[inforoots] Re: The IBM 1401 at the Computer Restore.

[Van Snyder]

Jason's story reminds me of one from 1966.  I had just started working
for a medium-size company in Dayton.  My boss had recently worked for a
bank.  The bank had an NCR 315, with CRAM (Card Random Access Memory),
which had punch-card-size cards with mag-tape stuff on them.  They were
accessed and moved through the machine by compressed air, so it made
quite a racket.  One day, an IBM salesman came by and convinced the bank
to try out IBM System\360 model 30, with data cell, for a few months.
When he returned, he noticed the data cell drive was in the sound-proof
room along with the CRAM.  He asked "The data cell drive is silent; why
is it in there with the CRAM?"  The answer: "We hope it will learn some
software."

On Thu, 2005-05-19 at 16:11 -0700, Jason Olson wrote:
 > Very neat story. I never and I mean never get tired of hearing the history
 > of anyone who has worked on older IBM equipment. One of the fellows who
 > work for my business partner has been in the business for over 30 + years
 > he has a ton of good stories to tell.
 >
 > One of his favorites is this one.
 >
 > He had received a call from one of partners at IBM telling him to come
 > quick to one of his accounts. They had one of the early versions of the
 > 2321 Data Cell drive and it had gone nuts! Some of the electronics that
 > control the drum motor had failed and were spinning the drum around as fast
 > as they could. Before they knew what was going on the machine had put on
 > the breaks and sent the drum flying though the front of the machine.
 >
 > He said it was awful.
 >
 > A little about me for the group. I first entered college in 1997 and at
 > first was studying to be a Micro-Computer support specialist. Later I
 > changed my career to NetWare and still have a CNE Cert from 4.11. While I
 > was in college I had one programming class using C on the AS/400. For some
 > reason I really liked the machine and the rest is history. I have been
 > working on the iSeries since doing both Admin and Programming work.
 >
 >
 > Thank you,
 >
 > Jason Olson
 >
 > IBM ISeries Engineer
 > Amkor Technology
 > 480.821.5000.5625
 > jolso at amkor.com
 >
 > "User Requests Are What Computers Are For."
 > "TRON" 1982
 >
 >
 > Bill Worthington <BillWorthington at comcast.net> on 05/19/2005 03:35:48 PM
 >
 >
 > To:    Jason Olson/CHAZ/AAWW at Amkor
 > cc:    Ed Thelen <ed at ed-thelen.org>, "Selmeier, Bill"
 >        <bills at right-net.com>, 1401 Software Team
 >        <1401_software at computerhistory.org>
 >
 >
 > Subject:    Re: The IBM 1401 at the Computer Restore.
 >
 >
 > Jason and Ed, you do bring back my memory of when I first saw RPG.  I had
 > just started my 1401 education back in 1961 and had gone to IBM's Boston
 > Education Center.  I was working for a bank at the time and was new to Data
 > Processing as it was then called.  The class consisted of three weeks of
 > basic 1401 programming and was taught by two female instructors.  On the
 > next to last day of the class, one of them came dancing into the classroom
 > and said that we had seen almost everything regarding programming for the
 > 1401 and that IBM had just announced a new programming language for the
 > 1401 called Report Program Generator and abbreviated as RPG.
 >
 > The rest of that day was spent confusing us all with Input, Calc, Output,
 > etc. Specs.  We had just learned about adding, moving, editing, branching
 > if sense switch on, etc.; and here was this new method of programming that
 > did all of that behind the scenes based on indicators being set.  Wow!  Did
 > our heads swim!!  Well, we headed back to our programming jobs and my
 > company shelved RPG in favor of Autocoder.
 >
 > However, in 1964, I found myself working for IBM -- just in time for the
 > System/360 to be announced a month after I joined.  At that time, there was
 > not only RPG for the 1401, there was also FARGO.  (I believe the acronym
 > stood for "Fourteen-oh-one Automatic Report Generating O---.  Do you
 > remember what the O was for?)  A couple of years later, all the sales reps
 > and systems engineers spent evenings learning about a new computer called
 > the System/360, Model 20 and its primary programming language called RPG.
 > I was amazed at how much I had retained from that haze in 1961.  I must
 > admit that my track through IBM did not give me much access to RPG
 > customers; but I could at least discuss it with some intelligence.
 >
 > Thanks for stimulating that section of my "on-line storage."
 >
 >
 > Regards, BillBillWorthington at comcast.net
 >
 >
 > Jason Olson wrote:
 >
 > OK then I will ( in my spare time of course ) get to work on trying to find
 > the deck for RPG.
 >
 > Also WE means just Cliff and myself. I have been following the website
 > really close, and got him interested in the restore.
 >
 > I myself am very young in the computer business ( 26) , but I really love
 > older machines and IBM in particular.
 >
 > I do have one question before I go. Is there a good day to visit in June? I
 > did see your note on after 10:00 AM so we will plan accordingly
 >
 > Thank you,
 >
 > Jason Olson
 >
 > IBM ISeries Engineer
 > Amkor Technology
 > 480.821.5000.5625jolso at amkor.com"User Requests Are What Computers Are For."
 > "TRON" 1982
 >
 > Thanks!
 >
 > Jason
 >
 >
 > "Ed Thelen" <ed at ed-thelen.org> on 05/17/2005 04:00:24 PM
 >
 >
 > To:    Jason Olson/CHAZ/AAWW at Amkor
 > cc:    "Selmeier, Bill" <bills at right-net.com>, "1401 Software Team"
 >        <1401_software at computerhistory.org>Subject:    Re: The IBM 1401 at
 > the Computer Restore.
 >
 >
 > ----- Original Message -----
 > From: "Jason Olson" <jolso at amkor.com>
 >
 >
 > Hello!
 >
 > Glad to see such a well made website documenting the process to restore
 > the 1401. It is great to see people who are still so interested in the 
history of computing! A good friend of mine and myself are RPG programmers 
on the IBM iSeries, and we also love to study the history of language of RPG.
 >
 >
 > Hmmm - history of RPG ???
 >    I have never heard !!

 > We would like to know if the 1401 has come far enough to be able to run
 > new RPG programs.
 >
 > No - we - well Ron Williams is - still hauling bad cards
 > out of the 1401.  I'm being to wonder about "solid state reliability".
 > It couldn't have been that bad when it shut down for the last time.
 >
 > We would enjoy creating simple RPG programs and seeing the
 > results.
 >
 > I don't remember seeing an RPG deck !!!  ???
 >
 > Really !!!  We have a SORT 7 "object" deck.
 >
 > But I don't think we have a
 >    FORTRAN especially a card only FORTRAN nor    RPG
 >
 > Hmmmmm --  some open areas -
 >
 > Also does the CHM have other machines such as a System/360 or
 > System/370 where RPG work could be performed?
 >
 > Some folks dream of restoring the IBM 360 mod 30 -
 >   but to the best of my knowledge,
 >     there has net been any serious restoration proposal.
 >   I would guess that more than the two big restoration projects
 >     currently on would be a stretch.
 >
 > Ed you and your fine group keep up the good work!
 >
 > Thank you - actually, I'm an ex-competitor,
 >    but the ex-IBM guys let me hang out here  :-))
 >
 > We are planning a trip out to see the machine
 > in the month of June and I am very excited to see my
 > first 1401.
 >
 > I trust "we" is a moderate sized group? Not a bus load  ;-))
 > Wednesdays after 10 AM is a great time to visit -
 >    lots of folks "working"   ;-))
 >
 > Cheers
 >    Ed Thelen
 >
 >
 >
 >
 > Thank you,
 >    Jason Olson
 >
 > IBM ISeries Engineer
 > Amkor Technology
 > 480.821.5000.5625jolso at amkor.com"User Requests Are What Computers Are For."
 > "TRON" 1982
 >
 >