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, T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 27023 invoked from network); 20 Dec 2023 07:13:07 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (50.116.15.146) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 20 Dec 2023 07:13:07 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4DC1643E89; Wed, 20 Dec 2023 17:12:59 +1000 (AEST) Received: from freefriends.org (frenzy.freefriends.org [198.99.81.75]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id CC72343E82 for ; Wed, 20 Dec 2023 17:12:52 +1000 (AEST) X-Envelope-From: arnold@skeeve.com Received: from freefriends.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by freefriends.org (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id 3BK7Cm8x024799 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NOT); Wed, 20 Dec 2023 00:12:48 -0700 Received: (from arnold@localhost) by freefriends.org (8.14.7/8.14.7/Submit) id 3BK7ClJX024798; Wed, 20 Dec 2023 00:12:47 -0700 From: arnold@skeeve.com Message-Id: <202312200712.3BK7ClJX024798@freefriends.org> X-Authentication-Warning: frenzy.freefriends.org: arnold set sender to arnold@skeeve.com using -f Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2023 00:12:47 -0700 To: tuhs@tuhs.org, douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu References: In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 7/5/10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID-Hash: WGVDP2GPGIE3GGNEGW5YRYCMKVZ235JJ X-Message-ID-Hash: WGVDP2GPGIE3GGNEGW5YRYCMKVZ235JJ X-MailFrom: arnold@skeeve.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; 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: Loud machines (was Compatibility Question) List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: As late as 1981, the university I attended had an IBM 1130. Mainly it was programmed in Fortran IV (but only 5 letters allowed in an identifier, not 6) but it also had a Cobol compiler. The Cobol compiler read cards about 1 every 3/4 second. By contrast, when the Fortran compiler was reading cards, it sounded like a machine gun firing. I wrote a program similar to banner(1) but that made the big letters up out of the actual letters in Fortran. Although the cards are long gone, I still have the code. :-) Arnold Douglas McIlroy wrote: > > Paul -- you left out the other "feature" -- the noise, which was still > deafening even with a model N1 and its cover. > > It was indeed loud, but GE out-roared them with a blindingly fast card > reader. The machine had a supposedly gentle touch; it grabbed cards with > vacuum rather than tongs. But the make-and-break pneumatic explosions > sounded like a machine gun. A noise meter I borrowed from the Labs' tool > crib read 90db 6 feet away. > > Doug