From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: brad at anduin.eldar.org (Brad Spencer) Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2020 19:08:33 -0500 Subject: [COFF] [Simh] Of DEC and cards In-Reply-To: <20200213195715.8D05F18C0AA@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> (jnc@mercury.lcs.mit.edu) Message-ID: jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Noel Chiappa) writes: > > From: Clem Cole > > > I just don't remember seeing actual card readers or punches on the > > PDP-11s > > I'm not sure DEC _had_ a card punch for the PDP11's. Readers, yes, the CR11: > > https://gunkies.org/wiki/CR11_Card_Readers > > but I don't think they had a punch (although there was one for the PDP-10 > family, the CP10). > > I think the CR11 must have been _relatively_ common, based on how many > readers and CR11 controller cards survive. Maybe not in computer science > installations, though... :-) > > Noel > _______________________________________________ > COFF mailing list > COFF at minnie.tuhs.org > https://minnie.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/coff So... in the early 1990s I was at a particular small university in Ohio that had one of the last PDP11/70 running, I believe, RSTS/E in the state of Ohio (or at least that is what the rumors were and what the hardware support guy said once). While I honestly don't remember what it was used for that PDP11 had a card reader for sure, and something or other had to be doing the punching (I think I remember watching cards get run though it once or twice). I very much suspect that it was the PDP11 doing the punching, as nothing else at the university could have done it, unless someone was punching them by hand. Along with the PDP11 the computer room had a Data General MV10000 and a DG MV4000 neither of which dealt with cards. The PDP11/70 was used for the university administration systems and activities. I could probably find out how it was used (assuming my memory is not faulty) if anyone was really interested. -- Brad Spencer - brad at anduin.eldar.org - KC8VKS - http://anduin.eldar.org