Back in 1998 during my writing of the Whatever Happened to… column for Computer Shopper I did IBM and the Seven Dwarfs. This was the insulting moniker given to the mainframe business from 1960-1980. I am in the process of re-publishing all the Whatever Happened to.. columns and this is the first installment.
You can start here with the fascinating sotry of Burroughs, dwarf number one.
READ ALL SEVEN STORIES HERE:
The Dwarfs: Burroughs, Sperry Rand (formerly Remington Rand), Control Data, Honeywell, General Electric, RCA, NCR
I love mainframes… I miss my white lab coat. and all those punch cards!
They made great notepads! If anybody has a source for 80 col punch cards, post it here!
happy holidayz.
I picked up a bunch of punch cards on ebay for my collection.
Great computing retrospective, John. An entertaining and informative read.
I miss the good old days. Sometimes.
Do you have ALL of your old stuff archived, John? I’d really like to re-read some of the stuff from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Weren’t you the first Spencer Katt? What magazine was that? PC-Week?
Most of my material is written for the moment and simply isn;t interesting 10 years after the fact.
Maybe not for most people. It would be for me, I think. I hate to be one of those old farts who talks about how much better things were back in the good old days, but… it just seemed like the community was a lot cooler then. Ok, “cool” isn’t the word. But a lot fewer boneheads. (Except for Will Fastie, who was always a bonehead. I had this weird feeling that he grew up and became Jerry Pournelle, but that’s another story. I wonder if Pournelle named his toilet? “This is ‘Mr Wiggles’, my Kohler Premier toilet, which they kindly lent me for review. Just $399 at your local retailer.”) Sorry, where was I?
Oh, BBS’s. Andy Fluegelman. 1-2-3. 5.25″ disks. Wordstar. The good they die young.
You’ll probably like this preview then:
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?page_id=8253
Great idea!
I enjoyed reading those columns (although I know I missed many) –
PC Shopper was really my introduction to computer magazines (and John Dvorak) and the “Whatever Happened to?” was a highlight.
Thanks
Five and a quarter inch floppy disks indeed. I worked with the seven inch variety in the lateish ’70s. Now there was a good sized disk, modern PCs couldn’t fit a drive inside.
you left out Amdahl
Amdahl came AFTER the Seven Dwarfs. Gene Amdahl was still at IBM inventing the 360.
Amdahl was during the plug-compatible days… a different era which would have included iTEL and others including DEC, Data General and the minicomputer folks.
#8 — those floppies were 8-inch not 7
Ah, but I had the pleasure of working with those glorious IBM Disc Paks on the giant System 36… crap, I’m old!
I guess I shouldn’t mention the old TWX machine that I have in the attic…
Does anyone else remember the Christmas wreaths made from used punch cards? They used to bend them, staple them to a cardboard round, spray paint and apply glitter. Someone around most data processing departments made the things.
I kept one of my 8 inch floppies for a souvenir. I remember taking a tour of a magnetic core memory factory as a kid.
Good write up John.
Univac was indeed a great computer. I have fond memory working on the Univac 1219, in the Navy (81 -87). I had the great opportunity and training to repair (all discrete transistor, wire wrap back plane) and write simple programs.
Univac lost in the market, in like manner to the VHS/Beta Max debate, superior technology or product doesn’t always win in the market. However, the market doesn’t always work that way case in point, Ford, GM and Chrysler; quality product build and design (low gas milage) does matter.
Friedman Archive
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univac/CPU_timeline.txt
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univac/military/1219/
I became obsessed this Christmas to find blank punch cards for my father (retired IBM’er) as a gift. I too grew up in a household where there was an abundant supply of blanks for note cards. There was a holder with blanks by the phone for message taking.
I brought me back to a ‘remember when’ moment. I actually ordered myself a box, as I still think they are the best ‘daily’ note card to carry around in your pocket. They stand up to a day’s wear and tear and are pocket friendly.
If you order some tell Bob that Scott from MA sent you and you’ll get the same rate I did, list price.
Opps, forgot to leave the web address ~
http://www.cardamation.com/supplies.html
Best