[TUHS] Re: Clever code [ really PB 250 ]

[Jon Steinhart <jon@fourwinds.com>]

Wow, this brings back memories.  When I was a kid I remember visiting
a guy who had a barn full of computers in or around Princeton, N.J.
There was a Burroughs 500, a PB 250, and a PDP-8.  The 500 was a vacuum
tube and nixie display machine.  That sucker used a lot of neon, and I
seem to remember that it used about $100 worth of electricity in 1960s
dollars just to warm it up.  I think that the PB 250 was one of the
first machines built using transistors.  I assume that all of you know
what a PDP-8 is.  I remember using the PDP-8 using SNAP (simple numeric
arithmetic processor) to crank out my math homework.  Note that the PB
250 also had SNAP, but in that case it was their assembler.

Some of the first serious programming that I did was later at BTL on
516-TSS using FSNAP (floating-point SNAP) written by Heinz.  Maybe he
can fill us in on whether it was derived from SNAP.

Anyway, I could only visit the place occasionally because it was far
from home.  Does anyone else out there know anything about it?  It's a
vague memory brought back by the mention of the 250.

Jon