From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 19331 invoked from network); 13 Dec 2022 17:14:15 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (50.116.15.146) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 13 Dec 2022 17:14:15 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7C15B41C34; Wed, 14 Dec 2022 03:14:09 +1000 (AEST) Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (075-142-133-254.biz.spectrum.com [75.142.133.254]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 9D0A541790 for ; Wed, 14 Dec 2022 03:14:04 +1000 (AEST) Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by darkstar.fourwinds.com (8.17.1/8.16.1) with ESMTP id 2BDHE2OT1863687 for ; Tue, 13 Dec 2022 09:14:02 -0800 Received: from darkstar (jon@localhost) by darkstar.fourwinds.com (8.17.1/8.15.2/Submit) with ESMTP id 2BDHE22g1863684 for ; Tue, 13 Dec 2022 09:14:02 -0800 Message-Id: <202212131714.2BDHE22g1863684@darkstar.fourwinds.com> From: Jon Steinhart To: tuhs@tuhs.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-ID: <1863682.1670951641.1@darkstar> Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2022 09:14:01 -0800 X-JON-SPAM: local delivery Message-ID-Hash: 6CK4VVNF3ZS3SDBYWOLO5AUWK3ULCZ67 X-Message-ID-Hash: 6CK4VVNF3ZS3SDBYWOLO5AUWK3ULCZ67 X-MailFrom: jon@fourwinds.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; header-match-tuhs.tuhs.org-0; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: Clever code [ really PB 250 ] List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: 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