Fortunately, someone hit the OFF switch in time to avoid bloodshed. Then, we were able
to carefully unwind her hair and free her from the terminal. IIRC, we didn't even
have to cut any of her hair in the process...